Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · May 1995
A prospective survey of postoperative nausea and vomiting with special regard to incidence and relations to patient characteristics, anesthetic routines and surgical procedures.
We performed a prospective study on 421 patients subjected to routine general-, orthopaedic-, urologic-, gynecological and paediatric surgery to estimate the current incidences of nausea and vomiting during the first 24 hours after surgery. The overall incidences of postoperative nausea or vomiting were 17% and 28%, respectively. Postoperative emetic symptoms were not related to age in adults. ⋯ Corresponding figures for orthopaedic surgery were 25% and 34%, other kinds of extra-abdominal surgery 18% and 32% and for laparoscopy 21% and 25%. After minor gynecological-, urological- and paediatric surgery the incidences were less than 20%. In conclusion female gender, balanced anaesthesia, lengthy duration of anaesthesia, and abdominal and orthopaedic operations appeared to be most frequently associated with postoperative emetic symptoms.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · May 1995
Comparative StudyAssessment of respiratory system compliance by a flow recording method.
Standard methods for the assessment of the compliance of the respiratory system require recordings of both airway pressure and ventilatory volume. A method based on the recording of respiratory flow only, with no need of measuring airway pressure was reported some years ago. The purpose of the present study was to test a modification of this flow-recording technique. ⋯ In patients with acute respiratory failure, the flow and standard methods gave similar results when no end-inspiratory pause was applied (mean difference 5 +/- 40 ml/kPa (x +/- s.d.)). The standard method gave significantly higher compliance values, different from the flow method, when an end-inspiratory pause of 10% was applied (mean difference 53 +/- 2 ml/kPa, P < 0.01). The flow method was not influenced by the use of an end-inspiratory pause.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · May 1995
Anaesthesia for microvascular surgery in children. A combination of general anaesthesia and axillary plexus block.
Nowadays, microvascular reconstructions are performed with high success rate even in small children. The combination of general anaesthesia and axillary plexus block was used in this prospective study in order to achieve optimal surgical conditions in these challenging operations. Fifteen children under eight years of age (1-8 years) were anaesthetised with a standardised anaesthesia method using a combination of general anaesthesia and axillary plexus block for microvascular toe-to-hand transfer. ⋯ One 1-year-old child developed a moderate hyperthermia of 39.1 degrees C. According to this study axillary plexus block can be combined with general anaesthesia in prolonged microvascular operations. When the effect of general anaesthesia ceased, the plexus block effectively increased peripheral circulation in the operated hand.