Anaesthesia
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Comparative Study
An additional tactile test. Further developments in tactile tests to confirm laryngeal placement of tracheal tubes.
An additional clinical test to confirm laryngeal placement of tracheal tubes is described. Using the new test, placement was confirmed in all of 50 patients studied in whom difficulty would have been anticipated using previously described tactile tests (male patients with lower molar teeth). Two anaesthetists with small hands averaged 98% confirmations in two series each of 100 consecutive unselected intubations. ⋯ The three tactile tests are reviewed and analysed. In the authors' combined experience of 14 cases of difficult laryngoscopy the tests gave reliable confirmation in 12 patients. Familiarity with these tests is stressed to be important for their reliable implementation.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Pain-free injection in infants. Use of a lignocaine-prilocaine cream to prevent pain at intravenous induction of general anaesthesia in 1-5-year-old children.
A randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind study was undertaken in 111 children between the ages of 1 and 5 years to assess the efficacy of EMLA 5% cream in the alleviation of venepuncture pain at intravenous induction of general anaesthesia using 27-gauge needles. Pain assessment was made by an operating department assistant using both verbal rating scale and visual analogue scale methods. ⋯ Significantly lower pain scores were recorded in the children treated with EMLA cream (verbal rating scale: premedicated p less than 0.05, unpremedicated p less than 0.001; visual analogue scale: premedicated p less than 0.0005, unpremedicated p less than 0.0002). No variation in analgesia was found for application times between 30 and 300 minutes and there were no serious side effects.
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Comparative Study
Bladder temperature as an estimate of body temperature during cardiopulmonary bypass.
Bladder temperature measured by a thermistor-tipped urinary catheter, was compared to oesophageal, nasopharyngeal, rectal and cutaneous temperatures in 33 patients during cardiopulmonary bypass. The bladder site was warmer than all other monitored sites in the pre-bypass period and showed least variation in temperature. The rate of change of bladder temperature during cooling and rewarming on bypass was significantly (p less than 0.01) lower than for oesophageal and nasopharyngeal temperatures, but was greater than or similar to the rate of change of rectal and cutaneous temperatures. This method of temperature measurement was found to be satisfactory during major surgery and also during the postoperative period in the intensive care unit.
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Cerebral blood flow, cerebral oxygen consumption, lactate and glucose metabolism were measured in 13 patients during anaesthesia with nitrous oxide, oxygen and enflurane 0.5% and after 30 minutes infusion of propofol. The mean blood concentration of propofol was 4.06 micrograms/ml. ⋯ Cerebral oxygen consumption decreased by 18.25%. Changes in the electro-encephalograph were related to the blood levels of propofol.
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Twenty patients, ASA grades 1 and 2, aged 18-65 years were admitted to an open study to investigate the ease of tracheal intubation after induction of anaesthesia with propofol without the use of muscle relaxants after the chance observation that propofol 2.5 mg/kg allowed easy laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation. Satisfactory intubation conditions were achieved in 19 patients.