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BJA Advance Access originally published online on May 29, 2009
British Journal of Anaesthesia 2009 103(2):226-231; doi:10.1093/bja/aep134
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© The Author [2009]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Board of Directors of the British Journal of Anaesthesia. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournal.org

Accuracy and precision of a novel non-invasive core thermometer

O. Kimberger1,*, R. Thell1, M. Schuh1, J. Koch2, D. I. Sessler3 and A. Kurz3

1 Department of Anesthesiology and General Intensive Care, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Gurtel 18–20, 1090 Vienna, Austria
2 Draegerwerk AG & Co. KGaA, 23542 Luebeck, Germany
3 Department of Outcomes Research, The Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH, USA

* Corresponding author. E-mail: study{at}kimberger.at

Background: Accurate measurement of core temperature is a standard component of perioperative and intensive care patient management. However, core temperature measurements are difficult to obtain in awake patients. A new non-invasive thermometer has been developed, combining two sensors separated by a known thermal resistance (‘double-sensor’ thermometer). We thus evaluated the accuracy of the double-sensor thermometer compared with a distal oesophageal thermometer to determine if the double-sensor thermometer is a suitable substitute.

Methods: In perioperative and intensive care patient populations (n=68 total), double-sensor measurements were compared with measurements from a distal oesophageal thermometer using Bland–Altman analysis and Lin's concordance correlation coefficient (CCC).

Results: Overall, 1287 measurement pairs were obtained at 5 min intervals. Ninety-eight per cent of all double-sensor values were within ±0.5°C of oesophageal temperature. The mean bias between the methods was –0.08°C; the limits of agreement were –0.66°C to 0.50°C. Sensitivity and specificity for detection of fever were 0.86 and 0.97, respectively. Sensitivity and specificity for detection of hypothermia were 0.77 and 0.93, respectively. Lin's CCC was 0.93.

Conclusions: The new double-sensor thermometer is sufficiently accurate to be considered an alternative to distal oesophageal core temperature measurement, and may be particularly useful in patients undergoing regional anaesthesia.

Keywords: monitoring, temperature; temperature, body; temperature, monitoring


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