Anaesthesia
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Rectus sheath block for diagnostic laparoscopy.
Sixty adult females of ASA grade 1 or 2 scheduled to undergo diagnostic laparoscopy were allocated randomly to one of two groups. In group A, laparoscopy was performed with a standardised general anaesthetic technique alone. ⋯ Postoperative analgesia was assessed at 1, 6 and 10 hours after operation. Visual analogue pain scores in group B were significantly lower than in group A despite a greater use of intramuscular analgesic injections in group A (p less than 0.005 in each case).
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Anaesthetic induction with isoflurane or halothane. Oxygen saturation during induction with isoflurane or halothane in unpremedicated children.
The authors performed a randomised, prospective trial in which one junior anaesthetist administered gaseous induction of anaesthesia to 50 unpremedicated children with either isoflurane or halothane in nitrous oxide and oxygen. Arterial oxygen saturation and the electrocardiogram were monitored and the incidence of complications noted. ⋯ Coughing, movement, laryngospasm and sinus tachycardia occurred more frequently with isoflurane. Isoflurane inductions took longer (7.9 as compared with 5.4 minutes, p less than 0.001) and had 4.25 times the number of complications.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Postoperative recovery after general anaesthesia with and without retrobulbar block in retinal detachment surgery.
This study was to determine whether general anaesthesia plus retrobulbar block would be a better anaesthetic technique than general anaesthesia alone in retinal detachment surgery. Twenty-eight patients were allocated randomly to either general anaesthesia with retrobulbar block or general anaesthesia alone. The anaesthetist involved was blinded as to whether a retrobulbar block was performed or not. ⋯ Those who received general anaesthesia plus block recovered significantly more rapidly than those receiving general anaesthesia alone. The time to opening of eyes on command (p less than 0.05), telling the correct date of birth (p less than 0.01), reaching a full recovery score (p less than 0.005) and performing a simple motor task (p less than 0.025) was shorter in patients with general anaesthesia plus block. Thus general anaesthesia plus retrobulbar block was superior to general anaesthesia alone in terms of pain and recovery after operation.
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Arterial oxygen saturation was measured by pulse oximetry in 105 children (aged 2 weeks-14 years) during recovery from general anaesthesia. Oxygen saturation was monitored continuously from the time that anaesthesia ended in the operating theatre until the children were fit to leave the recovery ward. All children breathed room air during transfer to the recovery area; 81 children continued to breathe room air in the recovery ward while the remainder received supplementary oxygen. ⋯ The administration of 100% oxygen at the end of anaesthesia had no effect on the incidence of early hypoxaemia which was greatest in children whose trachea had been intubated. Late hypoxaemia was associated most commonly with crying and breath-holding and was reduced significantly by supplemental oxygen. The oxygen saturation of children on return to the ward was significantly lower than the pre-operative value (p less than 0.001).
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Biography Historical Article
The Alcock chloroform vaporizer. An early calibrated temperature-compensated plenum apparatus in its historical context.
A long-forgotten chloroform inhaler, probably the first accurately calibrated, temperature compensatable, plenum vaporizer, is described. Its place in the dosimetric movement at the beginning of the 20th century is considered, together with a brief account of the life of its designer.