Anesthesiology
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Fetal and maternal effects of phenylephrine and ephedrine during spinal anesthesia for cesarean delivery.
In our routine practice, we observed a reduced incidence of fetal acidosis (umbilical artery pH < 7.20) at cesarean delivery during spinal anesthesia when a combination of phenylephrine and ephedrine was used as first line vasopressor therapy, compared with using ephedrine alone. ⋯ Giving phenylephrine alone by infusion at cesarean delivery was associated with a lower incidence of fetal acidosis and maternal nausea and vomiting than giving ephedrine alone. There was no advantage to combining phenylephrine and ephedrine because it increased nausea and vomiting, and it did not further improve fetal blood gas values, compared with giving phenylephrine alone.
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Multicenter Study
Evaluation of anesthesia residents using mannequin-based simulation: a multiinstitutional study.
Anesthesia simulators can generate reproducible, standardized clinical scenarios for instruction and evaluation purposes. Valid and reliable simulated scenarios and grading systems must be developed to use simulation for evaluation of anesthesia residents. ⋯ Numerous management errors were identified in this study of anesthesia residents from 10 institutions. Further attention to these problems may benefit residency training since advanced residents continued to make these errors. Evaluation of anesthesia residents using mannequin-based simulators shows promise, adding a new dimension to current assessment methods. Further improvements are necessary in the simulation scenarios and grading criteria before mannequin-based simulation is used for accreditation purposes.
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Despite improvements in neonatal heart surgery, neurologic complications continue to occur from low-flow cardiopulmonary bypass (LF-CPB) and deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA). Desflurane confers neuroprotection against ischemia at normothermia and for DHCA. This study compared neurologic outcome of a desflurane-based with a fentanyl-based anesthetic for LF-CPB. ⋯ Desflurane improved neurologic outcome following LF-CPB compared with F/D in piglets, indicated by less functional disability and less histologic damage, especially with Des9. Desflurane may have produced cardiac protection, suggested by a lower incidence of ventricular fibrillation.
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Acoustic reflectometry allows the construction of a one-dimensional image of a cavity, such as the airway or the esophagus. The reflectometric area-distance profile consists of a constant cross-sectional area segment (length of endotracheal tube), followed either by a rapid increase in the area beyond the carina (tracheal intubation) or by an immediate decrease in the area (esophageal intubation). ⋯ Acoustic reflectometry is a rapid, noninvasive method by which to determine whether breathing tube placement is correct (tracheal) or incorrect (esophageal). Reflectometry determination of tube placement may be useful in airway emergencies, particularly in cases where visualization of the glottic area is not possible and capnography may fail, as in patients with cardiac arrest.
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Both pain and the pharmacologic management of pain can cause the undesirable effect of sleep disruption. One goal of basic and clinical neuroscience is to facilitate rational drug development by identifying the brain regions and neurochemical modulators of sleep and pain. Adenosine is thought to be an endogenous sleep promoting substance and adenosinergic compounds can contribute to pain management. In the pontine brain stem adenosine promotes sleep but the effects of pontine adenosine on pain have not been studied. This study tested the hypothesis that an adenosine agonist would cause antinociception when microinjected into pontine reticular formation regions that regulate sleep. ⋯ These preclinical data encourage additional research on the cellular mechanisms by which adenosine in the pontine reticular formation contributes to the supraspinal modulation of pain.