Paediatric anaesthesia
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Jan 2007
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyPrevention of hypothermia in children under combined epidural and general anesthesia: a comparison between upper- and lower-body warming.
Children receiving combined epidural and general anesthesia may be at greater risk of hypothermia. Active warming should be undertaken to combat heat loss. With combined epidural and general anesthesia heat loss from the lower body may be greater than from the upper body because of shift of blood towards the vasodilated lower body. We assumed that application of the warming blanket to the lower body might provide better protection against hypothermia. To test this hypothesis, lower-body warming (LBW) was compared with upper-body warming (UBW) in a randomized comparative study. ⋯ Lower body warming is as effective as UBW in prevention of hypothermia in children subjected to combined epidural and general anesthesia.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Jan 2007
Controlled Clinical TrialSedation for children with metachromatic leukodystrophy undergoing MRI.
Metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) is a lysosomal storage disease with infantile and juvenile onset with a poor prognosis and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays a fundamental role in its diagnosis. Procedural sedation is needed to carry out MRI on children. Very few case reports have been published on anesthesia or sedation for MLD patients. ⋯ Our protocol for sedation in the MRI setting proved safe and effective in children with MLD, who do not require different doses of sedatives compared with healthy children.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Jan 2007
Case ReportsIntravenous paracetamol for postoperative analgesia in a 4-day-old term neonate.
There are only a few clinical reports on the use of intravenous (i.v.) paracetamol in term neonates. This case report illustrates that when routes for administration of analgesics are restricted to i.v. only and when opioids are not indicated then i.v. paracetamol may be used. In our 4-day-old term infant, despite i.v. paracetamol for 48 h, the trough level during therapy was almost undetectable indicating rapid clearance. Although i.v. paracetamol is not licensed in this age group, it can prove very helpful when the only route of administration is intravenous.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Jan 2007
Anesthesia-related morbidity and mortality after surgery for muscle biopsy in children with mitochondrial defects.
Children with mitochondrial defects (MD) may have an increased risk for cardiorespiratory and neurological complications from anesthesia. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of perioperative complications and adverse events in children with MD. ⋯ With standard preoperative assessment, monitoring and anesthesia management, there were no major peroperative and postoperative anesthesia-related complications in children undergoing surgical muscle biopsy with a MD diagnosis.