Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Morphine sulphate 5 mg and placebo administered epidurally after caesarean section under epidural analgesia were compared in a double-blind fashion. Morphine was significantly superior to placebo for pain relief, duration of pain relief, and reduction of parenteral narcotic requirements. ⋯ There was no statistical difference between morphine and placebo in the incidence of urinary catheterisation, vomiting, nausea, dizziness or drowsiness. No serious respiratory depression requiring treatment was observed.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · May 1983
Comparative StudypH testing paper for measurement of intragastric acidity: an assessment.
Regular evaluation of the pH of aspirated gastric juice is an important part of the routine prevention of the stress ulceration syndrome. This study has examined the use of commercially available pH paper for this purpose. Both clear buffer solutions and samples of gastric aspirate were used to assess the reliability of four products, Merck Universal pH Indicator strips (Art. 9535), Lyphan Universal pH Indicator paper, Whatman Wide Range pH paper and Macherey-Nagel Universal pH paper. The results show that the Merck strips and Lyphan paper are very reliable for measuring gastric aspirate pH and that intensive care nursing staff can make accurate observations when using these papers.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · May 1983
Comparative StudyA comparison of methods of cardiac output measurement.
Cardiac output measurements determined by dye dilution, iced-injectate thermodilution and room temperature thermodilution were compared in man in order to assess the random error of each method and to examine the systematic error of both thermodilution methods in comparison with dye dilution. Results showed that random error was greatest with room temperature thermodilution and least using iced thermodilution. Iced thermodilution correlated well with dye dilution, tending to overestimate cardiac output only at low flows. Room temperature thermodilution, however, overestimated cardiac output by up to 25% in the clinically important range and more so at low cardiac output.
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Gastric pH values were studied prior to, and up to, ninety minutes after an intravenous injection of cimetidine 200 mg given before general anaesthesia, in twenty surgical patients, all with a gastric pH less than 3.5. At thirty, sixty and ninety minutes, sixteen, eighteen and twenty patients had a gastric pH greater than 3.5 respectively. In conclusion, the results of the present study indicate that cimetidine 200 mg given intravenously 90 minutes before surgery will reduce the hazard of chemical pneumonitis should stomach content be aspirated.