Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Sep 2003
ReviewSevoflurane: an ideal agent for adult day-case anesthesia?
Sevoflurane has several properties which make it potentially useful as a day case anaesthetic. Following induction of anaesthesia with propofol, awakening from sevoflurane is faster compared to isoflurane, faster or similar compared to propofol and comparable (in the majority of studies) to desflurane. ⋯ When used as a maintenance anaesthetic, the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting after sevoflurane is comparable to other inhaled anaesthetics, but this complication appears more common after inhaled inductions. The tolerability and low solubility of sevoflurane facilitate titration of anaesthesia and may reduce the need for opioid analgesia, which in turn may limit the occurrence of nausea and vomiting.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Jan 2003
ReviewNeurologic deficits and arachnoiditis following neuroaxial anesthesia.
Of late, regional anesthesia has enjoyed unprecedented popularity; this increase in cases has brought a higher frequency of instances of neurological deficit and arachnoiditis that may appear as transient nerve root irritation, cauda equina, and conus medullaris syndromes, and later as radiculitis, clumped nerve roots, fibrosis, scarring dural sac deformities, pachymeningitis, pseudomeningocele, and syringomyelia, etc., all associated with arachnoiditis. Arachnoiditis may be caused by infections, myelograms (mostly from oil-based dyes), blood in the intrathecal space, neuroirritant, neurotoxic and/or neurolytic substances, surgical interventions in the spine, intrathecal corticosteroids, and trauma. Regarding regional anesthesia in the neuroaxis, arachnoiditis has resulted from epidural abscesses, traumatic punctures (blood), local anesthetics, detergents, antiseptics or other substances unintentionally injected into the spinal canal. ⋯ Burning severe pain in the lower back and lower extremities, dysesthesia and numbness not following the usual dermatome distribution, along with bladder, bowel and/or sexual dysfunction, are the most common symptoms of direct trauma to the spinal cord. Such patients should be subjected to a neurological examination followed by an MRI of the effected area. Further spinal procedures are best avoided and the prompt administration of IV corticosteroids and NSAIDs need to be considered in the hope of preventing the inflammatory response from evolving into the proliferative phase of arachnoiditis.