Masui. The Japanese journal of anesthesiology
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Case Reports
[Severe airway obstruction relieved by sedation using sevoflurane in a pediatric patient with tracheobronchomalacia].
A 3-month-old baby with trisomy 18 syndrome was scheduled for tracheostomy under general anesthesia because of the prolonged tracheal intubation. Immediately after transferring the patient to the operating table, the patient suddenly began crying and coughing, resulting in severe hypoxia. The patient's lungs could not be ventilated by manual and positive pressure ventilation, and airway obstruction could not be relieved until the respiratory effort spontaneously decreased. ⋯ After sevoflurane administration, the sedated patient never developed the respiratory effort, and the lungs could be ventilated by manual and positive pressure ventilation without difficulty. The patient was diagnosed as tracheobronchomalacia as a result of intraoperative flexible bronchoscopy performed through tracheostomy tube, revealing significant narrowing of both the trachea and mainstem bronchus lumens. Sedation using sevoflurane may be helpful in maintaining airway patency in the pediatric patient with tracheobronchomalacia.
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To protect the spinal cord during thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair, motor evoked potentials (MEP) monitoring and cerebrospinal fluid drainage are often employed. Herein, we report a case, where intraoperative diminishment of motor evoked potentials was accompanied by multiple cerebral infarction. A 63-year-old man underwent elective surgery for both thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm and abdominal aortic aneurysm. ⋯ On the postoperative day 4, when we stopped the cerebrospinal fluid drainage and propofol administration, his level of consciousness was poor and brain CT revealed multiple cerebral infarction. On the postoperative day 30, he was discharged from an intensive care unit with complications of hemiplagia and paraplegia. Although cerebrospinal fluid drainage may be recommended to protect spinal cord during thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair, we should consider performing brain CT to exclude a risk of brain herniation secondary to cerebrospinal fluid drainage if there is a possibility of cerebral incidents.
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We reported previously the existence of regional discrepancies in the numbers of anesthesiologists to the general population, the numbers of all medical doctors and hospital beds in Japan. In the present study, we investigated the regional discrepancies of the numbers of anesthesiologists and hospitals with department of anesthesiology from medical facility's point of view in Japan. ⋯ There are remarkable regional discrepancies in the numbers of anesthesiologists and CTHs to the general hospitals and in the number of CTHs to the general population in Japan. We suspect that the regional discrepancies in the field of anesthesiology would influence the quality and form of corresponding clinical practice.
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Uterine artery embolization (UAE) has become widely employed in Japan. Although several methods of anesthesia and analgesia are performed for UAE, pain control does not appear to be satisfactory. We report a series of UAE, successfully managed using thoracic epidural analgesia. ⋯ Several phases of severe pain are seen perioperatively in UAE. Because thoracic epidural analgesia is easily administered and the dosage of the drugs used effectively controlled, it is a practical method for perioperative pain control for UAE.
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Although anesthetics have been often used clinically, the mechanisms of action of anesthetics have not yet been clarified. Recently, major advances have been made in our understanding of the physiology and pharmacology of G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR)-mediated signaling. ⋯ Given that known GPCRs are targets for anesthetics, these oGPCRs may represent a rich group of receptor targets for anesthetics. This review highlights the effects of anesthetics on Gq-coupled receptors, and discusses whether GPCRs other than Gq-coupled receptors, and proteins that convey GPCR signals are also targets for anesthetics.