Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Dec 2005
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyThe effect of supplemental oxygen on postoperative nausea and vomiting in children undergoing dental work.
Administration of 80% intraoperative oxygen has been proposed as being a cheap, safe and effective means of reducing postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) but no studies have been performed in the high risk paediatric population. We tested whether 80% intraoperative oxygen reduces PONV in well children undergoing elective day-stay dental treatment under general anaesthesia. ⋯ The total incidence of PONV was 40% in the group that received 30% oxygen and 33% in those that received 80% oxygen. High inspired intraoperative oxygen was not found to significantly reduce PONV in well children undergoing dental work under general anaesthesia.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Dec 2005
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyComparison of forced-air warming and radiant heating during transurethral prostatic resection under spinal anaesthesia.
Forced-air warming is commonly used to warm patients intraoperatively, but may not achieve normothermia during a short procedure. Comparative trials of a new radiant warming device in general anaesthesia (Suntouch, Fisher and Paykel, Auckland, New Zealand) have had conflicting results. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare the efficacy and thermal comfort of the Suntouch radiant warmer and forced-air warming in patients at high risk of hypothermia during neuraxial blockade. ⋯ A large proportion of patients in both groups (46% and 33% respectively, P=0.3) were hypothermic (<36 degrees C) on arrival in the post-anaesthesia care unit. No other patient variables were significantly different. Neither warming device reliably prevented hypothermia, although forced-air warming was slightly superior.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Oct 2005
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudySub-Tenon's block in cataract surgery--a comparison of 1% ropivacaine and a mixture of 2% lignocaine and 0.5% bupivacaine.
Sub-Tenon's block for cataract surgery is an increasingly common technique. While this technique has been successfully applied, the optimal local anaesthetic solution is not known. This study was performed to assess any differences in anaesthesia and oculomotor block between 1% ropivacaine and a 2% lignocaine with 0.5% bupivacaine mixture. The results indicate that there was no difference noted in the clinical effect between the solutions.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Aug 2005
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyIntubation conditions following rocuronium: influence of induction agent and priming.
A small priming dose of rocuronium can shorten the onset time of neuromuscular blockade. Induction agents with less cardiovascular depression also reduce the onset time. We hypothesized that ketamine, compared to thiopentone, would reduce onset time and improve intubating conditions following priming. ⋯ The proportion of good to excellent intubating conditions was higher when ketamine was preceded by priming compared to ketamine without priming (87% vs 20%; P<0.05). In both priming and control groups intubating conditions were improved when using ketamine compared to thiopentone (P<0.05). The mechanism of this effect was not clear from this study.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Aug 2005
Randomized Controlled TrialPatient-controlled epidural analgesia following combined spinal-epidural analgesia in labour: the effects of adding a continuous epidural infusion.
Patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) is used to maintain epidural analgesia following initial intrathecal analgesia. This trial investigated whether a continuous background infusion with PCEA provides superior analgesia to PCEA alone among patients who received combined spinal-epidural (CSE) analgesia during labour Eighty parturients were randomized to either PCEA alone (PCEA) or PCEA with a background infusion of ropivacaine 0.15% with sufentanil 0.75 microg/ml at 2 ml/h (PCEA + CEI). PCEA settings were a bolus of 4 ml of the same analgesic solution with a lockout interval of 15 minutes. ⋯ Consumption of local anaesthetic (excluding manually administered boluses) was similar between the groups. If anaesthetist-administered boluses were included, more local anaesthetic was consumed by the PCEA group (47.1 +/- 19.4 mg vs 35.6 +/- 12.0 mg in the PCEA + CEI group, P<0.05). We conclude that PCEA with a background infusion provides effective analgesia with less anaesthetist workload and reduced local anaesthetic consumption as compared with PCEA without a background infusion.