Journal of clinical and diagnostic research : JCDR
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Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) is done under general anaesthesia in most of the centres. Associated complications and cost are higher for general anaesthesia than for regional anaesthesia. Present study is designed to compare the efficacy of epidural block versus spinal anaesthesia with regards to intraoperative mean arterial pressure, heart rate, postoperative pain intensity, analgesic requirement, Postoperative complications and patient satisfaction in patients undergoing PCNL. ⋯ For PCNL, segmental epidural block is better than spinal anaesthesia in terms of haemodynamic stability, postoperative analgesia, patient satisfaction and reduced incidence of PONV. Epidural anaesthesia is difficult to execute and takes longer time to act as compared to spinal block which limits its use.
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Thoracic injury and its complications are responsible for as much as 25% for blunt trauma mortality. Pulmonary contusion occurs in 30%-75% of these cases. Despite advances in pulmonary care and intensive care management pulmonary contusion still contributes to higher mortality and morbidity for patients with severe injuries. ⋯ The risk factors that were associated with higher mortality in patients with pulmonary contusions following chest trauma were APACHE II score, SAPS II score, SOFA score, paO2/Fio2 ratio and ventilator days. Close monitoring to improve the gas exchange and better fluid management will help in improving the survival in these patients.
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Urolithiasis means calculus in urinary system. It is a rare condition in pregnancy which can have devastating results for the mother in the form of pyonephrosis and septicaemia and to the foetus in the form of IUGR and prematurity. This is a rare case report of a 27-year old female patient who presented with perinephric abscess and hydronephrosis at 22 weeks of pregnancy. With proper evaluation and management, pregnancy continued till term with good perinatal outcome.
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Sedation plays a pivotal role in the care of the critically ill patient. It is equally important to assess depth of sedation. The present study had been designed to compare dexmedetomidine and propofol for sedation in mechanically ventilated intensive care patients. It also intended to verify the clinical validity, reliability and applicability of objective assessment tool bispectral index (BIS) for monitoring sedation and observe for correlation with the commonly used subjective scale, Ramsay sedation score (RSS). ⋯ Dexmedetomidine reduces heart rate while propofol transiently affects MAP. However, adequate sedation is achieved with both the drugs. The data obtained from the study validate BIS monitoring for ICU sedation.
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Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) is one of the commonest causes of patient's visit to the Emergency Room (ER). Hospitalisation of patient depends on severity of pneumonia. Various pneumonia severity assessment scores are available to predict mortality in community acquired pneumonia but these scores are not commonly used. Procalcitonin is a biomarker which is raised in bacterial infection and is easy and quick to measure. The aim of our study was to assess the ability of baseline serum procalcitonin level to predict mortality of community acquired bacterial pneumonia compared to PSI, CURB-65 and CRB-65 and its add-on value to the simple CRB-65 score. ⋯ Semi-quantitative PCT level at admission is an excellent test to predict the outcome of pneumonia. It predicts patients at low risk of mortality from community acquired bacterial pneumonia.