Paediatric anaesthesia
-
Paediatric anaesthesia · Apr 2005
Case ReportsManagement of the difficult pediatric airway with Shikani Optical Stylet.
The airways of children with many craniofacial and mandibulofacial malformations often present unique challenges to the anesthesiologists. We report the application of Shikani Optical Stylet (SOS) in facilitating the tracheal intubation of four children with history of difficult airway management. The SOS combines the benefits of the lightwand and fiberoptic bronchoscope.
-
Paediatric anaesthesia · Apr 2005
Evaluation of satisfaction level by parents and children following pediatric anesthesia.
Research in the field of patient satisfaction first took place in the 1980s in the USA, and later in Europe, aimed at meeting competitive requirements in the field of health care. Very few studies of this type exist in regard to pediatric anesthesia. Our aim was to develop a rapidly interpretable questionnaire to measure the level of parental satisfaction when their children undergo surgery and provide information on those factors triggering anxiety in these children. ⋯ We found that parents generally expressed a high degree of satisfaction which was good and correlated significantly with environmental comfort and postoperative observations performed by anesthetists and nursing staff. In the children, lack of fear at the moment of being anesthetized, and lack of anxiety on the day preceding surgery, were attributed to the serenity transmitted by the anesthetist and nurses. Significant anxiety resulted from the fear of an unpleasant impact with the operating room.
-
Paediatric anaesthesia · Apr 2005
Case ReportsUltrasound-guided central venous cannulation in a very small preterm neonate.
Percutaneous central venous cannulation of small infants is a challenging procedure. The use of ultrasound guidance has been shown to increase the success rate generally in children and to decrease the incidence of associated complications. To demonstrate that this technique is also suitable in very small infants we describe the case of a preterm neonate of 850 g body weight (BW), in which percutaneous central venous cannulation was performed successfully using ultrasound imaging for guidance.
-
Paediatric anaesthesia · Apr 2005
Case ReportsArgatroban for anticoagulation during cardiopulmonary bypass in an infant.
Heparin induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a rare, but potentially life-threatening complication of heparin therapy. In patients with HIT, alternative means of anticoagulation are necessary. ⋯ The direct thrombin inhibitor, argatroban, was successfully used. Previous reports regarding the use of argatroban and other nonheparin anticoagulants for anticoagulation are reviewed and suggestions regarding argatroban dosing in infants are presented.
-
The aim of this study was to assess the time needed to trigger an occlusion alarm, and the influence of the type of infusion pump, type and size of the syringe, and the set infusion rate. ⋯ Our results showed that activation of occlusion alarms on both pumps takes a considerable time, and that the mean time to alarm activation was longer with low infusion rates and larger syringes. To reduce occlusion alarm delays smaller sized syringes with low compliance should be used and staff be alerted when using low flow rates with highly concentrated potent drugs.