Anesthesia and analgesia
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Predicting flow through an IV cannula is useful to clinicians if changes in flow are required and to guide selection of cannula. We sought the usefulness of manufacturers' quoted flows in predicting actual flow and to characterize that flow. ⋯ Flow through cannulae is not laminar at the upper range of clinically used flows, therefore Poiseuille's law is not useful in predicting flow and the effect of changing radius is less than commonly believed. The quoted maximum flows are also not useful. There are many conditions for laminar flow apart from Reynolds number. Further work would determine useful predictors of flow.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Apr 2009
Platelet transfusion during liver transplantation is associated with increased postoperative mortality due to acute lung injury.
Platelet transfusions have been identified as an independent risk factor for survival after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). In this study, we analyzed the specific causes of mortality and graft loss in relation to platelet transfusions during OLT. ⋯ These findings suggest that platelet transfusions are an important risk factor for mortality after OLT. The current study extends previous observations by identifying acute lung injury as the main determinant of increased mortality. The higher rate of graft loss in patients receiving platelets is related to the higher overall mortality rate and does not result from specific adverse effects of transfused platelets on the grafted liver.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Apr 2009
Repeated episodes of respiratory distress in an obese parturient after cesarean delivery.
A 25-yr-old obese parturient with mild asthma underwent an uneventful spinal anesthetic for primary cesarean delivery. Within 4 h after delivery, the patient twice developed acute shortness of breath, inspiratory stridor, and hypoxemia that required intubation. ⋯ She had a normal echocardiogram and chest computed tomography, but her neck computed tomography showed an enlarged left thyroid lobe asymmetrically compressing the endotracheal tube cuff. We hypothesized that, after delivery, decreased maternal vascular capacitance increased central venous pressure such that venous engorgement of an undiagnosed goiter may have caused symptomatic tracheal compression.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Apr 2009
Randomized Controlled TrialGeneral health and knee function outcomes from 7 days to 12 weeks after spinal anesthesia and multimodal analgesia for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.
We previously reported that continuous perineural femoral analgesia reduces pain with movement during the first 2 days after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR, n = 270), when compared with multimodal analgesia and placebo perineural femoral infusion. We now report the prospectively collected general health and knee function outcomes in the 7 days to 12 wk after surgery in these same patients. ⋯ After spinal anesthesia and multimodal analgesia for ACLR, the nerve block treatment group did not predict SF-36 or knee function outcomes from 7 days to 12 wk after surgery. Further research is needed to determine whether these conclusions also apply to a nonstandardized anesthetic, or one that includes general anesthesia and/or high-dose opioid analgesia.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Apr 2009
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyThe use of air in the inspired gas mixture during two-lung ventilation delays lung collapse during one-lung ventilation.
Collapse of the ipsilateral lung facilitates surgical exposure during thoracic procedures. The use of different gas mixtures during two-lung ventilation (2LV) may improve or impede surgical conditions during subsequent one-lung ventilation (OLV) by increasing or delaying lung collapse. We investigated the effects of three different gas mixtures during 2LV on lung collapse and oxygenation during subsequent OLV: Air/Oxygen (fraction of inspired oxygen [FIO(2)] = 0.4), Nitrous Oxide/Oxygen ("N(2)O," FIO(2) = 0.4) and Oxygen ("O(2)," FIO(2) = 1.0). ⋯ De-nitrogenation of the lung during 2LV is a useful strategy to improve surgical conditions during OLV. The use of FIO(2) 1.0 or N(2)O/O(2) (FIO(2) 0.4) during 2LV did not have an adverse effect on subsequent oxygenation during OLV.