The Advantage of Infrared Heating in the Operating Theatre and Healthcare

In an operating theatre, infrared heating is advantageous because it solves two opposing needs at once: the theatre air can stay cooler because of pathogens and the working doctors, yet the motionless patient does not get chilled, because radiant heat from the ceiling warms the patient directly. Below we present the experience of ceiling heating in a plastic surgery operating theatre.

The experience was reported by plastic surgeon Dr. Gergely Pataki, in whose operating theatre the infrared ceiling heating had already been working for 4 years when the article was published in 2020. Dr. Gergely Pataki has been the founder and head of Prémium Plasztikai Sebészet since 2010, and when the article was published he also headed the plastic surgery outpatient clinic of the Paediatric Surgery Department at Szent János Hospital.

Why did they look for new heating for the operating theatre?

The clinic considers modern technology important in its operating theatres and treatment rooms alike. They were looking for heating with which a patient lying on the treatment table would not feel the coolness that is necessary in the operating theatre for reasons of sterility and others. This is how they came across infrared heating film: in the surgeon's experience, radiant heat helps keep the patient's body temperature at a normal level even under surgical conditions, while the doctor can work at the lower air temperature required in the theatre. He described the solution as a well-proven technology that had been used in the clinic's operating theatres for nearly 4 years by the time the article was published. Today we install 4th-generation heating film.

Core temperature and shell temperature

The temperature of the inside of the body, the core temperature, is roughly 37 °C and almost constant. The temperature of the skin, the tissues directly beneath it and the limbs – the so-called shell temperature – is lower and variable. We feel well when the shell temperature is roughly between 30 and 35 °C and the core temperature does not exceed 37 °C.

If the shell temperature begins to fall, the body reduces heat loss by constricting the blood vessels of the skin so that the inside of the body does not cool down. Blood then flows from the limbs towards the trunk, the hands and feet get cold, and very chilled limbs are hard to move. If even this is not enough, the body starts producing heat. For a patient lying motionless for a long time, it is exactly this process that causes discomfort.

What is the ideal temperature in an operating theatre?

Anaesthetist Balázs Vincze explained to Qubit that pathogens dangerous to humans multiply and spread most easily in an environment around body temperature, 35–37 degrees. If the theatre air were this warm, pathogens would find favourable conditions in the air, too – so for surgical procedures, much cooler air, around 20–25 degrees Celsius, is ideal.

This is where radiant heating comes in. In our experience, with infrared heating an air temperature 2–3 degrees Celsius lower is enough for the same sense of warmth, because the radiation warms the body directly. The air can thus stay cool, and the patient still does not feel cold.

Through the patient's eyes

A few years before writing it, the author of the article himself experienced what a long procedure on the operating table is like: he lay awake and motionless during an all-day operation. After a few hours his feet began to get very cold, and even the blanket brought separately did not help. When he was finally allowed to stand up, he could hardly stand on his feet, he was so chilled through. Ceiling infrared heating would have improved comfort greatly in that situation. We can experience something similar in everyday life: if the surroundings are cold, blood flows from our feet towards the inside of the body, and our feet get unpleasantly cold.

The installation: retrofitted, around the lights

We built the infrared heating on the ceiling of the operating theatre retrospectively. Using the free surfaces, we placed the heating film around the ceiling lights, so the light needed for surgery was not reduced, yet the theatre temperature became more comfortable. It would have been ideal to get involved already at the design stage: the film could then have gone above the plasterboard ceiling, completely invisible. Compared with a wall-mounted infrared panel, film built into the ceiling takes up no space and does not get in the way in the theatre.

The heating is controlled by a programmable wall thermostat that can be preset for the times of operations.

Installation of the infrared ceiling heating in the operating theatre, 4 years before the article was published:

Summary

• The theatre air can stay cool, yet the patient does not get chilled, because radiant heat warms the patient directly.
• The doctor does not get too hot while working.
• It can be built in retrospectively, around the existing ceiling lights.
• Radiant heat creates no air currents, so it does not stir up dust.
• The heating can be programmed for the times of operations.

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