Anesthesiology
-
To evaluate physiologic responses to mild perianesthetic hypothermia, we measured tympanic membrane and skin-surface temperatures, peripheral vasoconstriction, thermal comfort, and muscular activity in nine healthy male volunteers. Each volunteer participated on three separate days: 1) normothermic isoflurane anesthesia; 2) hypothermic isoflurane anesthesia (1.5 degrees C decrease in central temperature); and 3) hypothermia alone (1.5 degrees C decrease in central temperature) induced by iced saline infusion. Involuntary postanesthetic muscular activity was considered thermoregulatory when preceded by central hypothermia and peripheral cutaneous vasoconstriction. ⋯ Tonic waxing-and-waning was by far the most common pattern and resembled that produced by cold-induced shivering in unanesthetized volunteers; it appears to be thermoregulatory shivering triggered by hypothermia. Spontaneous clonus resembled flexion-induced clonus and pathologic clonus and did not occur during hypothermia alone; it may represent abnormal shivering or an anesthetic-induced modification of normal shivering. We conclude that among the three patterns of muscular activity, only the synchronous, tonic waxing-and-waning pattern can be attributed to normal thermoregulatory shivering.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Postoperative analgesia by intravenous clonidine.
Clonidine, an alpha 2 adrenoreceptor agonist, has nonopiate antinociceptive properties, which might be an alternative for postoperative analgesia free of opioid-induced side effects. To document the analgesic properties of intravenous clonidine during the postoperative period, 50 ASA physical status 1 patients, immediately after spinal fusion, were randomly assigned to two groups, blindly administered either clonidine (5 micrograms/kg infused the 1st h and then 0.3 microgram-1.kg-1.h-1 during 11 h) or a placebo. A visual analog scale graded from 0 (no pain) to 100 mm was used to assess pain before clonidine or placebo administration (T0), at the end of the loading dose (T1) and then every 2 h (T3, T5, T7, T9, and T11). ⋯ The pain score decreased from 42 +/- 5 to 26 +/- 3 mm (mean +/- standard error) in the clonidine group whereas it was unchanged in the placebo group despite a greater morphine requirement (dose for each patient: 3.8 +/- 1 vs. 10.8 +/- 1.2 mg). Clonidine delayed the onset of pain and the first request for morphine injection. Mean arterial pressure decreased to 74 +/- 2 mmHg in the clonidine group (-26 +/- 2 vs. -15 +/- 2% in the placebo group at T11) despite a significant increase in the cumulative fluid volume.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Combined epidural and general anesthesia versus general anesthesia for abdominal aortic surgery.
The goal of this randomized study of high-risk surgical patients was to determine whether intraoperative thoracic epidural anesthesia in combination with light general anesthesia alters postoperative morbidity when compared to a standard technique of "balanced" general anesthesia. A total of 173 patients scheduled for abdominal aortic reconstruction were admitted to the study; 86 were to receive "balanced" general anesthesia (group 1) and 87 thoracic epidural anesthesia in combination with light general anesthesia (group 2). Preoperative evaluation included standard clinical tools, dipyridamole thallium gammatomography, and radionuclide angiography. ⋯ In group 2, 6 patients with a nonfunctioning epidural catheter due to technical failure received a balanced general anesthesia and were eliminated from the study. During the postoperative period, group 2 received analgesia of subcutaneous morphine (n = 26), epidural fentanyl (n = 25), or epidural bupivacaine (n = 30). Cardiovascular morbidity did not differ between the two groups: 22 patients in group 1 and 19 patients in group 2 had a major postoperative cardiac event.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
-
Differences in cerebral blood flow (CBF) between alpha-stat and pH-stat management depend on preserved responsiveness of the cerebral vasculature to changes in arterial carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2). We tested the hypothesis that hypothermia-induced reductions in CBF would decrease the CBF response to changing PaCO2 (delta CBF/delta PaCO2). Anesthetized New Zealand white rabbits were randomly assigned to one of three temperature groups--group 1 (37 degrees C, n = 9); group 2 (31 degrees C, n = 10); or group 3 (25 degrees C, n = 10)--and were cooled using cardiopulmonary bypass. ⋯ Prior normothermic studies have found delta CBF/delta PaCO2 to be proportional to CBF. Nevertheless, in this study, with hypothermia-induced reductions in CBF, delta CBF/delta PaCO2 was not significantly different between temperature groups. Thus, hypothermia either increased the sensitivity of the cerebral vasculature to carbon dioxide and/or increased the effective level of cerebrospinal fluid respiratory acidosis produced by each increment of temperature-corrected PaCO2.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
-
Maldistribution of local anesthetic administered through a subarachnoid catheter recently has been implicated as a possible cause of sacral root injury. To examine subarachnoid distribution of catheter-injected local anesthetic, we constructed a model of the subarachnoid space and administered solutions containing lidocaine and methylene blue through sacrally directed catheters. We studied three catheters: a 28-G endport, a 20-G endport, and a 20-G multiple sideport. ⋯ Differences in peak lidocaine concentration between the two 20-G catheters were neither large nor consistent. However, despite sacral placement, the multiple-sideport catheter distributed anesthetic toward "higher" spinal segments more consistently. Distribution was more favorable when the injected solution was less dense (closer to isobaric).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)