British journal of anaesthesia
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Comparison of the effects of thoracic epidural analgesia and i.v. infusion with lidocaine on cytokine response, postoperative pain and bowel function in patients undergoing colonic surgery.
Both thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) and i.v. lidocaine were able to decrease postoperative pain and duration of ileus. We compared TEA and i.v. lidocaine (IV) regarding their effects on cytokines, pain and bowel function after colonic surgery. ⋯ The TEA lidocaine had better pain relief, lower opioid consumption, earlier return of bowel function and lesser production of cytokines than IV lidocaine during 72 h after colonic surgery; IV group was better than the control group.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Hyperbaric articaine for day-case spinal anaesthesia.
Articaine and lidocaine are clinically very similar suggesting that articaine could be suitable for day-case spinal anaesthesia. A dose-response study with articaine in ambulatory spinal anaesthesia was therefore performed. ⋯ Hyperbaric articaine 60 and 84 mg resulted in spinal anaesthesia allowing surgery of the lower extremities for about 1 h. Recovery was rapid. Use of 108 mg of articaine is not recommended because of frequent extensive cephalad spread of the block, accompanied by arterial hypotension and nausea.
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Case Reports
Supraclavicular continuous peripheral nerve block in a wounded soldier: when ultrasound is the only option.
The complex nature of combat-related injuries requires frequent operative interventions and prolonged analgesic therapy. The application of continuous peripheral nerve block (CPNB) has been an important anaesthetic tool in the management of combat soldiers wounded from the current conflicts. ⋯ The use of ultrasound technology has improved our success in placing CPNB in the presence of such injuries. We report the application of ultrasound technology in placing CPNB in a combat-injured soldier, whose injuries precluded other CPNB options.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Tracheal intubation of morbidly obese patients: LMA CTrach vs direct laryngoscopy.
LMA CTrach (CT), a modified version of the intubating LMA Fastrach, allows continuous video-endoscopy of the tracheal intubation procedure. We tested the hypothesis that the CT is efficient for tracheal intubation of morbidly obese patients who are at risk of a difficult airway. ⋯ We demonstrated that the CT was an efficient airway device for ventilation and tracheal intubation in case of a difficult airway in morbidly obese patients.
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Automated indices derived from mid-latency auditory evoked potentials (MLAEP) have been proposed for monitoring the state of anaesthesia. The A-Line ARX index (AAI) has been implemented in the A-Line monitor (Danmeter, V1.4). Several studies have reported variable and, in awake patients, sometimes surprisingly low AAI values. The purpose of this study was to reproduce these findings under steady-state conditions and to investigate their causes. ⋯ The version of the A-Line monitor used in this study does not exclude contaminated MLAEP signals. Previous publications involving this version of the A-Line monitor (as opposed to the newer A-Line/2 monitor series) should be reassessed in the light of these findings. Before exclusively MLAEP-based monitors can be evaluated as suitable monitors of depth of anaesthesia, it is essential to ensure that inbuilt validity tests eliminate contaminated MLAEP signals.