Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Aug 1992
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialPreoperative rectal indomethacin for analgesia after laparoscopic sterilisation.
A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted among 56 day-case patients to determine the effect of the preoperative administration of rectal indomethacin on postoperative pain and opioid requirements after laparoscopic sterilisation. Outcome in women receiving indomethacin did not differ significantly from the placebo group, but there was a trend to lower subjective pain scores, reduction in early postoperative pain assessed objectively and lower parenteral pethidine requirements in the first three hours postoperatively. Indomethacin did not appear either to cause side-effects or to significantly reduce morbidity from the other postoperative sequelae of laparoscopy. Despite evidence for postoperative analgesic effect, the clinical benefits of premedication with rectal indomethacin were minor.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Aug 1992
Whitacre 22-gauge pencil-point needle for spinal anaesthesia. A controlled trial in 300 young orthopaedic patients.
In a prospective study of 300 young orthopaedic in-patients (less than 40 years) given spinal anaesthesia through a 22-gauge Whitacre (n = 150) or a 25-gauge Quincke spinal needle (n = 150), we found a 5.3% and a 9.3% incidence of post-spinal headache (PSH) respectively. Females (10.6%) had a higher overall incidence of post-spinal headache than males (5.6%) with more than twice as many females being affected in the 25 than in the 22-gauge group (14.5% vs 6.1%). The average duration of post-spinal headache was less in the 22-gauge group (36 h vs 42.4 h) as was the incidence of severe headache. It is concluded that the Whitacre 22-gauge needle is more suited for spinal analgesia in young female patients due to its ease of handling and its lower incidence of post-spinal headache.