Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Feb 2025
Unrecognised drug error and subsequent airway management utilising ultrasound-guided cricothyroidotomy and Rapid-O2® oxygen insufflation.
Tubeless microlaryngoscopy optimises surgical access but typically relies on total intravenous anaesthesia, commonly using propofol and remifentanil infusions. We present a difficult airway case where an unrecognised drug error during programming of an infusion pump resulted in unexpected apnoea. ⋯ Furthermore, cricothyroid membrane identification failed with digital palpation but was successful with ultrasonography. While the latter is currently not considered the standard of care for preparing for front-of-neck access in a time-critical 'can't intubate, can't oxygenate' scenario, in our case it proved helpful.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Feb 2025
A randomised trial to assess the impact of midodrine on early mobilisation after elective primary hip replacement surgery.
Early mobilisation following elective total hip arthroplasty (THA) facilitates quicker rehabilitation, and reduces complications and hospital length of stay. Reasons for delayed mobilisation are multifactorial, but the most common cause is orthostatic intolerance. Midodrine, an oral alpha-1 agonist, is used off-label for perioperative hypotension. ⋯ A preplanned interim analysis showed no statistical difference in ability to mobilise 5 m (78.26% vs 78.95%, P = 1.0). There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of orthostatic intolerance between the groups 17.4% vs 31.6% (P = 0.45). Pre-emptive use of midodrine did not improve patient mobilisation the morning after elective primary THA and had no significant effect on the incidence of orthostatic hypotension.