Anaesthesiologie und Reanimation
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Anaesthesiol Reanim · Jan 1995
Review Comparative Study[Treatment of postoperative pain with peridural administration of opioids].
The advantages and disadvantages associated with epidural opioids require careful selection of the opioid and its dose regimen. There is no ideal opioid available for epidural use. Comparative pharmacokinetic data help selection of the appropriate epidural opioid. ⋯ Nalbuphine and butorphanol should not be selected for epidural use until the benefit/risk ratio is defined. The safety of patients is paramount. If patients are harmed by inappropriate opioids or dose regimens, this will unjustly discredit a valuable treatment of postoperative pain.
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In obstetric anaesthesia, general anaesthesia combined with endotracheal intubation, spinal anaesthesia and peridural anaesthesia is used. The main risks of general anaesthesia are: difficult intubation, aspiration of acid gastric content in non-fasting patients, depression of the fetus with narcotics and the occurrence of awareness of the mother. ⋯ The specific risks of peridural anaesthesia are: maternal hypotension, the possibility of inadvertent intravenous injection of local anaesthetics leading to cardiac and cerebral intoxication, inadvertent intrathecal application of local anaesthetics followed by total spinal block which requires reanimation and inadvertent dura perforation followed by long-lasting headache. Most anaesthesia-related maternal deaths by far occur during Caesarean section performed under general anaesthesia, but at present there is no clear evidence that the anaesthetic risk of spinal or peridural anaesthesia, on the one hand, is lower than that one of general anaesthesia, on the other.
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Anaesthesiol Reanim · Jan 1994
Review[The present possibilities for routine use of blood-saving measures from the anesthesiologic point of view--theoretical basis and clinical practice. I. Potential risks of homologous transfusion; normovolemic hemodilution].
This paper, which is the first part of four, deals with the potential risks of homologous blood transfusion as well as with normovolemic hemodilution, an autologous transfusion method, which is easily to be applied and not expensive. Although the various methods of autologous transfusion are well known for many years the public discussion on the "AIDS-topic" has led to a growing interest in blood-saving measures. However, in contrast to the so-called "AIDS-topic" the potential risks of a transfusion-transmitted hepatitis as well as the immunologic effects of homologous blood are of much greater importance. ⋯ Moreover, drug-induced stimulation of the erythropoiesis by means of erythropoietin and the additional (intravenous) administration of iron may become a further component among autologous transfusion methods. Normovolemic hemodilution means exchange of autologous blood versus an artificial colloid. To make sure for normovolemia is to be considered a "conditio sine qua non" for "functioning" of normovolemic hemodilution.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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For an exact evaluation of the risks of operations it is necessary to assess both co-existing and concomitant diseases before the performance of anaesthesia. The relatively low incidence of neurological and muscular diseases (0.02 to 0.7/1,000) and the low probability of an operation of a patient suffering from these diseases lead to higher anaesthesiological risks during the operation and the perioperative period. The anaesthetist is usually not always aware of all the special pathophysiological problems which have to be taken into consideration when these patients have to be anaesthetized. In order to reduce the risk of anaesthesia of these patients, we discuss the most important of these uncommon neurological diseases regarding their special anaesthesiological management.
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Anaesthesiol Reanim · Jan 1993
Review[The importance of neuromuscular monitoring during anesthesia for neuroradiologic diagnosis].
Muscle relaxants are essential in anaesthesia for neuroradiological diagnosis. In addition, neurosurgical and neurological patients often face, because of their basic illness, respiratory danger, which can increase postoperatively through the use of muscle relaxants during anaesthesia. Because of their pharmacodynamic properties and side-effects, muscle relaxants must be clearly differentiated from one another and used selectively for the different phases of anaesthesia-intubation, calmness during examination and recovery from neuromuscular block with extubation. ⋯ For investigations with planned extubation, only the muscle relaxants atracurium and vecuronium with their medium-long effect should be applied. A high degree of safety is provided by neuromuscular block and especially in the recovery phase. Using relaxometers it is possible to determine individual relaxant requirements, avoid under- and overdoses, carry out an antagonism at the correct time and prevent residual relaxation situations so that respiratory insufficiency can be reliably excluded.