Minerva anestesiologica
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Minerva anestesiologica · Jul 1995
Case Reports[Respiratory obstruction caused by retropharyngeal hematoma secondary to cervical spinal injury. Report of a case].
A case of severe airway obstruction secondary to retropharyngeal hematoma in a young multiple trauma patient with a stable occipitoatloid capsular-ligamentous injury is reported. The onset of mechanical obstruction occurred eight hours after the trauma requiring emergent oral intubation, and lasted seventeen days. The initial lateral cervical spine radiograph was negative, whereas the second one performed 7 hours after and initially underestimated, showed a large prevertebral soft tissue swelling. The initial difficult radiological diagnosis of trauma is described, and the therapeutic implications are discussed.
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Minerva anestesiologica · Jun 1995
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial[Hospital day-surgery: comparative evaluation of 3 general anesthesia techniques].
For the voluntary interruption of pregnancy, three anaesthetic techniques have been compared being a random assigned to three groups of 40 patients. Induction of anaesthesia was based on fentanyl 0.005 mg/kg+midazolam 0.2 mg/kg or fentanyl 0.005 mg/kg = propofol 2.5 mg/kg or ketamina 0.5 mg/kg+propofol 2.0 mg/kg. ⋯ In addition to the intraoperative conditions, quality and rapidity of some neurofunctional aspects of the recovery have been evaluated using the Steward Score and the Coin Counting Test respectively. Our data suggest fentanyl-propofol association as the safest one as regards the needs of one-day surgery.
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Minerva anestesiologica · Jun 1995
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial[Post-thoracotomy analgesia in pediatric heart surgery: comparison of 2 different techniques].
The aim of this study was to compare two different post-operative pain control techniques in pediatric patients undergoing thoracotomy with reference to a control group receiving conventional treatment in the form of endovenous morphine. The post-operative antalgic treatment protocol included the random distribution of patients to three groups: control group: endovenous analgesia with morphine boluses; group 1: intrapleural analgesia with bupivacaine boluses; group 2: caudal epidural analgesia in a single bolus with a mix of bupivacaine and morphine. In the comparison it was seen that the method that offered the most effective pain control and fewest collateral effects was caudal peridural analgesia. The authors conclude by suggesting the use of this method and underlining the need to pay greater attention to the problem of postoperative pain in pediatrics.
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Hypertrophic pyloric stenosis is one of the most common gastrointestinal abnormalities occurring in the first six months of life. It is a medical emergency and surgical therapy is considered only after correction of fluid and electrolyte deficits. Careful preoperative therapy to correct deficits may require several days to ensure safe general anaesthesia and surgery. ⋯ General anaesthesia was performed without complications. All patients were discharged during the period between the 2nd and 7th day after surgery, except one who was discharged after 16 days because of dehiscence of the surgical wall. Preoperative preparation is the primary factor contributing to the low perioperative complication rates, and the necessity to recognize fluid and electrolyte imbalance is the key for a successful anaesthetic management.
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Minerva anestesiologica · May 1995
Clinical Trial[Ultrasonography-guided identification of the lumbar epidural space].
The study was designed to assess the reliability of sonographic evaluation in the prediction of the depth of the lumbar epidural space. Forty males, scheduled for epidural anesthesia for surgical repair of inguinal hernia, were prospectively studied. Patients were placed in a sitting position and sagittal scanning of the lumbar spine was performed with a 5-MHz transducer over the fourth or fifth interspace in order to identify the deeper hyperechogen interface, which represents the landmark between the ligamentum flavum and the epidural space. ⋯ The potential for using ultrasounds for prediction of the distance from skin to epidural space was analyzed using a simple linear regression analysis; p values < 0.05 were considered significant. Mean values of ultrasound depth and needle depth were respectively 51 mm (SD 6.3) and 50.9 mm (SD 6.2); the correlation coefficient was 0.99. Ultrasound scanning of the lumbar spine provides an accurate measurement of the depth of the epidural space, which can facilitate the performance of the epidural anaesthesia and may decrease the complication rate, particularly in those patients in which anatomic landmarks are obscured.