British journal of anaesthesia
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Zomepirac, dihydrocodeine and placebo compared in postoperative pain after day-case surgery. The relationship between the effects of single and multiple doses.
Zomepirac 100 mg and dihydrocodeine 30 mg were compared with placebo in a controlled randomized, double-blind, single-dose postoperative study. Patients continued to receive either zomepirac or dihydrocodeine for pain relief for 5 days at home in a double-blind study, being allowed to titrate the consumption of tablets to their degree of pain. ⋯ In the multiple dosing phase, zomepirac was statistically better than dihydrocodeine. Non-parametric statistical tests indicated highly significant correlations between single- and multiple-dose analgesic measurements for both zomepirac and dihydrocodeine.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Effects of the extradural administration of local anaesthetic agents and morphine on the urinary excretion of cortisol, catecholamines and nitrogen following abdominal surgery.
Twenty patients undergoing major abdominal surgery were allocated randomly to receive either general anaesthesia with low-dose fentanyl plus intermittent systemic morphine for postoperative pain or the same general anaesthetic plus extradural analgesia during and following surgery (local anaesthetics from before skin incision until 24 h after skin incision plus extradural morphine 4 mg every 12 h from 3 h to 72 h after skin incision). Postoperative pain scores were lower (P less than 0.05) in the group receiving extradural analgesia, but this regimen failed to prevent the increase in the urinary excretion of cortisol, adrenaline, noradrenaline and nitrogen both on separate days and on cumulative measurements over 4 days. Pain scores did not correlate to urinary excretion of the various endocrine-metabolic indices either on separate days or over the cumulative 4-day period. It is concluded that the relief of pain per se has no major influence on the catabolic response to abdominal surgery.
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Neurotoxicity after subarachnoid infusion of bupivacaine, lignocaine and 2-chloroprocaine was studied in a chronic rat model. Hartmann's solution 100 microliter h-1 was infused as a control, and 0.5% bupivacaine, 1.5% lignocaine and 2.0% 2-chloroprocaine were infused at 100 microliter h-1 for 3, 6 or 24 h, to five rats in each group. ⋯ Abnormal histology, in the form of neuronal vacuolation, was not a sensitive index, being present in control rats, but more intense in those receiving lignocaine and 2-chloroprocaine than in those given bupivacaine; no correlation with clinical findings could be established. The neurotoxic effects of each local anaesthetic tested as a continuous intrathecal infusion were dose related in the rat, which may be a useful model for screening other local anaesthetics.
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Jet ventilation, through a bronchoscope, was evaluated using a lung model (normal compliance and increased airway resistance). Three I/E ratios (0.25, 0.43, 0.67) and seven rates of ventilation (from 20 to 230 cycles per min (c min-1) were studied with the bronchoscope either unoccluded or partially occluded by a telescope. ⋯ The introduction of the telescope reduced minute ventilation, as a result of a decrease in the amount of air entrained, and increased end-expiratory pressure and lung volume. The risk of barotrauma as a result of high peak pressure is reduced during high frequency jet ventilation, but the increase in lung volume, particularly when the telescope is introduced, may be of clinical importance.
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Comparative Study
Effect of intrathecal diamorphine on the adrenocortical, hyperglycaemic and cardiovascular responses to major colonic surgery.
The effect of the intrathecal administration of diamorphine on the hyperglycaemic, adrenocortical and cardiovascular responses to major colonic surgery were investigated, and the results compared with those obtained in a similar group of patients receiving low doses of fentanyl. In the group receiving intrathecal diamorphine, the hyperglycaemic response was delayed, and the adrenocortical response decreased significantly both during and following surgery; there were no significant cardiovascular responses to incision, and analgesia was prolonged after operation.