Anaesthesiologie und Reanimation
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EEG and multimodal evoked potentials are currently the most frequently used methods of brain functioning monitoring in severely acute primary or secondary brain damage. Development or regression of brain function disturbances can be reliably assessed in this way. The methods are suitable for early diagnosis of intracranial complications and contribute to diagnosis of irreversible loss of cerebral function. ⋯ EEG and evoked potentials can be monitored at the bed-site. If there are no technical facilities for long-term EEG monitoring, repeated conventional single tracings are of value in these cases. When both the acoustic evoked brain stem potentials and the early somatosensory potentials are to be examined, the possibility exists to differentiate between hemispheric and brain stem damage and to use these results for prognosis assessment.
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Following a short review of the history of regional anaesthesia in children the anatomical and physiological differences to the adult are discussed. The procedure used for instituting a regional block in combination with light general anaesthesia is described. ⋯ With the aid of an electric nerve stimulator it is possible to perform peripheral nerve blocks without the need for child cooperation. The continuous caudal technique in which catheters can be advanced to upper thoracic levels in neonates and young infants, in contrast to adults, is discussed in detail.