Der Anaesthesist
-
It is a strange contradiction that increasingly sophisticated anaesthesia machines are developed meeting all requirements for rebreathing techniques and the highest safety standards, but the usual anaesthetic management is still based on the use of fresh gas flows that preclude substantial rebreathing. The advantages of rebreathing can only be realised if low-flow anesthesia techniques are adopted. Increasing acceptance of these methods is due to the availability of comprehensive anaesthetic gas monitoring. ⋯ The use of new inhalational anaesthetics such as desflurane that require comparatively high concentrations, or even xenon, will motivate to sparing use. Increasingly stringent health and safety regulations as well as sharpened ecological awareness will prompt anaesthetists to minimise all anaesthetic gas emission according to the possibilities of available equipment. Last but not least, the demand for economical working methods will be an argument for applying low-flow anaesthesia techniques.
-
A 45-year-old, healthy, well-trained man climbed within 12 hours from 300 m above sea level to a shelter at 2500 m in the Tyrolean Alps. During the following 3 days he undertook ski tours to the surrounding mountains up to 3356 m. On the 4th day he suddenly suffered from headache, coughing and very severe dyspnoea even at rest, accompanied by loss of appetite and the feeling of suffocation. ⋯ HAPE is a non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema which develops in healthy individuals usually above 3000 m. Among the predisposing factors are rapid ascent, severe physical effort, diminished hypoxic ventilatory response and abnormal fluid balance. The treatment of choice is descent to a lower altitude, administration of oxygen and of nifedipine and expiratory positive airway pressure.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
[The effect of theophylline on the mucociliary clearance function in ventilated intensive care patients].
Mucociliary clearance represents an important protective mechanism of the upper and lower respiratory tracts whereby inhaled particles and micro-organisms are removed from the tracheobronchial system. In incubated intensive care unit (ICU) patients, impaired ciliary function and mucus transport are associated with pulmonary complications [9]. Some authors have shown that theophylline increases mucus transport in healthy subjects and patients with chronic bronchitis [8, 16, 31, 36]. ⋯ CONCLUSIONS. Theophylline at therapeutic concentrations improves bronchial mucus transport in intubated ICU patients. The increase in BTV may be associated with severe tachycardia, and therefore routine application cannot be recommended.
-
Fournier's gangrene is a necrotising soft-tissue infection of the scrotum and perineal region caused by gram-negative and gram-positive Enterobacteriaceae. The disease is characterised by its unique appearance, its speed of onset, and its high mortality. CASE REPORT. ⋯ The treatment should include immediate radical surgical debridement, i.v. administration of broad-spectrum antibiotics, and cardiopulmonary support. CONCLUSION. The dramatic course of Fournier's gangrene requires early recognition, extensive surgical debridement, as well as intensive care treatment in order to prevent irreversible septic shock.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
[No inhibition of intestinal motility following ketamine-midazolam anesthesia. A comparison of anesthesia with enflurane and fentanyl/midazolam].
Postoperative intestinal atonia is a complication which is likely to occur in patients predisposed for constipation and in patients after intra-abdominal operations. The postoperative delay of bowel movement, however, is often also related to the type of anaesthesia being used. In order to evaluate the magnitude of an anaesthetic-induced postoperative delay of bowel movement, two types of intravenous-based anaesthesia using fentanyl/midazolam (1 mg/25 mg; dosage 0.1 ml/kg/h), and ketamine/midazolam (250 mg/25 mg; dosage 0.1 ml/kg/h) respectively were compared with a volatile anaesthetic technique (enflurane; mean concentration 1.5 vol%). ⋯ When using intravenous anaesthesia with an opioid, gastro-intestinal inhibition, especially in patients prone to have constipation, is likely to develop postoperatively. In classical neuroleptanaesthesia and in analgosedation in the ICU, the simultaneous use of the butyrophenone droperidol seems to counteract the inhibition of opioid-related gastrointestinal motility. In cases of opioid-related gastrointestinal atonia a gastrokinetic compound may be necessary to overcome this effect on intestinal motility.