Anaesthesia
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Clinical evaluation of stethoscope-guided inflation of tracheal tube cuffs.
Tracheal tube cuffs are commonly inflated to pressures exceeding the recommended upper limit of 30 cmH(2)O. We evaluated whether a stethoscope-guided method of cuff inflation results in pressures within the recommended range. Patients were randomly assigned to receive one of two methods of cuff inflation. ⋯ Twenty-five patients were recruited to each group. The median (IQR [range]) cuff pressure in the 'just seal' group was 34 (28-40 [18-49]) cmH(2)O, and in the stethoscope-guided group was 20 (20-26 [16-28]) cmH(2)O, p < 0.0001. The stethoscope-guided method of tracheal tube cuff inflation is a novel, simple technique that reliably results in acceptable tracheal cuff pressures.
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Evidence suggests that anaesthetists' communication can affect patient experience. There is a lack of guidance for anaesthetists as to the optimal verbal communication to use during insertion of epidurals on the labour ward. ⋯ Individual anaesthetists differed markedly in their use of positive and negative verbal language. This classification of verbal communication that we produced may be of value in future training and research of verbal communication used by anaesthetists on the labour ward.
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The purpose of this study was to assess whether ultrasonography is useful for determining uncuffed tracheal tube sizes for paediatric patients. The equation for selecting the correctly sized tracheal tube was developed using data on the subglottic diameter measured by ultrasonography and air leak test. The efficacy of the new equation was evaluated by comparing it with the conventional age-based formula (4 + age/4) in another 100 patients. ⋯ The ultrasonographic method allowed the correct tube size to be selected in 60% of cases, whereas the age-based method enabled this in 31% of cases (p < 0.001). Ultrasound can offer a useful means of selecting correct tracheal tube size compared with the age-based formula in paediatric patients. However, even using ultrasound, the success rate of correct tube size selection is still not very high.
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Intra-operative hypotension is a frequent occurrence during anaesthesia for hip fracture surgery in older patients with co-morbidities. We analysed retrospective data from the Brighton Hip Fracture Database to determine the intra-operative fall in systolic blood pressure, and the incidence of absolute (lowest systolic blood pressure < 90 mmHg) and relative (> 20% fall in systolic blood pressure from baseline) hypotension during general or spinal anaesthesia among 1131 non-consecutive patients with hip fracture. ⋯ Both mean (SD) intravenous fluid administration (1097 ml (439) vs 1431 ml (638), p < 0.0001) and mean peri-operative fall in haemoglobin concentration (2.1 (1.8) g.dl(-1) vs 2.6 (1.7) g.dl(-1), p = 0.009) were lower in the low-dose spinal group. If these data are confirmed by other researchers, intra-operative hypotension (and consequent haemodilution secondary to reactive fluid administration) in this patient group may be reduced by the simple expedient of administering more cautious general anaesthesia, or reduced volumes of subarachnoid local anaesthetic.