Articles: general-anesthesia.
-
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Apr 1990
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialThe experience of the person ventilating the lungs does influence postoperative nausea and vomiting.
One hundred and ninety-eight patients undergoing elective abdominal hysterectomy were anaesthetized with isoflurane in nitrous oxide and oxygen. Ventilation before endotracheal intubation was carried out either by an experienced senior or by an inexperienced junior member of the anaesthetic team. ⋯ Patients whose lungs had been ventilated by experienced members of staff had significantly less (P less than 0.05 to 0.01) postoperative emesis in the recovery room (incidence of emesis 35%) and 2-6 h after operation (incidence 27%) when compared to patients whose lungs had been ventilated by inexperienced members of staff (incidence of emesis 54% and 40% in the recovery room and after 2 to 6 h, respectively). The results suggest that the experience of the person ventilating the lungs is associated with postoperative nausea and vomiting.
-
Narcotic analgesics, although frequently used in adult patients, are at present relatively minor drugs in pediatric anesthesia. This review discusses indications, clinical applications, and side effects of opiates for pre-medication, induction and maintenance of anesthesia, and postoperative pain therapy in infants and children. Opiates do not represent the agents at first choice for preoperative anxiolysis or amnesia. ⋯ It has been shown, however, that opiate-supplemented general anesthesia can be used for pediatric surgery in an equally effective and safe manner. Finally, there is an essential need for more narcotic analgesics in the treatment of early postoperative pain, when antipyretic-antiphlogistic analgesics alone prove ineffective. It thus seems that in pediatric anesthesia today opiates are prescribed at the wrong time and withheld when they are most urgently needed.
-
A computer-based system was developed for monitoring cardiac output using the Fick principle during general anesthesia. The variables of the oxygen-consumption Fick equation were measured using the following system: oxygen uptake by an originally developed respiratory gas monitoring system, arteriovenous oxygen saturation difference by pulse and fiberoptic oximetry, and hemoglobin concentration by an in vitro oximeter. Fick cardiac output and systemic vascular resistance were calculated every 30 seconds. ⋯ The Fick cardiac output was significantly lower than the thermodilution cardiac output, especially in the low flow range. We demonstrated that this new monitoring system was clinically feasible and sufficiently accurate, under the limited circumstances of our study. The integration of routinely used equipment has made possible a frequently repeatable method for estimating cardiac output in patients.
-
Pulmonary edema developing after the relief of upper airway obstruction has been reported in association with a diversity of etiologic factors, including hanging, strangulation, tumors, foreign bodies, goiter, and laryngospasm. Since 1977, 18 cases of adults with postobstructive pulmonary edema associated with anesthesia have been reported. ⋯ Risk factors for the development of upper airway obstruction have been identified in the majority of these cases. A heightened awareness among anesthesiologists of this poorly recognized and hence often perplexing syndrome may help reduce the occurrence and facilitate the treatment of this potential complication of perioperative airway management.
-
An 86-year-old man receiving antiarrhythmic treatment with an intravenous (IV) lidocaine infusion experienced a prolonged emergence from general anesthesia. A venous blood sample was sent for determination of the lidocaine concentration, the infusion was stopped, and the patient awakened 15 minutes later. ⋯ The overdose was the result of a miscalculated infusion rate, plus an underestimation of effects of age, cardiac disease, and general anesthesia on the rate of lidocaine biotransformation. Infusion of any drug during and after general anesthesia requires scrupulous attention to dosage determination and to the clinical condition of the patient receiving the infusion.