Anaesthesia
-
Forty anaesthetists, of all grades, were interviewed without prior warning and questioned about the checks they had performed on their anaesthetic equipment before use. The results reveal that a substantial percentage (up to 41%) of anaesthetists perform inadequate checks. Furthermore, of those that do, few follow the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland's recent guidelines.
-
This study was designed to evaluate the routine use of a gum elastic bougie for tracheal intubation. The median time to intubation with the gum elastic bougie while simulating an 'epiglottis only' view was only 10 s longer than the time taken during conventional intubation with an optimum view. ⋯ There was no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative sore throat and hoarseness between the two groups. We recommend that anaesthetists should use the gum elastic bougie whenever a good view of the glottis is not immediately obtained.
-
Clinical and fibreoptic assessment of positioning of the size 1 laryngeal mask airway was performed in 50 infants. A clinically patent airway was obtained in 47 patients at the first attempt, but perfect positioning, as assessed by fibreoptic laryngoscopy, was found in only 22 instances. Despite an airway initially patent, delayed airway obstruction occurred in 12 infants. It is concluded that clinical airway patency does not guarantee ideal positioning of LMA in infants, and that care should be taken to ensure continued airway patency because of the tendency of the LMA position to deteriorate in this group of children.
-
The authors have examined early records of the administration of ether anaesthesia in Manchester and the lives of several medical men involved in these events. Charles Strange, a dentist and chemist, in a letter to the Manchester Guardian published on 14 January 1847, described a self-administration of ether for dental extraction, but George Bowring, a surgeon, subsequently claimed the first anaesthetic administered by a doctor in Manchester. The merits of these claims are discussed in the light of the circumstances surrounding these events.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Local anaesthetic: does it really reduce the pain of insertion of all sizes of venous cannula?
A recent study performed in this department showed that a subcutaneous injection of local anaesthetic was significantly less painful than the insertion of a 22-gauge venous cannula. However, our colleagues remained sceptical that local anaesthetic infiltration would eliminate the pain of cannulation. ⋯ The results show that pain of cannulation is significantly (p < 0.003) reduced after subcutaneous infiltration with 1% lignocaine when compared to cannulation without local infiltration. Persistent discomfort at the site of cannulation was eliminated by the use of local anaesthetic.