Paediatric anaesthesia
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Jul 2003
A survey of obstetric complications and pregnancy outcomes in paediatric and nonpaediatric anaesthesiologists.
Obstetric complications such as spontaneous abortion, preterm labour, preterm delivery, low birth weight and congenital anomalies may be associated with exposure to anaesthetic gases. We hypothesized that female anaesthesiologists practicing primarily paediatric anaesthesia, with increased exposure to trace anaesthetic agents, experience a greater prevalence of obstetric complications than female anaesthesiologists performing primarily adult anaesthesia. ⋯ Our results suggest a higher prevalence of spontaneous abortion in anaesthesiologists whose practice is >75% paediatrics.
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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.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Jun 2003
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialDouble-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial of the effect of ketamine on postoperative morphine consumption in children following appendicectomy.
Ketamine has an opioid sparing effect following surgery in adults. This study investigated whether a similar effect is seen following appendicectomy in paediatric patients. ⋯ In this paediatric population intravenous ketamine did not have a morphine sparing effect. The increased incidence of side-effects, especially hallucinations, reported by patients given a ketamine infusion may limit the further use of postoperative ketamine in children.