Anesthesiology
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The effect of isoflurane-air anesthesia on glucose tolerance in humans was investigated using two successive intravenous glucose tolerance tests (IVGTT). After a first IVGTT while awake, patients received a second IVGTT either while awake (group I), during anesthesia with isoflurane-air and pancuronium without surgical stimulation (group II), or during the same anesthetic technique but combined with surgery (group III). Isoflurane seemed to induce glucose intolerance (glucose disappearance rate K10-60 min = 1.628 +/- 0.462% min-1 [control] versus 1.086 +/- 0.920% min-1 [anesthesia], P less than 0.05) partly due to a decreased glucose induced insulin response. ⋯ Epinephrine levels were lowered by isoflurane anesthesia. Although glucose intolerance was marked during surgery (K10-60 min = 0.892 +/- 0.286% min-1), the glucose-induced insulin response remained similar to that observed in patients in group II, while growth hormone, cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine concentrations increased significantly. These known stress factors thus seemed to enhance glucose intolerance through a diminished response to insulin action and/or an enhanced hepatic glucose output, rather than by further impairing pancreatic insulin secretion.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Continuous infusion epidural analgesia during labor: a randomized, double-blind comparison of 0.0625% bupivacaine/0.0002% fentanyl versus 0.125% bupivacaine.
The analgesic efficacy of the continuous epidural infusion of 0.0625% bupivacaine/0.0002% fentanyl was compared with the infusion of 0.125% bupivacaine alone in a randomized, double-blind study of nulliparous women. Each patient received, in sequence: 1) 3 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine with 1:200,000 epinephrine; 2) 6 ml of study solution 1 (bupivacaine-fentanyl group: 0.125% bupivacaine/0.0008% fentanyl; bupivacaine-only group: 0.25% bupivacaine alone); and 3) a continuous epidural infusion of study solution 2 at a rate of 12.5 ml/h (bupivacaine-fentanyl group: 0.0625% bupivacaine/0.0002% fentanyl; bupivacaine-only group: 0.125% bupivacaine alone). The epidural infusion was discontinued at full cervical dilatation, but patients who lacked perineal anesthesia received one or two 5-ml boluses of study solution 3 (bupivacaine-fentanyl group: 0.0625% bupivacaine alone; bupivacaine-only group: 0.125% bupivacaine alone). ⋯ During the second stage, 22 of 37 (59%) women in the bupivacaine-fentanyl group, and 23 of 35 (66%) women in the bupivacaine-only group, rated their analgesia as excellent or good (P = NS). Women in the bupivacaine-only group were more likely to have motor block at full cervical dilatation (P less than .001). There was no significant difference between groups in duration of the second stage of labor, duration of pushing, position of the vertex before delivery, method of delivery, Apgar scores, or umbilical cord blood gas and acid-base values.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)