Paediatric anaesthesia
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Jul 2003
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialDose response study of caudal neostigmine for postoperative analgesia in paediatric patients undergoing genitourinary surgery.
Neostigmine given through the neuraxial route has been found to have analgesic properties. In this clinical trial, we evaluated for the first time the efficacy of a varying dose of caudal neostigmine for postoperative analgesia in children undergoing genitourinary surgery. ⋯ Caudal neostigmine in the dose range of 20-50 microgram.kg-1 provides dose dependent analgesia. However, dose exceeding 30 microgram.kg-1 is associated with a higher incidence of nausea and vomiting.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Jul 2003
ReviewAnaesthetic management of the child with sickle cell disease.
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a relatively common inherited disorder of haemoglobin with significant morbidity and mortality. This review describes the epidemiology and pathophysiology of the disease, and discusses the clinical manifestations found in children with SCD. A discussion of the evidence concerning the perioperative management of such children is presented.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Jul 2003
Case ReportsImmediate control of life-threatening digoxin intoxication in a child by use of digoxin-specific antibody fragments (Fab).
Digoxin-immune antibody fragments (Fab) for treatment of digitalis intoxication was introduced in 1976. Many reports have been published concerning this therapy for children, but few have focused on its immediate reversal of cardiac as well as extracardiac life-threatening manifestations of digoxin toxicity. ⋯ Severe cardiac arrhythmias, haemodynamic instability and a rapid-increasing serum potassium level resulted. This report demonstrates how administration of Fab according to the manufacturer's dosage recommendation reversed the tachyarrhythmia immediately and re-established a normal level of serum potassium within minutes.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Jun 2003
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialComparison of patient-controlled analgesia with and without a background infusion after appendicectomy in children.
There have been many studies using patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) and opioids for postoperative analgesia in children. In this study, we investigated the efficacy, usefulness and analgesic consumption of two different PCA programmes [bolus dose alone (BD) or bolus dose with background infusion (BD + BI)] to evaluate postoperative analgesia for children after emergency appendicectomy. ⋯ We demonstrated that both these PCA programmes were effective and reliable for postoperative pain relief in children. We believe that giving information about PCA to the children and their parents is useful during the preoperative period. However, the background infusion with lower bolus dose in PCA did not increase pethidine consumption.