Anaesthesia
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A case of severe bronchospasm occurring during epidural anaesthesia in a patient undergoing Caesarean section is described. The aetiology of the bronchospasm may have been related to sympathetic nervous blockade allowing unopposed parasympathetically mediated bronchoconstriction.
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A technique for teaching fibreoptic nasotracheal intubation is described. Fifty patients presenting for elective dental surgery received thiopentone by intermittent injection for induction and maintenance of anaesthesia whilst a trainee anaesthetist attempted to visualise the vocal cords using an intubating fibrescope. During endoscopy patients spontaneously breathed oxygen-enriched air and passage of the tracheal tube was facilitated by suxamethonium. ⋯ Changes in arterial blood pressure and heart rate were similar to those described in previous studies of tracheal intubation. Haemoglobin oxygen saturation remained above 95% in 43 patients, and above 93% in 46 patients; the lowest saturation recorded was 91%. Intermittent thiopentone provides good conditions for teaching fibreoptic nasotracheal intubation whilst maintaining arterial blood pressure and oxygen saturation.
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Patients who require mechanical ventilation are often sedated with midazolam. As clinical signs of sedation are often confusing or nonexistent, and there are few adverse side effects when large doses are infused over a period of days, substantial drug accumulation can result in these critically ill patients, despite the short half-life of midazolam. An objective monitor of sedation would help maintain sedation at a constant level despite changing pharmacokinetic values in patients. ⋯ High frequency electroencephalogram activity decreased as sedation level increased. This was reflected in decreases in the spectral edge (17.61 to 10.56 Hz (p = 0.0024)), the median frequency (4.27 to 2.56 Hz (p = 0.0278)), and the logarithm of the absolute power in the beta 1 (p = 0.0012), and beta 2 (p < 0.0001) bands. An incidental finding of asymmetry in power between right and left frontal electrodes was observed, with right-sided power being 9-18% greater (p < 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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This is a report of a modification of the standard Macintosh laryngoscope blade to facilitate tracheal tube placement in cases of difficult visualisation of the larynx. The modification offers the unique advantage of a hinged blade tip, controlled by a lever on the handle of the laryngoscope which allows elevation of the epiglottis while decreasing the overall laryngoscopic elevation or levering movement required. It is an adaptation which can be applied to most laryngoscope blades, does not require any special training in its use and will prove useful for both routine intubations as well as those which may be difficult and associated with an anterior larynx.