British journal of anaesthesia
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of oral gabapentin on postoperative epidural analgesia.
Gabapentin has been used successfully as a non-opioid analgesic adjuvant for postoperative pain management. We hypothesized that gabapentin might be a useful adjuvant for postoperative analgesia provided with patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA). ⋯ Oral gabapentin (1.2 g day(-1)) as an adjunct to epidural analgesia decreased pain and analgesic consumption. Despite an increased incidence of dizziness it also increased patient satisfaction.
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Case Reports
Reversible nitrous oxide myelopathy and a polymorphism in the gene encoding 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase.
We present a case of a patient who received nitrous oxide on two occasions within a period of 8 weeks and who subsequently developed a diffuse myelopathy, characterized by upper extremity paresis, lower extremity paraplegia and neurogenic bladder. Laboratory testing revealed hyperhomocysteinaemia and low levels of vitamin B(12). Because of this uncommon clinical presentation, we analysed the patient's DNA, and found a polymorphism in the MTHFR gene that is associated with the thermolabile isoform of the 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase enzyme, which explained the myelopathy experienced by the patient after being exposed to nitrous oxide. Soon after initiating supplementary therapy with folic acid and vitamin B(12), the neurological symptoms subsided.
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Alveolar recruitment is one of the primary goals of respiratory care for acute lung injury. It is aimed at improving pulmonary gas exchange and, even more important, at protecting the lungs from ventilator-induced trauma. ⋯ It provides reasons for why atelectasis and atelectrauma should be avoided; it analyses current and future approaches on how to achieve and preserve alveolar recruitment; and it discusses the possibilities of detecting alveolar recruitment and derecruitment. The latter is of particular clinical relevance because interventions aimed at lung recruitment are often undertaken without simultaneous verification of their effectiveness.
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We developed a non-invasive, continuous, high-resolution method of measuring carboxyhaemoglobin fraction (COHb%) using expiratory gas analysis (EGA). We assessed whether application of EGA to carboxyhaemoglobin dilution provides red cell volume (RCV) measurement with accuracy equivalent to that of CO-haemoximetry, with a smaller infusion volume of carbon-monoxide-saturated autologous blood (COB). Method. We assessed the agreement between repeated COHb% measurements by EGA and simultaneous measurement by CO-haemoximetry, using Bland and Altman plot, in healthy subjects and patients with artificially controlled ventilation and no radiological evidence of pulmonary oedema or atelectasis. We assessed the agreement between RCV measurements by EGA with infusion of 20 ml of COB (RCVEGA) and RCV measurements by CO-haemoximetry with infusion of 100 ml of COB (RCVHEM), in healthy subjects. ⋯ EGA provided non-invasive, accurate, continuous, high-resolution COHb% measurements. Applying EGA to carboxyhaemoglobin dilution, we achieved RCV measurements with accuracy equivalent to that of CO-haemoximetry, with one-fifth of the COB infusion volume. However, clinical application of the method is limited to patients with no radiological evidence of pulmonary oedema or atelectasis.
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The transient effects of epidural bupivacaine 0.25-0.5% on the Doppler velocimetry of umbilical and uterine arteries had been reported, but the effects of continuous lower dose epidural bupivacaine (0.05-0.1%) infusion for labour analgesia have never been reported. In this study, we evaluated the effects of continuous epidural bupivacaine 0.075% on the Doppler velocimetry of uterine arteries. ⋯ Continuous epidural analgesia with bupivacaine 0.075% increases the resistance of uterine artery and therefore possibly reduces the uterine blood flow.