Anaesthesia
-
The 'SiteRite' is a portable ultrasound imaging system designed to aid vein location during internal jugular vein cannulation. It was compared to the use of anatomical landmarks for internal jugular vein cannulation. It was easy to use and gave good quality images, increased the speed of cannulation, decreased the number of attempts to locate the internal jugular vein and reduced the failure rate, although it had no effect on the incidence of carotid artery puncture.
-
A case of phrenic nerve paralysis following interpleural analgesia for cholecystectomy is reported. The pre-operative chest X ray was normal but chest X ray after cholecystectomy and interpleural analgesia revealed a raised right hemidiaphragm. This resolved after discontinuation of the interpleural analgesia and was probably a result of phrenic nerve paralysis produced by the interpleural local anaesthetic.
-
A constant pressure differential valve for the control of tracheal tube cuff pressure was tested under clinical conditions. Fifty-one patients underwent controlled ventilation and 20 patients were allowed to breathe spontaneously. Nitrous oxide 66% with oxygen 33% and halothane were used via a circle system. ⋯ Fifty-two control patients had the same incidence of sore throat (40%) and hoarseness (30%) at 24 h. With spontaneous ventilation, fresh gas flows of 5-15 l.min-1 maintained the cuff pressure above 10 cmH2O. We conclude that this valve prevents excessive tracheal cuff pressure while maintaining the airway seal.