Quantitative Heat Loss With Laminar Air Flow

With approval of the IRB at the Cleveland Clinic and written informed consent, the
investigators propose to study up to 20 healthy volunteers in the protocol below as this will
allow for drop-outs. As the investigators believe that 10 volunteers will provide sufficient
power to detect clinically-meaningful differences between laminar air flow treatments.

The study has been designed to find out whether heat loss increases significantly in laminar
air flow operating rooms. Furthermore the investigators will find out whether active warming
minimizes this heat loss. Increased heat loss increases the amount of perioperative
hypothermia. It has been shown that perioperative hypothermia is associated with severe
complications such as an increased incidence of surgical wound infections. On the other hand
laminar air flow is explicitly used to decrease air-borne infections. Our study results will
help to optimize thermal management of orthopedic patients.