Articles: general-anesthesia.
-
Rev Electroencephalogr Neurophysiol Clin · Jan 1977
[Monitoring the integrity of saccadic eye movements as a test of post-anaesthetic recovery (author's transl)].
After reviewing various tests of consciousness which can be used during the post-anaesthetic period, the authors chose to analyse the involvement of the visual receptor during different stages between sleep and complete recovery of consciousness, by an electro-oculographic (EOG) method, providing recordings of the displacement of the optical axis. In states of full consciousness the eye explores a static flat surface in saccades separated by pauses. ⋯ In a second group, the state of consciousness was monitored 2 hours after the last injection of the anaesthetic drug, so that correlations could be considered with the type of anaesthesia used. Th conclusion concerns the practical interest of the method (short term hospitalisation after general anaesthetic, medico-legal use due to the existence of a recording) and its basic use in the experimental study of new drugs in man.
-
Rev Electroencephalogr Neurophysiol Clin · Jan 1977
[An examination of current techniques in anaesthesia (author's transl)].
The techniques of general anaesthesia may be divided into 2 major groups: those used in very brief surgical or diagnostic operations and those used in longer and more pain-producing interventions. The former normally involve a single drug which is very short-acting and allows consciousness to be recovered rapidly and well. The latter are anaesthetics using several drugs together, which allows very precise control of the degree of analgesia, neuro-vegetative protection, muscle relaxation and sleep. ⋯ E. G. remains a technique of choice for studying recovery, and any sequels of hypoxia during the operation. This should, of course, be accompanied by a clinical evaluation which is particularly important in assessing the state of ventilation (residual curarisation, depression by central analgesics).
-
Serial invasive and noninvasive (systolic time interval) measurements of left ventricular performance were obtained in six healthy volunteers during general anesthesia employing the following sequence: thiopental induction, succinylcholine (prior to endotracheal intubation), and halothane--100 per cent oxygen at 1.25 and 1.75 MAC. Heart rate (HR), mean pulmonary arterial "wedge" pressure (PAW) and mean systemic arterial pressure (MAP) were measured continuously; cardiac index and systolic time intervals (STI's) were measured during each intervention. At both levels of halothane, MAP and stroke work index decreased (both P less than 0.02), while HR and systemic vascular resistance did not change. ⋯ This intervention resulted in a greater depression of cardiac performance than that observed at 1.75 MAC halothane alone. Although alterations in STI's were directionally similar to changes observed in invasive hemodynamic measurements, STI's were sensitive to acute alternations in loading conditions. It is concluded that the levels of halothane commonly employed for general anesthesia significantly depress left ventricular performance in normal subjects, as evidenced by abnormal responses to alterations in preload and afterload, and that STI's should not be employed for routine measurement of left ventricular performance during anesthesia unless both the afterload and the preload on the myocardium are known.
-
One hundred Nigerian patients presenting for emergency caesarian section were interviewed within the first 24 hours post-operatively. The purpose was to determine the incidence of awareness and dreams. ⋯ The incidence of awareness was 4% while the incidence of dreaming was 17%. Most (94%) of the patients said they dreamed only occasionally at home and of these, 15% claimed they dreamed more frequently when pregnant than when not pregnant.