Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Jan 1978
Longitudinal spread of intraneurally injected local anesthetics. An experimental study of the initial neural distribution following intraneural injections.
Unexpected spinal anesthesia, occurring after peripheral nerve blocks close to the spine, may be caused by a centripetal spread of the local anesthetic along the injected nerve to the spinal cord. In order to analyze the pathway of such a spread, a radioactive local anesthetic mixed with a fluorescent dye was injected into difrerent compartments of the rabbit sciatic nerve, and the early distribution of these tracers was studied by scintillation counting and fluorescence microscopy. Epineurial (extrafascicular) injections were of low injection pressure (25-60 mmHg) (3.3-7.9 kPa) and limited spread, while endoneurial (intrafascicular) injections reached higher pressures (300-750 mmHg) (39.9-99.7 kPa) and caused a rapid spread over long distances within the fascicle. ⋯ However, 20% of endoneurial injections reached the spinal cord, where the injectate primarily spread in the thin subpial space. Our experimental findings suggest that intraneural injections of local anesthetics are responsible for the reported cases of unexpected spinal anesthesia due to inadvertent intrafascicular spread. Although intrafascicular injections are rarely made, we recommend that intraneural injections of local anesthetics or other solutions close to the spine should be avoided, as they may cause unexpected spinal anesthesia or lesion of the cord.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Jan 1978
Arterial oxygenation during artificial ventilation. The effect of airway closure and of its prevention by positive end-expiratory pressure.
Airway closure and arterial blood gases were measured in 11 healthy subjects both before and during anaesthesia with artificial ventilation, prior to routine surgery. The functional residual capacity was then increased by positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP), so that ventilation took place at a lung volume where no airway closure was present, and the effect on arterial oxygenation was again investigated. ⋯ There was no improvement in arterial oxygenation on increasing functional residual capacity (FRC) in either group. It may well be that this failure to improve oxygenation was due to a deleterious effect of PEEP on the circulation, even though the PEEP was the minimum required to abolish airway closure.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Jan 1978
Operating room nurses' psychomotor and driving skills after occupational exposure to halothane and nitrous oxide.
Concentrations of halothane and nitrous oxide were assayed by gas chromatography throughout a working day in three operating theatres and in the end-tidal air of 19 nurses 15 and 60 min after leaving the theatres. Perceptual, psychomotor and driving skills were measured in these nurses and in 11 younger nurses working in the wards of the same hospital. A complicated psychomotor test battery and a driving simulator were used. ⋯ Despite their higher age and exposure to the operating room environment, the driving skills of the operating room nurses were similar to those of the ward nurses. The results suggest that tolerance to anaesthetic gases develops among operating room personnel. No impairment of driving skills can be expected after daily exposure to halothan and nitrous oxide among long-term employees in operating theatres.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Jan 1978
Cardiovascular effects of local adrenaline infiltration during halothane anaesthesia and adrenergic beta-receptor blockade in man.
Adrenergic beta-receptor blocking agents, alprenolol, propranolol and practolol were given as a prophylactic measure to patients undergoing middle-ear microsurgery where adrenaline was deliberately infiltrated during halothane-N2O/O2 anaesthesia. These three beta blockers did not differ in their action on heart rate, arterial blood pressure, right ventricular pressure, CVP or peripheral pulse wave in equipotent doses, which were 0.04 mg/kg for alprenolol and propranolol and 0.4 mg/kg for practolol in this study. ⋯ Occasionally occuring tachyarrhythmias were easily terminated with a further dose of a beta blocker. The effective half-life of practolol was less than 15 min and doses up to 0.4 mg/kg were unable to prevent arrhythmias during adrenaline challenge.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Jan 1978
Flow requirements in the Hafnia modifications of the Mapleson circuits during spontaneous respiration.
The Mapleson A, B, C and D circuits can be changed into non-polluting circuits by employing continuous gas evacuation directly from the circuit, via an ejector flowmeter (Jørgensen 1974); Mapleson A and C circuits with this modification have been described previously as the Hafnia A and C circuits (Christensen 1976, Thomsen & Jørgensen 1976). If evacuation from a closed reservoir is employed, total removal of the expired and surplus gases from the operating theatre is obtained (Jørgensen & Thomsen 1976). There will be resistance to expiration in all the circuits with a relief valve for the discharge of surplus gas. ⋯ As in any other circuit, the relief valve remains open except during controlled ventilation. A dumping valve may also be included as a safeguard against low pressures (Jørgensen & Thomsen 1976). The flow requirements of the Hafnia B and D circuits and the corresponding Mapleson circuits have been studied in conscious, spontaneously breathing subjects, and the results are discussed in relation to the flow requirements of other semi-closed system.