Saudi journal of anaesthesia
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The prevalence of nosocomial infection is higher in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) than other areas of the hospital. The present observational study was undertaken to describe the epidemiology and characteristics of nosocomial infections acquired in a tertiary care ICU and the impact of the various risk factors in their causation. ⋯ The study demonstrated a high incidence of nosocomial infection in the ICU and identified the risk factors for acquisition of nosocomial infections in the ICU.
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Prophylactic administrations of ondansetron or phenylephrine have been reported to provide a protective effect against hypotension in women undergoing cesarean delivery under spinal anesthesia (SA). The main hypothesis is that ondansetron improves the hemodynamic response, especially combined with phenylephrine infusion. ⋯ A 50 μg/min phenylephrine infusion reduces by 50%, the incidence of maternal hypotension compared with placebo, but infusions of phenylephrine are still not routine in our environment. Prophylactic ondansetron 8 mg might be considered in this situation, because it does not reduce the incidence of maternal hypotension but diminishes its severity, reducing the number of hypotensive events per patient by 50%.
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Local anesthetic infiltration for medical thoracoscopy has an analgesic properties for short duration. Single injection thoracic paravertebral block (PVB) provides limited analgesia. ⋯ Unilateral 3-level TPVB was superior to 2-level TPVB and LA infiltration for anesthetic adequacy for patients undergoing medical thoracoscopy. Moreover, US-guided TPVB was followed by higher FEV1 values and lower pain scores during the next 12 h postthoracoscopy in comparison to local infiltration, so 3-level TPVB is an effective and relatively safe anesthetic technique for adult patients undergoing medical thoracoscopy which may replace local anesthesia.
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Although the Nuss procedure provides excellent cosmetic results for the correction of pectus excavatum, the provision of analgesia following such procedures can be challenging. ⋯ The use of regional anesthesia should be considered a viable option for the relief of postoperative pain in pediatric patients following the Nuss procedure albeit with a higher incidence of intraoperative hemodynamic effects. A randomized, prospective, study powered to compare all 3 techniques against one another would be necessary to confirm the significance of these findings.