Articles: general-anesthesia.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Jan 1997
Review Case ReportsPerioperative considerations in a newly described subtype of congenital long QT syndrome.
An infant with a newly-described subtype of congenital long QT syndrome is presented, along with her perioperative management on three separate occasions. During each anaesthetic characteristic arrhythmias occurred. The available literature and rational approaches to these high risk patients are reviewed.
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Anaesthesiol Reanim · Jan 1997
Review[Pharmacokinetics from the viewpoint of the clinical anesthetist].
Pharmacokinetics describes the time-depend course of plasma concentration of a drug. Pharmacodynamics describes the pharmacological effect of the substance. Both together form the pharmacological model used in clinical practice. ⋯ The main clinical use of pharmacokinetics is to sustain dosing schemes based on scientific data. It also may be helpful in creating new administration schemes especially for continuous infusion of intravenous hypnotics or analgetics. New developments such as Target-Controlled Infusion (TCI) are based on pharmacokinetic data and computations and may be an improvement for the clinically working anaesthetist.
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Anasthesiol Intensivmed Notfallmed Schmerzther · Jan 1997
Review[Damage due to patient positioning in anesthesia and surgical medicine (1)].
Positioning a patient for surgery requires great care and caution. Correct positioning provides the surgeon with good access to the site, minimizes blood loss and reduces the risk of damage to nerves, soft tissue, compartments and the cardio-pulmonary system. Each position has its specific risks. ⋯ The interdisciplinary responsibilities concerning the positioning must be clearly defined and it is essential that the documentation of positioning as well as the documentation of positioning control is carried out as accurately as possible. Correct positioning can effectively aid surgery. Slovenly positioning should not be accepted, as there is a high probability of ill effects, possibly of permanent damage.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Dec 1996
ReviewCurrent understanding of patients' attitudes toward and preparation for anesthesia: a review.
A number of issues relating to patient education in anesthesia have been addressed in this review and, based upon the available data, some questions can be answered clearly. It is apparent both that a large minority of the American, British, and Australian public is under the misconception that anesthesiologists are not physicians and that the role of the anesthesiologist, both in and out of the operating room, is not fully understood. Many surgical patients, particularly younger ones, have fears about the anesthetic that are distinct from their fears about the surgery, the most common of them relating to waking up prematurely or not at all. ⋯ Advances in surgical diagnosis and treatment and critical care have depended upon the development of anesthesia as a specialty. Our ability to continue to develop may depend upon our success in educating the public, politicians, and other health care professionals about what we do. The evaluation of educational methods for disseminating information about anesthesia thus may be important in determining the very future of our specialty and the quality of surgical and pain therapy that patients will receive.
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This paper discusses the ways in which anesthetic agents can be used to investigate the role of awareness in learning and memory. It reviews research into learning during light, subclinical anesthesia, termed hypesthesia. ⋯ Overall, these findings are consistent with the hypothesis (e.g., Caseley-Rondi, 1996) that frontal lobe function is particularly sensitive to anesthetics. They raise theoretical and practical questions about the necessity of consciousness for learning and about interpretation of the evidence for learning during surgery under general anesthesia.