Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Feb 1981
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialEarly extubation versus prophylactic ventilation in the high risk patient: a comparison of postoperative management in the prevention of respiratory complications.
To evaluate whether prophylactic ventilation during the early postoperative period diminishes pulmonary complications, 35 high risk, elderly patients undergoing major, elective abdominal aortic reconstruction were prospectively randomized into either an early extubation group or a prophylactic ventilation group. The 17 patients assigned to the prophylactic ventilation group received mechanical ventilation by assist/control mode until 8 a.m. of the first postoperative day. The 17 patients assigned to the early extubation group were extubated after the operation as soon as they could maintain a pH of 7.35, with a spontaneous respiratory rate of less than 30. ⋯ Intrapulmonary shunt and oxygen delivery were not significantly different between the groups at any time during the study period. There was no mortality or significant morbidity in either group. These findings suggest that in high risk surgical patients, prophylactic ventilation, per se, may not diminish respiratory complications or improve gas exchange.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jan 1981
Comparative StudyCauses of death among anesthesiologists: 1930-1946.
The causes of death among anesthesiologists from 1930 through 1946 were determined and compared to the causes of death for contemporaneous physicians as well as anesthesiologists in later eras. Names of US white male anesthesiologists listed in the annual Directories of Anesthetists compiled by the International Anesthesia Research Society were searched for in the death files of the American Medical Association. Among those listed in the Directories 274 deaths were located. ⋯ Anesthesiologists practicing in the earlier part of this century had lower death rates and they were less likely to die of malignant neoplasms than contemporaneous white men. The death rates for these anesthesiologists were similar to those for anesthesiologists during 1947-1956, but greater than rates observed for anesthesiologists during 1957-1971. This suggests that exposure to the fluorinated anesthetic agents introduced in the mid-1950s may not be an important health hazard.