A&A practice
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We report the successful treatment of idiopathic intractable hiccups with cisatracurium under intravenous general anesthesia. The patient had a history of hiccups for 19 years that were refractory to a variety of treatments. When his hiccups were accompanied by vomiting, insomnia, shortness of breath, and poor oral intake for 9 days, he sought relief. ⋯ On emergence he had no hiccups. When the hiccups recurred 2 weeks later after a big meal, we repeated the procedure with success. He has now been hiccup free for at least 6 months.
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Conduction abnormalities after cardiac surgery are common as is spontaneous resolution of these abnormalities. However, 1%-3% of patients will require placement of a permanent pacemaker. Patients with preexisting conduction abnormalities, undergoing reoperation, preexisting pulmonary hypertension and undergoing mitral or aortic valve operations are at a higher risk for requiring a permanent pacemaker. We present the first case described in the literature of a patient with a preexisting left bundle branch block, and heart failure with a reduced left ventricular ejection fraction of 25% who developed complete heart block after placement of a coronary sinus catheter.
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The prevalence of neuromuscular diseases and peripheral neuropathies in veterans exposed to Agent Orange (AO) is particularly high. Pharmacologic management has not been effective for these patients. ⋯ We present a patient with AO-induced peripheral neuropathy who was successfully treated with burst SCS. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing the use of burst SCS for treatment of peripheral neuropathy related to AO exposure.