A Study on Temperature Regulation for Clinical Heating Cabinets and Limitations

Typically, CT contrast media is warmed to body temperature as a way to reduce viscosity and injection pressure. These things lead to vascular pain or extravasation. The aim of this study is, by comparing conventional heating cabinets with a fluid warmer, to provide a method for contrast media to close to a range of body temperature along with the limitations of conventional devices. After warming the contrast media(Optiray320, 150 ml) stored in three types of heating devices(47℃ & 55℃ FINE HNC, 48℃ Fluid Warmer), we filled the contrast media with 150 ml syringes and measured the actual temperature of the solution after injection (Flow Rate: 3 cc/s) into a container with digital thermometers. As a result, the temperature of the solution warmed in 47℃ heating cabinets is 41.3℃ but injected solution temperature is 32.4℃ on average. These figures are significantly lower than body temperature. When the normal heating cabinet’s temperature is about 55℃, the actual contrast media temperature comes closer to the body temperature. Lastly, the optimal value to maintain a temperature similar to body temperature is clearly indicated in the 48℃ Fluid Warmer. Moreover, this represents the lowest error range between the displayed temperature and the actual solution temperature. To sum up, Based on this study, It is crucial to constantly develop a way of heating contrast media to decrease the side effects of contrast media and to improve patient satisfaction with CT scans.