1516 CONSIDER LOCATION OF TRANSCUTANEOUS OXYGEN MONITOR ELECTRODE (TCM) WHEN MEASURING SKIN TEMPERATURES IN NEWBORNS

Abstract

It is well-known that newborns in skin servo controlled environments are at risk of being over and underheated because of artifacts that may interfere with a thermistor's accurate transduction of temperature. As a corollary, it is likely, therefore that babies can be cold stressed when temperature sensing thermistors are placed too close to a TCM which, by design, causes heating of underlying skin to 43-44°C, and can be presumed by conduction to cause skin heating even beyond the electrode edge. We tested this as a hypothesis with newborns weighing 1030 to 2260g, who were studied once on the third to fifth day of life. 2 groups of 3 YSI series 400 thermistors were arranged over the abdomen at increasing distances from a TCM site (Litton SM 261). Temperatures before and after TCM placement were compared at sites 1), 0.5cm, 2), 1.5cm, and 3), 2.5cm from the edge of the TCM using paired t test analysis. There was a significant increase in mean skin temperature from 36.17±0.08°C to 36.40±0.09°C (±SEM) at 0.5cm from the TCM edge, (p<.01). The differences at the other 2 sites were not statistically significant (36.14±0.14 to 36.18±0.13°C at 1.5cm, 36.07±0.19 to 36.09±0.17°C at 2.5cm), although there was a rise of 0.2°C at 1.5 and 2.5cm in one patient. This could prove clinically significant when using some commercially available servo systems which respond to changes as small as 0.1°C. Therefore, skin probes placed 2.5cm from TCM's may detect falsely elevated temperatures and because of this could cause a decrease in incubator heater output, resulting in an underheated infant.

Log in or create a free account to read this content

Gain free access to this article, as well as selected content from this journal and more on nature.com

Access through your institution

or

Sign in or create an account

Continue with Google

Continue with ORCiD