British journal of anaesthesia
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Paediatric anaesthesia is made easier and safer by use of the correct equipment. The widening range and increasing complexity of available apparatus makes it essential for the anaesthetist to judge which items are most useful in any individual case. As a general rule, the simplest pieces of equipment are the most reliable and among the most useful.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Continuous monitoring of blood glucose concentration during open-heart surgery.
Continuous monitoring of blood glucose concentration was compared with frequent intermittent sampling in 12 non-diabetic adult patients undergoing open-heart surgery with cardiopulmonary by-pass using priming fluids free of glucose. Continuous monitoring revealed several changes which were not detected on intermittent sampling. ⋯ Rewarming from hypothermic by-pass was associated with a 3 (+/- 0.5)-mmol litre-1 increase in blood glucose concentration (P less than 0.01). Commencement of infusions of sympathomimetic agents resulted in a similar increase.
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Twelve patients (4.3-25.3 kg) undergoing minor surgical procedures were investigated during halothane anaesthesia with spontaneous breathing through a modified T-piece (Mapleson F) with an apparatus deadspace that could be changed from 2 ml (VDsmall) to 16 ml (VDlarge). Immediately following the switch from VDsmall to Vlarge ETCO2 (mean +/- 1 SD) increased from 6.89 +/- 1.09% to 7.61 +/- 1.14% (ns) then gradually decreased during a 10-min period. The initial plateau of FlCO2 (mean +/- 1 SD) with VDlarge was 0.74 +/- 0.34%, but gradually decreased to 0.63 +/- 0.25% after 10 min. ⋯ After 10 min VE had increased by more than 40% (P less than 0.01) as a result of an increase in VT (mean +/- 1 SD) of 14.6 +/- 6.5 ml. After 10 min of VDlarge ventilation, VA and VCO2 were maintained at VDsmall values. The adequate ventilatory response to the large deadspace was seen in all patients, but the ventilatory efficiency, as judged by VD/VT and VENCO2 ratios, was reduced significantly in the children weighing less than 10 kg.