Der Anaesthesist
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Abstract
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Abstract
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Case Reports
Misleading symptoms and successful noninvasive rewarming of a patient with severe hypothermia (23.1 °C).
Accidental severe hypothermia is a medical emergency in which symptoms may include coma, apnea, pulmonary edema, ventricular dysrhythmia or asystole. Despite optimal treatment, mortality remains high. This article reports a case of severe hypothermia in a geriatric hypothyroid patient, where despite a body core temperature of 23.1 °C the patient presented conscious and with stable vital signs, pronounced motor response, and a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 9. ⋯ Hypothyroidism may have contributed to this uncommon clinical presentation. Body temperature needs to be taken into account when interpreting blood gas analyses. Even at the stage of severe hypothermia, noninvasive forced-air warming enabled rewarming without complications.
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Dural puncture, paraesthesia and vascular puncture are the most common complications of epidural catheter insertion. Their association with variation in midline needle insertion depth is unknown. ⋯ Variation in midline insertion depth is an independent risk factor for epidural complications; however, variability precludes use of depth as a reliable guide to insertion in individual patients.
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Ultrasound-guided intermediate cervical plexus block with perivascular local anesthetic infiltration is an established anesthetic procedure for carotid endarterectomy. In this prospective pilot study an additional subplatysmal block of the superficial ansa cervicalis is presented for the first time. The target structures are the anastomoses between the facial nerve (cervical and marginal mandibular branches) and cervical plexus. ⋯ This study presents an ultrasound-guided subplatysmal block of the superficial ansa cervicalis for the first time, with the aim of optimizing anesthesia quality during surgical interventions in the carotid triangle.