Anesthesiology
-
Comparative Study
The automated interview versus the personal interview. Do patient responses to preoperative health questions differ?
Laboratory testing of presurgical patients has been shown to be excessive, thereby increasing costs, reducing resources for other health care uses, and increasing risks to both patients and physicians. As one step toward reducing the number of unnecessary preoperative tests ordered, we used an automated method to aid preoperative assessment of 239 patients in Chicago and in Winnipeg. The "HealthQuiz," a small hand-held device containing a computer chip and video screen, uses a decision tree to ask a minimum of 60 health-related questions (the patient's response to certain questions determines the number of questions presented). ⋯ Patient's answers to the HealthQuiz were compared with their responses to a randomly selected set of the same questions in a personal interview. Ninety-seven percent of the response pairs were identical, and most of the 3% that differed involved changes from "not sure" replies to the HealthQuiz. Laboratory tests suggested by responses to the two methods of questioning did not differ.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
-
No reliable, quantifiable index of tissue perfusion is currently available to assess the efforts of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. We used two-dimensional transesophageal contrast echocardiography with sonicated Renografin-76 microbubbles to determine the distribution of myocardial blood flow during coronary artery bypass graft surgery in 15 patients. Sonicated Renografin-76 contrast agent was injected into the aortic root of all patients after institution of cardiopulmonary bypass and application of the aortic occlusive clamp. ⋯ When predicted myocardial perfusion patterns, based on preoperative evaluation of epicardial vessel distribution derived from coronary angiography, were compared to actual perfusion patterns assessed with intraoperative echocardiography, contrast regional myocardial perfusion patterns were predicted 84% of the time (71-97%, 95% confidence limit). Regional myocardial perfusion deficits detected after coronary bypass grafting were associated with regional wall motion abnormalities detected after separation from cardiopulmonary bypass. Our technique makes possible on-line visualization of changes in regional blood flow in the heart before, during, and after CABG.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
-
Perioperative administration of the alpha 2 agonist clonidine has been shown to increase plasma alfentanil concentrations; however, the mechanism for this pharmacokinetic drug interaction is unknown. Because alfentanil undergoes extensive hepatic biotransformation, clonidine inhibition of alfentanil metabolism may alter alfentanil disposition. The first purpose of this investigation was to test the hypothesis that clonidine impairs human liver alfentanil metabolism. ⋯ Preincubation of D-medetomidine with microsomes did not enhance the inhibition of alfentanil metabolism. These results suggest that the increased alfentanil plasma concentrations and potentiation of alfentanil anesthesia associated with clonidine do not result from clonidine inhibition of alfentanil metabolism. D-medetomidine impairment of alfentanil metabolism, however,if present at therapeutic concentrations, may influence alfentanil disposition.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Fetal heart rate after epidural lidocaine and bupivacaine for elective cesarean section.
This prospective double-blind study was designed to determine whether the fetal heart rate (FHR) changes that have been reported after epidural administration of bupivacaine and lidocaine during labor are present when larger doses of these drugs are given during elective cesarean section. Prior to inserting an epidural catheter, FHR and maternal vital signs were monitored during a control period in 60 healthy term parturients. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either 0.5% bupivacaine with 0.1 mEq sodium bicarbonate added to each 20 ml (n = 30) or 2% lidocaine with 1:300,000 epinephrine (n = 30). ⋯ The groups were similar with respect to maternal characteristics, onset of surgical anesthesia, time to delivery, and uterine incision-delivery interval. Maternal blood pressure decreased from control values in both groups (P less than 0.05), but there was no difference between the groups in either the incidence of hypotension or ephedrine requirements. Analysis of FHR tracings by a perinatologist blinded to the study group revealed no changes after anesthesia and no significant differences between the groups at any time in basal FHR, short- or long-term variability, or the incidence of accelerations or decelerations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)