Clinical science
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Augmented thermic effect of amino acids under general anaesthesia: a mechanism useful for prevention of anaesthesia-induced hypothermia.
1. Intravenous infusion of amino acids stimulates energy expenditure and heat accumulation in normal man. To find out whether such stimulation also occurs during general anaesthesia, thermogenesis was measured in 21 patients before, during and after anaesthesia and surgery. 2. ⋯ The difference, 21 W, illustrates the thermogenic action of the amino acids. This value may be compared with that of 4 W, observed in unanaesthetized individuals subjected to 30 min of identical amino acid infusions. 4. At awakening after the anaesthesia, the oxygen consumption rose to 71 +/- 21% above the pre-anaesthesia level in the amino acid-treated patients, who, without shivering, rapidly returned to normothermia, whereas in the control patients the oxygen uptake remained slightly below the pre-anaesthesia level, despite sustained hypothermia and vigorous shivering.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)