Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthésie
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Clinical examination of a patient is very likely to reveal the factors making tracheal intubation difficult and thus increasing the likelihood of a traumatized temporo-mandibular joint or mouth. Although laryngoscopes and bronchoscopes incorporating fiberoptic visual devices are invaluable they are usually only employed for extremely difficult patients. ⋯ An atraumatic tracheal intubation will be assisted if the laryngoscope blade to be used is selected on the basis of the anatomic difficulties prescribed by the patient. The Miller, Jackson-Wisconsin, Macintosh, Soper, Bizarri-Guffrida, and Bainton blades together with appropriate handles and fittings comprise a group from which selection can be made.
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Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Train-of-four ratio after antagonism of atracurium with edrophonium: influence of different priming doses of edrophonium.
This study was designed to investigate the effect of different priming doses of edrophonium on the relationship between the the recovery of the first twitch of the train-of-four (T1) and train-of-four (TOF) ratio. This relationship was studied after the administration of the full dose of the antagonist in all groups. Edrophonium 1.0 mg.kg-1 was administered either in a single bolus dose (Group I, controls) or in an initial dose of 0.05, 0.1, 0.15 or 0.2 mg.kg-1 followed one minute later by the remainder of the 1.0 mg.kg-1 dose in Groups II to V. ⋯ Of all the groups studied, Group V had a significantly greater recovery in the TOF ratio at any given T1 value. When first twitch tension (T1) had recovered to 100 per cent of the control, it was found for the same tension that the TOF ratio was greater in Group V, being 0.75 compared to 0.63, 0.65, 0.65 and 0.64 in Groups I to IV respectively. The implication is that this differential ability to reverse fade (or prejunctional activity) may be involved in the acceleration of recovery.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
The effect of preoperative apple juice on gastric contents, thirst, and hunger in children.
The effect of 3 ml.kg-1 of apple juice given 2.6 +/- 0.4 hours preoperatively was investigated in 80 healthy children of ages five to ten years in this prospective, randomized, single blind study. The children who drank apple juice preoperatively had decreased gastric volume, thirst, and hunger (p less than 0.05). ⋯ The gastric pH was not significantly different, with the control group's gastric pH being 1.7 +/- 0.6 and the treated group's pH was 2.2 +/- 1.2. Further studies of the effects of different volumes and timing of preoperative clear fluids are indicated in paediatric patients.
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A 55-year-old, malignant hyperthermia-susceptible patient underwent myocardial revascularization without incident. Six hours postoperatively, he developed what was initially diagnosed as an MH crisis, for which he received intravenous dantrolene. The resultant muscle weakness prolonged the duration of postoperative mechanical ventilation and likely contributed to the development of a postoperative pneumonia. ⋯ The patient's pattern of rewarming following hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass was similar to non-MH-susceptible patients. Because of the difficulty in diagnosing a MH crisis after hypothermic bypass, it is recommended that patients receive prophylactic dantrolene preoperatively and after bypass. Nondepolarizing muscle relaxants should be given postoperatively to prevent shivering and respiratory acidosis while patients rewarm.
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Friedreich's ataxia is an inherited neuromuscular disorder often associated with significant cardiac disease. We report a case of Friedreich's ataxia in a 13-year-old girl with ulcerative colitis and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who was successfully managed for subtotal colectomy with general anaesthesia and epidural narcotic. Anaesthetic considerations included the maintenance of fluid volume and stable cardiovascular variables in the intra- and postoperative periods.