Acta clinica Croatica
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Acta clinica Croatica · Mar 2016
ReviewSIMPLE, TIMELY, SAFELY? LARYNGEAL MASK AND PEDIATRIC AIRWAY.
Laryngeal mask airway (LMA) was a useful, powerful airway management device for routine pediatric airway management, pediatric difficult airway, and in pediatric emergency situations. Over years, various designs, induction and insertion techniques have been described. LMA provides ease of placement and removal as compared with endotracheal intubation, less traumatism for the respiratory tract, better tolerability by patients, improved hemodynamic stability during emergency, less coughing, less sore throat, avoidance of laryngoscopy, and hands free airway. ⋯ On the other hand, pediatric airway management is a great challenge for anesthesiologists working in departments with a small number of pediatric surgical procedures. Careful preoperative evaluation, preparation and training in the recognition of challenges in pediatric airway are essential for the management of the airway in children. LMA plays a special role in the management of difficult pediatric airway; as a supraglottic airway device, it is incorporated into difficult pediatric airway algorithms.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Mar 2016
Case ReportsLARYNGEAL CHONDROSARCOMA: SUCCESSFUL USE OF VIDEO LARYNGOSCOPE IN ANTICIPATED DIFFICULT AIRWAY MANAGEMENT.
Laryngeal chondrosarcoma is a rare mesenchymal tumor, most frequently affecting cricoid cartilage. The objective of this report is to present successful video laryngoscope usage in a patient with anticipated difficult airway who refused awake fiberoptic endotracheal intubation (AFOI). A 59-year-old male patient was admitted in our hospital due to difficulty breathing and swallowing. ⋯ Reinforced endotracheal tube (6.0 mm internal diameter) was placed gently between the tumor mass and the posterior wall of the trachea in the first attempt. Confirmation of endotracheal intubation was done by capnography. In a patient with subglottic area chondrosarcoma refusing PEAE and AFOI, video laryngoscope is a particularly helpful device for difficult airway management when difficult airway is anticipated.
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The Macintosh laryngoscope has been the most widely used device for intubation since its invention by Foregger in the 1940s. Recently, video and optic laryngoscopy assisted tracheal intubation has been used widely in patients with difficult airways. ⋯ This review will summarize some of the newly available devices to assist tracheal intubation, with their advantages and disadvantages when compared with conventional laryngoscopes. It also presents the reasons to support their use in both elective and emergency airway management.
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Airway management is basic for anesthesia practice, and sometimes it can represent a really dramatic scenario for both the patient and the physicians. Laryngoscopy has been the gold standard of airway visualization for more than 60 years, showing its limitations and failure rates with time. ⋯ Nevertheless, each new technology needs time to be tested and considered reliable, and pitfalls and limitations may come out with careful and long lasting analysis, so it is probably not the right time yet to promote video assisted approach as a new gold standard for airway visualization, despite the fact that it certainly offers some new prospects. In any case, whatever the visualization approach, no patient dies because of missed airway visualization or failed intubation, but due to failed ventilation, which remains without doubt the gold standard of any patient safety goal and airway management technique.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Mar 2016
Multicenter StudyVERTEBRAL OSTEOMYELITIS IN ADULT PATIENTS--CHARACTERISTICS AND OUTCOME.
The aim of the study was to assess disease characteristics and outcome in patients with vertebral osteomyelitis (VO). A two medical centre retrospective cohort study was performed by chart review after discharge of 110 patients with confirmed VO treated during a 5-year period. Patients were divided in two groups: patients with uncomplicated VO and patients with complicated VO. ⋯ High CCI scores were more frequently associated with positive blood cultures due to bacteremia because of impaired immunity. Patients with complicated VO were longer treated with antibiotics parenterally and more often surgically treated for phlegmon and abscess formation. Liver cirrhosis and degenerative spine disease, which were more often found in patients with complicated VO, obviously impacted the course of the disease.