Canadian Anaesthetists' Society journal
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Comparative Study
Incentive spirometry: its value after cardiac surgery.
Treatment with intermittent positive pressure breathing (IPPB) and incentive spirometry (I. S.) was compared in 109 patients after heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. Assessment was done by measurement of vital capacity, arterial oxygen tension and identification of the radiological signs of atelectasis. ⋯ P. B., in preventing atelectasis after open-heart surgery. Possibly incentive spirometer treatment given more frequently may be more effective.
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Two cases are presented in which a test dose of bupivacaine 0.75 per cent was injected before institution of an epidural block, as a safeguard against inadvertent intrathecal injection. In each case there was immediate evidence of motor and sensory blockade, which gave warning that the epidural catheter was positioned in the subarachnoid space. The experience of these two cases indicates that bupivacaine 0.75 per cent would be appropriate for use as a test dose in epidural anaesthesia.