Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Feb 2013
Technical communication: First robotic ultrasound-guided nerve blocks in humans using the Magellan system.
Ultrasound-guided nerve blocks are becoming a standard of modern anesthesia. We developed a robotic system, Magellan, to perform nerve blocks using a remote control center. ⋯ We present the first human testing of a robotic ultrasound-guided nerve block system. The success rate was 100%. The total performance time was approximately 3 minutes to 4 minutes.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Feb 2013
Visual acuity during direct laryngoscopy at different illuminance levels.
Adequate light is essential for vision during direct laryngoscopy. The ISO 7376:2009 standard specifies the minimal illuminance for laryngoscopes. No studies have objectively examined the relationship between laryngoscope illumination and visual acuity during laryngoscopy. ⋯ Visual acuity improves as the laryngoscope illuminance increases up to 700 lux. No statistically significant improvement was measured by increasing the illuminance up to 2000 lux. Subjectively, anesthesiologists favor illuminance of 2000 lux for direct laryngoscopy.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Feb 2013
Case ReportsCase report: Perioperative pacemaker-mediated tachycardia in the patient with a dual chamber implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.
Patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices are at additional risk for arrhythmias while undergoing surgical procedures. In this case report, we present a patient with a dual chamber implantable cardioverter-defibrillator who developed intraoperative pacemaker-mediated tachycardia causing significant hemodynamic instability. Management of this arrhythmia can be particularly challenging, because standard application of a magnet does not affect the pacing functions of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. Awareness by the anesthesiologist and timely coordination with the cardiac electrophysiology team helped to optimize care for this patient.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Feb 2013
Peripheral perfusion index as an early predictor for central hypovolemia in awake healthy volunteers.
In healthy volunteers, we investigated the ability of the pulse oximeter-derived peripheral perfusion index (PPI) to detect progressive reductions in central blood volume. ⋯ These results indicate that the pulse oximeter-derived PPI may be a valuable adjunct diagnostic tool to detect early clinically significant central hypovolemia, before the onset of cardiovascular decompensation in healthy volunteers.