Heat trapped under paper and plastic ophthalmic drapes during eye surgery using local anesthesia

Purpose: To assess whether heat trapped under ophthalmic drapes is responsi ble for patient reports of being hot during cataract surgery using local an esthesia. Setting: Departments of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine and of Opht halmology and Optometry, Innsbruck University Hospital, Innsbruck, Austria. Methods: In a prospective, randomized, single-blind study, the temperature in the ambient air under 2 types of paper drapes (Group A: Barrier(TM) Opht halmology Drape, Johnson & Johnson(R); Group B: Steri Drape(R) 1062, 3M(R)) and a plastic drape (Group C: cotton drape + Steri Drape 1024, 3M) was mea sured for 25 minutes in 60 patients having cataract surgery under local ane sthesia Results: Three minutes after the patient's head was draped, the mean temper ature under the drape began to increase significantly: Group A, 25.7 degree s C +/- 0.3 degrees C (SD) to 29.17 degrees C +/- 0.9 degrees C (P less tha n or equal to.001); Group B, 25.87 degrees C +/- 0.4 degrees C to 29.41 deg rees C +/- 0.9 degrees C (P less than or equal to.001): Group C, 25.8 degre es C +/- 0.35 degrees C to 29.4 degrees C +/- 0.6 degrees C (P less than or equal to .001). It continued to increase in all groups as the operation co ntinued. No significant differences in temperature were observed among the 3 drape types studied. Subjective thermal discomfort was reported by 35% to 40% of patients. Conclusion: Paper drapes did not cause less heat from being trapped than th e plastic drape. Trapped heal may impair the comfort of patients having eye surgery under local anesthesia. J Cataract Refract Surg 1999; 25: 1532-153 4 (C) 1999 ASCRS and ESCRS.