• A Cornelius, B Frey, T A Neff, A C Gerber, and M Weiss.
• Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care and Neonatology, University Children's Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
• Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 2003 May 1; 47 (5): 549-53.

PurposeTo evaluate inadvertent warming of the infusion syringe in four different types of electronic syringe pumps.MethodsAmbient temperature and syringe surface temperature were simultaneously measured by two electronic temperature probes in four different models of commercially available syringe pumps. Experiments were performed at an infusion rate of 1 ml h(-1) using both battery-operated and main power-operated pumps. Measurements were repeated four times with two pumps from each of the four syringe pump types at a room temperature of approximately 23 degrees C. Differences among the four syringe pump brands regarding ambient to syringe temperature gradient were compared using ANOVA. A P-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsSyringe warming differed significantly between the four syringe brands for both the battery-operated and main power-operated mode (ANOVA, P< 0.001 for both modes). Individual differences between syringe surface and ambient temperature ranged from 0.3 to 1.9 degrees C for battery operation and from 0.5 to 11.2 degrees C during main-power operation.ConclusionInfusion solutions can be significantly warmed by syringe pumps. This has potential impact on bacterial growth and the stability of drug solutions and blood products infused, as well as on the susceptibility to hydrostatic pressure changes within the infusion syringe.

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