European journal of anaesthesiology
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Epidural analgesia is one of the preferred methods of analgesia for labour. The aim of the present survey was to evaluate current practice in obstetric analgesia in departments of anaesthesia and to make a comparison with former surveys from Germany and other countries. Questionnaires on the practice of pain relief, especially epidural analgesia, during labour and delivery were sent to 1178 anaesthetic departments in Germany in the second half of 1996. ⋯ Epidural analgesia is predominantly (82.2%) maintained by intermittent bolus administration. Although the rate of epidural analgesia increased during recent decades, this method is not offered to all parturients. Further improvements in the use of epidural analgesia for labour seem to be necessary.
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Case Reports
Paradoxical air embolism during orthoptic liver transplantation: diagnosis by transoesophageal echocardiography.
We describe a case of paradoxical air embolism during orthotopic liver transplantation, early diagnosis, using intra-operative transoesophageal echocardiography after a circulatory failure, allowed early management by hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
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A review was undertaken of all 190 patients who were referred over 7 years, from 1991 to 1997 inclusive, for an epidural blood patch as a treatment for headache after dural puncture. The patterns of referral and symptoms, the distributions of age and gender and the effectiveness of the blood patch were examined. Most of the referrals (n = 153) were after deliberate diagnostic dural puncture in neurology and neuroradiology, with a minority (n = 28) used for anaesthesia and obstetrics, which were mostly inadvertent. ⋯ Epidural blood patches are effective in treating headache after dural puncture, but less successful than is commonly believed, especially after inadvertent dural taps. A relapse after treatment does not always require a second patch. Specialities other than anaesthesia seemed reluctant to accept the benefits in both cost and comfort of using needles of improved design for dural puncture.