Journal of clinical anesthesia
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Biography Historical Article
Davy comes to America: Woodhouse, Barton, and the nitrous oxide crossing.
In the final decade of the eighteenth century, a new method of medical treatment appeared in England when physician Thomas Beddoes developed a systematic application of Joseph Priestley's "factitious airs", or gases, to treat consumptive patients. Supported by peers such as Erasmus Darwin and using applications designed for him by James Watt and other inventors, Beddoes combined technological innovation and gas inhalation in an attempt to cure his patients. Late in the decade Beddoes hired young Humphry Davy as his assistant; Davy quickly added nitrous oxide to the armamentarium. ⋯ Such intermittent experimentation continued in the United States and Europe until Horace Well's public demonstration of ether inhalation in January 1845. This paper describes how nitrous oxide inhalation survived in America through the work of Woodhouse and Wells. Traveling showmen like Samuel Colt and Gardner Quincy Colton demonstrated the gas' effects at popular lectures.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Cardiovascular reflexes during anesthesia induction and tracheal intubation in elderly patients: the influence of thoracic epidural anesthesia.
To determine whether thoracic epidural anesthesia performed prior to general anesthesia provides hemodynamic protection from the stress of laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation; to access the autonomic reflex response to epidural anesthesia, general anesthesia, and airway stimulation. ⋯ Thoracic epidural blockade combined with general anesthesia was associated with preserved baroreflex function, and it afforded hemodynamic protection during laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation.
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Clinical Trial
Computerized axial tomography to define the distribution of solution after stellate ganglion nerve block.
To define the spread of local anesthetic after C6 stellate ganglion nerve block using computerized axial tomography (CAT). ⋯ Solutions injected for C6 stellate ganglion nerve block concentrate medial to the stellate ganglion at T1. Thus, they must produce upper extremity sympathectomy by a mechanism other than contact with the ganglion.
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Hyskon, a distension medium composed of dextran 70 in 10% dextrose in water, is often used during hysteroscopic procedures. Coagulopathy and pulmonary edema are the most commonly reported side effects encountered during its use. We present the first case report in which a healthy patient developed pulmonary hemorrhage from Hyskon use. The major side effects of Hyskon are discussed, as are the possible etiologies of the reported complication and the implications for anesthesiologists.