Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2010
Rural anaesthesia practice: attitudes and recruitment following a period of anaesthetic training in rural and regional hospitals. A survey of new consultants.
The provision of specialist anaesthetic services to rural and remote locations in Australia poses an ongoing challenge. Initiatives to improve delivery of specialist anaesthetic services include the provision of anaesthesia training opportunities at rural hospitals. Previous surveys of trainees demonstrated the positive effect of rural training on attitudes toward subsequent practice in rural areas. ⋯ Six hundred and fifteen surveys were distributed with a response rate of 53%. Respondents held their rural training experience in high regard. Anaesthetic specialists with a period of training in rural/regional areas were more likely to subsequently practise in rural areas compared to those who did not.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2010
Associations between cerebrospinal fluid protein concentrations, serum albumin concentrations and intracranial pressure in neurotrauma and intracranial haemorrhage.
Recent evidence suggests that using intravenous isotonic albumin solution for haemodynamic resuscitation in neurotrauma is associated with adverse outcomes. This study assessed the correlations between cerebrospinal fluid protein concentrations, serum albumin concentrations and intracranial pressure in a cohort of neurosurgical patients. After obtaining ethics committee approval, correlations between concomitant cerebrospinal fluid protein concentrations, serum albumin concentrations and the mean daily intracranial pressure of 63 consecutive neurosurgical patients, grouped as neurotrauma or intracranial haemorrhage, admitted between 1 January and 31 December 2007, were assessed. ⋯ Cerebrospinal fluid protein concentrations were also significantly associated with concomitant serum albumin concentrations (SCC = 0.393, P = 0.001) in these patients. In patients with intracranial haemorrhage (n=40), the mean daily intracranial pressure was only significantly associated with cerebrospinal fluid white cell and red cell counts but not cerebrospinal fluid protein and serum albumin concentrations. In summary, intracranial pressure is correlated with cerebrospinal fluid protein and serum albumin concentrations in patients with severe neurotrauma, and these suggest that blood-brain barrier may not be completely intact after severe neurotrauma.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2010
Letter Case ReportsA rare case of epidural catheter luminal obstruction.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2010
Letter Case ReportsLow dose sugammadex followed by an anticholinesterase.