Altered Thermoregulatory Responses Following Spinal Morphine for Caesarean Delivery: A Case Report
Article Category: Case Report
Online veröffentlicht: 10. Aug. 2020
Seitenbereich: 15 - 18
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/rjaic-2020-0008
Schlüsselwörter
© 2020 Christopher Wolla et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Objective
Spinal anaesthesia interferes with physiological thermoregulatory responses, potentially leading to peri-operative hypothermia. Spinal morphine can further compound this by a paradoxical clinical presentation leading to poor patient outcome.
Case Report
Following an uneventful caesarean delivery (CD) under spinal anaesthesia with intrathecal morphine for post-operative analgesia, a parturient presented in the recovery room with increasing somnolence, excessive sweating and a sensation of feeling hot. She was haemodynamically stable, but her temperature was 34.5°C. Active warming measures were implemented, and normothermia was achieved in 3 hours.
Conclusion
Spinal morphine can alter the clinical presentation of hypothermia by manifesting as excessive sweating and subjective sensation of warmth. Teams involved in the perioperative care of parturients should be aware of (a) the possibility of spinal anaesthesia causing perioperative hypothermia, (b) intrathecal morphine masking the clinical presentation of hypothermia and (c) the importance of monitoring temperature of patients who have received spinal anaesthesia with added morphine.