Anesthesia and analgesia
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This prospective study was performed to determine whether anesthesia clinicians (i.e., both anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists) can identify operating room alarms by their distinctive sounds and to identify factors related to alarm recognition accuracy. Nineteen alarms from 15 commonly used devices were recorded. These sounds were played, in a quiet room, to 44 anesthesia clinicians. ⋯ Complexity of the sound did not influence accuracy of recognition. Most errors were attributed to similarities in sound or function, or both, among alarms. We conclude that anesthetists cannot reliably identify current operating room alarms by their distinctive sounds.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 1992
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialLack of interaction between propofol and vecuronium.
We estimated the potency of vecuronium and measured the onset and duration of its action during total intravenous anesthesia with propofol to examine the possibility of any interaction between these two drugs. Propofol infusion was administered according to a three-step dosage scheme, and neuromuscular block was monitored by measuring the force of contraction of the adductor pollicis muscle after single-twitch stimulation of the ulnar nerve at 0.1 Hz. A control group of patients were similarly studied during anesthesia with thiopental, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and fentanyl. ⋯ The onset of action of an 80-micrograms/kg dose (2 x ED95) of vecuronium was 3.6 +/- 1.2 and 4.1 +/- 1.7 min (mean +/- SD), in the propofol (n = 10) and control (n = 10) groups, respectively. The respective times to recovery of the twitch height to 25% of control and the recovery indices (25%-75% recovery of twitch height) in the propofol versus control groups were 28.3 +/- 6.6 and 28.0 +/- 1.7 min and 13.3 +/- 6.8 and 15.4 +/- 11.9 min, respectively. There were no significant differences in any of the measured variables between the propofol and control groups, indicating the lack of any interaction between propofol and vecuronium.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 1992
Intraoperative monitoring of tibialis anterior muscle motor evoked responses to transcranial electrical stimulation during partial neuromuscular blockade.
We studied the feasibility of recording motor evoked responses to transcranial electrical stimulation (tce-MERs) during partial neuromuscular blockade (NMB). In 11 patients, compound muscle action potentials were recorded from the tibialis anterior muscle in response to transcranial electrical stimulation during various levels of vecuronium-induced NMB. The level of NMB was assessed by accelerometry of the adductor pollicis muscle after train-of-four stimulation of the ulnar nerve. ⋯ Before administration of vecuronium, the M-response amplitude was 9.6 +/- 3.6 (mean +/- SD) mV, and the tce-MER amplitude was 1.21 +/- 0.66 mV. Although administration of vecuronium (0.05 mg/kg) resulted in loss of the mechanical adductor pollicis response in 8 of the 11 patients, the M-response and the tce-MER remained recordable. Subsequently, during an infusion of vecuronium, adjusted to maintain one or two mechanical responses to train-of-four stimulation, the average M-response to peroneal nerve stimulation was 5.2 +/- 2.5 mV (53% of the control value), and tce-MER amplitude was 0.59 +/- 0.36 mV (59% of the control value).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 1992
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialComparison of desflurane with propofol in outpatients undergoing peripheral orthopedic surgery.
This study was undertaken to compare desflurane with propofol anesthesia in outpatients undergoing peripheral orthopedic surgery. Data were combined from two institutions participating in a multicenter study. Ninety-one patients, ASA physical status I or II, were each randomly assigned to one of four groups. ⋯ Patients in group II experienced less nausea than other groups (P = 0.002) despite this group having required more intraoperative fentanyl supplementation than groups III and IV (P = 0.01). Time to emergence, discharge, and psychometric test results were similar in all groups. Desflurane appears to be comparable with propofol as an outpatient anesthetic, facilitating rapid recovery and discharge home.