Background and objective : Forced-air warming by Bair Hugger proved the most efficient technique for minimizing core hypothermia . This study tested the efficacy of a reusable blanket attached to Bair Hugger for maintaining normothermia during kid­ney transplantation . Patients and methods : 30 kidney recipients were randomly assigned to receive no warming device (control group; n=15) or had active warming by Bair Hugger with a reusable blanket (B-H group; n=15) . Patients were anaes­thetized by combined epidural and general anaesthesia . Crystalloid infu­sion was given at room temperature and ambient temperature was main­tained at 22-24°C . Results : Basal esophageal temperature was below normal values (35,7°C) and de­creased approximately by 0.2 and
0.1°C in B-H and control group re­spectively in the first 15 min after in­duction of anaesthesia. Subsequently, temperature was maintained in B-H group but continued to decrease sig­nificantly in control group. The maxi­mum decrease of temperature in con­trol group was detected during cold ischemia (from 34.6 ± 0.4°C to 34.0 ± 0.5 °C ). At end of surgery , core tem­perature in B-H group was 35.9 ± 0.9°C compared to 34.2 ± 0.5°C in control group . All patients recovered immediately after surgery without ab­normal events. Conclusion: Forced -air warming using Bair Hugger with a reusable blanket can maintain core temperature in kidney recipients with­out complications