What is the purpose of intraoperative temperature management during CABG?

• A. To keep patient permanently cold to prevent infection
• B. To optimize myocardial protection and systemic organ perfusion; hypothermia lowers metabolic demand, while normothermia may reduce coagulopathy and other complications.
• C. Temperature has no effect on CABG outcomes
• D. To raise body temperature during bypass

Answer: (B)

In CABG, controlling temperature is about protecting the heart and other organs while keeping blood flowing effectively. Lowering body temperature reduces the heart’s and other tissues’ metabolic demand, which lowers oxygen consumption and helps preserve tissue during periods of reduced blood flow or cardioplegic arrest. But pushing cooling too far can worsen bleeding and coagulation problems, so the strategy is to use cooling enough to protect tissue but not so much that it causes coagulopathy. Maintaining near-normal temperatures, or only mild warming after cooling, helps minimize bleeding and other temperature-related complications. The goal, then, is to optimize myocardial protection and systemic organ perfusion by balancing the protective effects of hypothermia with the safety benefits of normothermia. This is why the option describing both metabolic protection from hypothermia and the coagulation/complication benefits of normothermia is correct.