Indian journal of anaesthesia
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Neuraxial anaesthesia, despite being a common technique, may pose some technical challenges leading to complications such as post-dural puncture headache, trauma to neural structures and neuraxial haematoma. We hypothesised that the interspinous gap (ISG) and the spinous process width (SPW) could be used as objective measures to predict ease of access to the neuraxial space. ⋯ The single independent predictor of ease or difficulty during spinal anaesthesia was the ISG (P=0.000).
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Closed loop anaesthesia delivery systems (CLADSs) are a recent advancement in accurate titration of anaesthetic drugs. They have been shown to be superior in maintaining adequate depth of anaesthesia with few fluctuations as compared with target-controlled infusion or manual titration of drug delivery. ⋯ The study demonstrates the safety of our CLADS at high altitude. It seeks to extend the use of our system in challenging anaesthesia environments. The system performance was also adequate and no adverse events were recorded.
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Regional analgesia is widely used for total knee replacement surgeries (TKR) as it has lesser side-effects and better analgesic efficacy when compared with traditional oral analgesics. Peripheral nerve blockade has also been utilized, including continuous infusion techniques. With the use of ultrasound, the needle and catheter placement can be done accurately under real-time guidance. This may prove a more suitable approach compared with the epidural technique. ⋯ VAS scores were significantly high (P=0.001) in the femoral group at 6 h, after which there was a declining trend, and scores were essentially similar from 24 h. Common side-effects were more common in the CEA group. Our study shows that CFB gives equivalent analgesia compared with CEA in TKR patients with clinically meaningful decrease in side-effects.
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Paediatric patients often present with different painful conditions that require immediate surgical interventions. Despite a plethora of articles on the ketamine-propofol combination, comprehensive evidence regarding the suitable sedoanalgesia regime is lacking due to heterogeneity in study designs. ⋯ The combination of low-dose ketamine and propofol is more effective and a safer sedoanalgesia regimen than the propofol-fentanyl combination in paediatric emergency short surgical procedures in terms of haemodynamic stability and lesser incidence of apnoea.
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Some factors have been identified as contributing to medical errors, such as labels, appearance and location of ampoules. We present a case of accidental injection of tranexamic acid instead of Bupivacaine during spinal anaesthesia. One minute after the injection of 3 mL of the solution, the patient developed myoclonus of her lower extremities. ⋯ Her myoclonus was successfully treated with phenytoin, sodium valproate, thiopental sodium infusion, midazolam infusion and supportive care of haemodynamic and respiratory systems. The surgery was temporarily deferred. The patient's condition progressively improved to full recovery.