Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Feb 1990
Case ReportsPrilocaine-induced methemoglobinemia evidenced by pulse oximetry.
Methemoglobinemia was suspected in a healthy 19-year-old woman, when the pulse oximeter reading (SpO2) was 88% after a plexus brachialis block with 550 mg (35 ml, 1.5%) prilocaine. The patient was receiving 50% oxygen, and the PaO2 was 48.6 kPa (365 mmHg). After start of methylene blue treatment, with a total dose of 1 mg/kg, the SpO2 showed a gradual increase. This case report emphasises the potential advantage of arterial oxygen saturation monitoring with a pulse oximeter, but also the importance of the correct interpretation of the SpO2 reading.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Feb 1990
A prospective study of risk factors and cardiopulmonary complications associated with anaesthesia and surgery: risk indicators of cardiopulmonary morbidity.
The aims of this study were: 1) to describe the frequency and type of cardiopulmonary complications, 2) to identify factors significantly associated with cardiovascular and pulmonary complications associated with anaesthesia and surgery, and 3) to estimate the total risk of cardiopulmonary complications for an anaesthetic when a combination of risk factors is present. Seven thousand three hundred and six anaesthetized patients undergoing gastrointestinal, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic surgery were included in the study; 6.3% (1:16) had one or more cardiovascular complications requiring intervention associated with anaesthesia and surgery, and 4.8% (1:21) had pulmonary complications. The total incidence of patients with one or more complications associated with anaesthesia and surgery was 9.4% (1:11). ⋯ The extent of pulmonary complications following anaesthesia and surgery was significantly correlated to patients aged greater than or equal to 70 years, preoperative chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD), major surgery, and to general anaesthesia involving muscle relaxants. Attempts to estimate the cardiopulmonary complications which may accompany anaesthesia and surgery provided important information about the anaesthetic course and outcome. With our model it seems possible to distinguish between very different levels of cardiopulmonary risk in the anaesthetic patient.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Feb 1990
Case ReportsSpondylitis without epidural abscess formation following short-term use of an epidural catheter.
A 42-year-old patient had undergone total hip replacement for aseptic femoral head necrosis 9 years previously. He now presented with loosening of the prosthesis and pseudoarthrosis sustained following a femoral shaft fracture 7 months earlier. A total hip replacement was carried out in general anaesthesia combined with an epidural catheter. ⋯ Antibiotic therapy was begun immediately but could not prevent spread of infection to the adjacent disc-space T12/L1 and the vertebral body T12. The patient made a slow recovery and was discharged in a satisfactory condition wearing a lumbar brace some 9 months after the operation. No evidence of epidural abscess formation was found at any stage and no direct connection between the use of the epidural catheter and spondylitis could be established.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Jan 1990
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialDoes ephedrine influence newborn neurobehavioural responses and spectral EEG when used to prevent maternal hypotension during caesarean section?
The recovery of 16 infants born by elective caesarean section with spinal anaesthesia, in which either ephedrine or fluid load was used to prevent maternal hypotension, were studied using Scanlon's neurobehavioural tests and a computerized EEG. Neurobehavioural testing showed no differences between the ephedrine and the non-ephedrine groups of infants at ages of 3 h, 1 day, 2 days and 4-5 days, whereas the spectral EEG showed significant differences between the two groups during the first 2 h after delivery, which had disappeared 24 h later. It is suggested that small doses of ephedrine given to the mother i.v. to prevent hypotension during spinal anaesthesia have short-lived effects on the neonate's central nervous system, which will be detected in the spectral EEG, but not in neurobehavioural tests.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Jan 1990
Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialEffects of alfentanil on the responses to awake fiberoptic nasotracheal intubation.
Intubation conditions and pressor response were assessed in 30 healthy patients undergoing awake nasotracheal intubation. The patients were premedicated with peroral diazepam. All the patients were sedated with intravenous diazepam 0.1 mg/kg. ⋯ Alfentanil caused moderate respiratory depression but significantly improved conditions for fiberoscopy. In the control group, arterial pressures and heart rate increased significantly immediately after tracheal intubation. These responses were attenuated by alfentanil.