Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 1981
Adult body temperature and heated humidification of anesthetic gases during general anesthesia.
To determine the effects on body temperature of heating and humidifying inspired anesthetic gases to 37 C and 100% relative humidity, 42 men who had major surgical procedures under general anesthesia were studied. Group 1 (control) consisted of 10 patients who inspired gases from a standard semicircle absorber system with no added humidity. The mean nasopharyngeal temperature decreased significantly from 36.2 +/- 0.1 C to 34.9 +/- 0.2 C. ⋯ For groups 4 and 5, six patients each, gases were heated and humidified on alternate hours. The responses of the two groups demonstrated a causal relationship between the heating and humidifying of inspired gases and an increased mean nasopharyngeal temperature. It is concluded that heating and humidifying gases to 37 C and 100% relative humidity effectively maintains normothermia and rewarms hypothermic adults during general anesthesia.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 1981
Postoperative hypothermia in adults: relationship of age, anesthesia, and shivering to rewarming.
Frequency, magnitude, and duration of hypothermia (core body temperature less than 36.0 C) in the recovery room (RR) were determined in 198 adults. In addition, the influence of age, anesthetic technique, and shivering on the rewarming process was assessed. Tympanic membrane temperatures were recorded on admission to the RR and every 15 minutes thereafter until discharge from the RR. ⋯ General anesthesia was associated with a significantly more rapid rate of increase in postoperative temperature and a shorter duration of hypothermia than was regional anesthesia. The incidence of shivering and the incidence of hypothermia were significantly related 30 and 45 minutes after admission to the RR. Duration of hypothermia varied with different operative procedures.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 1981
Failure of transcutaneous electrical stimulation to alleviate experimental tourniquet pain.
It has been proposed that transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) acts by stimulation of large nerve fibers which inhibits further propagation of nociceptive input conducted along smaller C-nerve fibers. We evaluated the effectiveness of TENS in alleviation of ischemic pain (C-fiber mediated) experimentally produced by the submaximal-effort tourniquet test. ⋯ Time from inflation of the tourniquet to onset of intolerable pain was noted together with a visual analog-derived intensity of pain for 10 subjects studied on three separate occasions. The results showed no statistically significant prolongation in the duration of ischemia tolerated nor reduction in the subjective intensity of pain during either single- or dual-channel stimulation in comparison to control levels.