Abstract

The thermoregulation of a surgical patient’s body is impaired under anesthesia, leading to an accelerated heat loss to the environment, thereby, causing surgical hypothermia. It is a condition wherein the core body temperature falls below 95ºF and hinders the wound healing process of the surgical site, leading to cardiac and cerebral dysfunctions. When the patient starts developing mild hypothermia, his hands and feet are manually rubbed to keep them warm, but this is tedious and may not be very effective. Therefore, heating gloves and socks which produce a small amount of heat to the patient’s hands and feet, respectively, have been developed to keep them warm during the surgery. The gloves and socks have temperature sensors embedded in them to measure the core body temperature. Based on the temperature measured, a heating element connected to a voltage regulator based heating circuit is used to produce a controlled amount of heat to keep the hands and feet of the patient, warm.