Anesthesiology and pain medicine
-
Opium is a highly addictive agent and the most common narcotic often misused in Iran. The pharmacokinetic of anesthetic drugs in patients with opium addiction is one of the great challenges for anesthesiologists. Hemodynamic instability and postoperative side effects are of these challenges which should be managed correctly. ⋯ Premedication with clonidine in patients with and without opium addiction can be effective to decrease the incidence of shivering and recovery time after operation.
-
Various attempts have been made to reduce the incidence of fentanyl-induced cough during anesthesia induction. We hypothesized that an appropriate dose of propofol might suppress fentanyl-induced cough. ⋯ Priming dose of propofol (20mg) one minute prior to fentanyl injection was effective in suppressing a fentanyl-induced cough.
-
Placement of a Blalock-Taussig (BT) shunt is frequently performed for palliation of cyanotic congenital heart disease (CCHD). ⋯ Use of inhalational anesthesia has increased in adult cardiac surgery and has proved to reduce duration of elective ventilation, decrease ICU and hospital LOS, and mortality. Inhalational anesthetics are less well-studied in CCHD. In the current study, desflurane was chosen because of its low solubility, decreased recovery time and lack of metabolism or organ system toxicities. Although it is a popular belief that desflurane is associated with tachycardia and airway irritation, findings of the current study are consistent with those of the previous works demonstrating a lack of these side effects below 1 MAC3. No hemodynamic instability was encountered and there was no evidence that desflurane exerted a negative inotropic effect. Markers of cardio protection were not examined, although desflurane may have had a renal protective effect compared to narcotic technique. In the current study, a desflurane anesthetic for BT shunt decreased the duration of mechanical ventilation and ICU and hospital LOS by nearly three days, with no difference in perioperative morbidity or mortality. Larger studies are required to determine whether these changes result in overall decreased complication rate and morbidity/mortality and whether desflurane has a cardio or renal protective effect in the patient population.
-
Caesarian section is a commonplace surgery in females for which spinal anesthesia is the preferred method. The local anesthetic medications used in the surgery are often associated with complications such as nausea, vomiting, dyspnea, hypotension, and bradycardia. In the present study, we decreased the dose of the anesthetic drug and added an opioid instead. ⋯ It seems that reducing the lidocaine dose, when combined with sufentanil, decreases most complications of spinal anesthesia such as hypotension, dyspnea, nausea, and vomiting while preserving anesthesia quality.