Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 1995
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialCold saline is more effective than room temperature saline in inducing paresthesia during axillary block.
Confirmation of the perivascular position of the needle by the injection of cold saline may be helpful to the perivascular technique, since the elicitation of a paresthesia indicates the correct positioning of the needle. In this prospective, randomized study of 48 patients, we found a 100% incidence of successful block with saline at 8-11 degrees C compared to 75% in a control group with saline at room temperature. The paresthesia induced by cold saline appears to be due to thermic stimulation and not to mechanical nerve compression by the saline entering the axillary space. A more frequent rate of correct positioning of the needle was found in the group with cold saline.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 1995
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialThe optimal distance that a multiorifice epidural catheter should be threaded into the epidural space.
Complications can occur during epidural placement for women in labor. As many as 23% of epidural anesthetics may not provide satisfactory analgesia. The cause of this may be technical. ⋯ Fifteen minutes later, the adequacy of the analgesia was assessed by a blinded observer. We found that catheter insertion to a depth of 7 cm was associated with the highest rate of insertion complications while insertion to a depth of 5 cm was associated with the highest incidence of satisfactory analgesia. For women in labor who require continuous lumbar epidural anesthesia, we recommend threading a multiorifice epidural catheter 5 cm into the epidural space.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 1995
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialAutologous platelet-rich plasmapheresis: risk versus benefit in repeat cardiac operations.
Preoperative platelet-rich plasmapheresis has been suggested as a means of reducing homologous blood transfusions in cardiac surgical patients. The current study evaluated this technique in patients undergoing repeat cardiac operations. Fifty-two patients undergoing repeat myocardial revascularization and/or valve replacement were evaluated in a prospective randomized controlled study design. ⋯ No patient who completed the study returned to the operating room for postoperative bleeding. These data suggest that PRP did not reduce postbypass bleeding or transfusion requirements in repeat cardiac surgical patients. Moreover, the incidence of hypotension during PRP reinfusion introduces a potential risk to the procedure in the absence of any obvious benefit.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 1995
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialThe addition of bupivacaine to intrathecal sufentanil for labor analgesia.
We designed a prospective, randomized, double-blind study to evaluate the efficacy of the combination of intrathecal sufentanil with a low dose of local anesthetic in an attempt to prolong analgesia in labor. Fifty-two patients received one of the following intrathecal study solutions: 2.5 mg of bupivacaine; 10 micrograms of sufentanil; or 2.5 mg of bupivacaine plus 10 micrograms of sufentanil. The mean duration of analgesia (min +/- SD) was significantly different among all three groups: 70 +/- 34 min for bupivacaine, 114 +/- 26 min for sufentanil, and 148 +/- 27 min for bupivacaine-sufentanil (P < 0.001). ⋯ Hypotension was not observed in the sufentanil group but occurred transiently in the other two groups (P = 0.09). There was no evidence of motor blockade, excessive somnolence, fetal heart rate (FHR) abnormalities, or postdural puncture headache (PDPH) in any of the patients. The addition of 2.5 mg of bupivacaine to 10 micrograms of intrathecal sufentanil significantly prolonged labor analgesia without adverse maternal or fetal effects.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 1995
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialSerum fluoride concentration and urine osmolality after enflurane and sevoflurane anesthesia in male volunteers.
The purpose of this study was to measure the serum fluoride concentration after enflurane or sevoflurane anesthesia and to compare the effects of prolonged anesthesia with these drugs on renal concentrating function in male volunteers. The study was subdivided into three stages; an ascending dose study of 3.0 and 6.0 minimum alveolar anesthetic concentration (MAC) hours of sevoflurane alone, a 6.0-MAC-hour comparison of enflurane and sevoflurane, and a 9.0-MAC-hour comparison of enflurane and sevoflurane. Renal concentrating function was assessed by an 18-h period of fluid deprivation and the serum fluoride concentration was measured at intervals until 60 h postanesthesia. ⋯ However, the rapid decrease in the serum fluoride concentration after sevoflurane was such that there was no difference between the areas under the fluoride concentration-time curves. There were no significant differences between the median maximum urine osmolalities after enflurane or sevoflurane anesthesia. Prolonged anesthesia with enflurane or sevoflurane is not associated with impaired renal concentrating function despite an increase in the serum fluoride concentration.