The Bair Hugger patient warming system in prolonged vascular surgery: an infection risk?

Introduction: Use of the Bair Hugger forced-air patient warming system during prolonged abdominal vascular surgery may lead to increased bacterial contamination of the surgical field by mobilization of the patient's skin flora.

Methods: This possibility was studied by analyzing bacterial content in air and wound specimens collected during surgery in 16 patients undergoing abdominal vascular prosthetic graft insertion procedure, using the Bair Hugger patient warming system. The bacterial colony counts from the beginning and the end of surgery were compared, and the data analyzed using the Wilcoxon matched pairs test.