Anesthesiology
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
A randomized comparison of intravenous versus lumbar and thoracic epidural fentanyl for analgesia after thoracotomy.
Administration of large doses of fentanyl is a popular method to provide postoperative analgesia after thoracotomy. It is however unclear whether epidural lumbar (L) or epidural thoracic (T) administration of fentanyl confers any major advantage over intravenous (iv) infusion. Using a randomized prospective study design, we compared the potential benefits of L, T, and iv fentanyl administration after thoracotomy in 50 patients. ⋯ There was no difference between the groups in overall quality of analgesia at rest and after coughing, quantity of fentanyl delivered (L = 1.15 +/- 0.38, T = 1.22 +/- 0.23, iv = 1.27 +/- 0.3 micrograms.kg-1.h-1), incidence of pruritus needing treatment (L = 2, T = 1, iv = 0 patients), need to decrease fentanyl infusion rate because of side effects (L = 2, T = 2, iv = 4 patients), importance of pulmonary infiltrates, or arterial blood gas values. One patient (L group) needed naloxone (0.04 mg iv). Intravenous patients were more frequently nauseated (P = .009) and needed boluses of fentanyl more often (L = 3 +/- 9, iv = 6 +/- 12, T = 4 +/- 8; P = .04).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Morphine and hydromorphone epidural analgesia. A prospective, randomized comparison.
Because evidence from uncontrolled, unblinded studies suggested fewer side effects from epidural hydromorphone than from epidural morphine, we employed a randomized, blinded study design to compare the side effects of lumbar epidural morphine and hydromorphone in 55 adult, non-obstetric patients undergoing major surgical procedures. A bolus dose of epidural study drug was given at least 1 h prior to the conclusion of surgery, followed by a continuous infusion of the same drug for two postoperative days. Infusions were titrated to patient comfort. ⋯ Prevalence of pruritus, however, differed significantly on postoperative day 1, with moderate to severe pruritus reported by 44.4% of patients in the morphine group versus 11.5% in the hydromorphone group (P < .01). On post-operative day 2, reports of pruritus by patients receiving morphine remained higher than those among the hydromorphone-treated subjects, although this difference was no longer statistically significant (32% vs. 16.7%, P = .18). We conclude that lumbar epidural morphine and hydromorphone afford comparable analgesia, but the occurrence of moderate to severe pruritus on the first postoperative day is reduced by the use of hydromorphone.
-
The proliferation of monitors and alarms in the operating room may lead to increased confusion and misdiagnosis unless the information provided is better organized. Intelligent alarm systems are being developed to organize these alarms, on the assumption that they will shorten the time anesthesiologists need to detect and correct faults. This study compared the human response time (the time between the sounding of an alarm and the resolution of a fault) when anesthesiologists used a conventional alarm system and when they used an intelligent alarm system. ⋯ The standard deviations in response time were only half as large for the intelligent alarm system. It appears that the computer-based neural network in the intelligent alarm system diagnosed faults more rapidly and consistently than did the anesthesiologists. This study indicates that breathing circuit faults may be more rapidly corrected when the anesthesiologist is guided by intelligent alarms.
-
In the absence of data on the anatomic localization of the cuff of the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) in children, radiologic images were obtained from 50 infants and children (aged 1 month to 15 yr) undergoing diagnostic radiologic procedures during halothane and N2O:O2 anesthesia. In 46 patients, the cuff of the LMA was in the pharynx and covered the laryngeal opening. The upper (proximal) section was adjacent to the base of the tongue at the level of C1 or C2 vertebrae pushing the tongue forward and its lower (distal) end was in the inferior recesses of the hypopharynx at the levels of C4 to T1 vertebrae. ⋯ In four patients, the cuff of the LMA was located in the oropharynx. No correlation was found between the size of the LMA and the position of the epiglottis with respect to end-tidal CO2, respiratory rate, or the leak pressures. The size of the LMA, its anatomic location, and the position of the epiglottis had no significant effect on the respiratory parameters of spontaneously breathing children.
-
Meta Analysis Comparative Study
Anesthetic techniques during surgical repair of femoral neck fractures. A meta-analysis.
Fracture of the hip typically occurs in older women. These patients usually have serious accompanying chronic illnesses. There is a difference of opinion as to the choice of regional versus general anesthesia for surgery in these patients. ⋯ By probability difference, mortality was a non-significant 2.7 percentage points less following regional anesthesia. By odds ratio effect measure, death was 1.5 times more likely following general anesthesia, but the lower bound of the 95% confidence interval was close to 1. Meta-analysis does not allow a conclusion that important differences in mortality exist between regional and general anesthesia for traumatic hip fracture surgery.