British journal of anaesthesia
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We have measured serum procalcitonin (PCT) concentrations after cardiac surgery in 36 patients allocated to one of three groups: group 1, coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) (n = 12); group 2, CABG without CPB (n = 12); and group 3, valvular surgery with CPB (n = 12). Serum PCT and C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations were measured before operation, at the end of surgery and daily until postoperative day 8. Serum PCT concentrations increased, irrespective of the type of cardiac surgery, with maximum concentrations on day 1: mean 1.3 (SD 1.8), 1.1 (1.2) and 1.4 (1.2) ng ml-1 in groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively (ns). ⋯ The postoperative increase in CRP lasted longer than that of PCT. We conclude that SIRS induced by cardiac surgery, with and without CPB, influenced serum PCT concentrations with a moderate and transient postoperative peak on the first day after operation. A postoperative serum PCT concentration of more than 5 ng ml-1 is highly suggestive of a postoperative complication.
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We have investigated prospectively the incidence of bacterial contamination of 114 spinal and 20 epidural needles collected immediately after lumbar puncture of the subarachnoid or epidural space. Bacteriological examination revealed bacterial contamination of 24 (17.9%) of the needles, mainly coagulase-negative staphylococci (21; 15.7%) followed by yeasts (2; 1.5%), enterococcus (1; 0.8%), pneumococcus (1; 0.8%) and micrococcus (1; 0.8%). Our results suggest that even during aseptic puncture for lumbar anaesthesia, there is a significant rate of needle contamination.
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Ropivacaine is assumed to be less toxic than bupivacaine but there are no reports concerning its long-term use in paediatric anaesthesia. We report the use of ropivacaine for long-term epidural anaesthesia in a 21-month-old girl. In two consecutive periods of 3 days each, 0.5% bupivacaine and 0.5% or 0.75% ropivacaine were administered to facilitate painful vaginal brachytherapy. ⋯ No toxic side effects were observed. We conclude that both epidural ropivacaine and bupivacaine were effective and safe during long-term epidural anaesthesia in this particular case. However, the doses were potentially toxic and should therefore be used with extreme caution.
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Case Reports
Combined spinal-epidural in the obstetric patient with Harrington rods assisted by ultrasonography.
We describe a patient with severe scoliosis, which had been corrected partially with Harrington rods, who requested epidural analgesia for labour. With no palpable landmarks, the use of ultrasound enabled identification of the vertebral midline and allowed provision of regional anaesthesia.