A & A case reports
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Our planet is in the midst of an environmental crisis. Government and international agencies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change urge radical and transformative change at every level of how we conduct our personal and professional lives. The health care industry contributes to climate change. ⋯ Eighteen percent of responders indicated the presence of a sustainability or "green" task force. A total of 12.6% of responders indicated the presence of a mandate from hospital leadership to promote sustainability programs. Two important conclusions drawn from the survey data are a lack of hospital-wide organization of sustainability programs and a belief among survey responders that they lack adequate information on recycling and sustainability.
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Case Reports
A Delayed Complication of Temporal Craniotomy Leading to a Potentially Difficult Airway.
Pseudoankylosis of the temporomandibular joint may occur as a complication of frontotemporal craniotomy. We report a patient who presented for surgery with a restricted mouth opening resulting from an infectious complication after frontotemporal craniotomy. ⋯ We explain the mechanism of this late complication that may result in a difficult airway. If this is not identified preoperatively when a patient presents for emergency surgery or when the patient is in altered sensorium, it may lead to an unanticipated difficult airway.
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We report the perioperative management of a patient with melanoma. Surgical intervention was withheld at multiple institutions because of the presence of metastases; the patient was undergoing experimental immunotherapy and had responded everywhere except in the liver. ⋯ She died of late complications. This case highlights physiologic and ethical considerations.
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Case Reports
Diffuse Limb Discoloration with Indigotindisulfonate (Indigo Carmine®) and the Associated Implications.
Anesthesiologists often administer medications through an IV catheter that is distal to a noninvasive blood pressure (NIBP) cuff. We report 2 cases where indigotindisulfonate (Indigo Carmine) was administered through an IV catheter distal to an NIBP cuff. NIBP cuff inflation after indigotindisulfonate administration resulted in diffuse limb discoloration distal to the NIBP cuff although the IV catheter remained completely within the intact vein. These cases suggest that administration of medications that have the same physical characteristics as indigotindisulfonate under the same conditions (i.e., proximal venous occlusion) could also result in an interstitial distribution of these drugs.
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Blue rubber bleb nevus syndrome, a syndrome of multifocal venous malformations, has been reported rarely during pregnancy. This syndrome has been associated with airway lesions in some patients and neuraxial abnormalities in other patients. We report the anesthetic and obstetric management of a patient with an extensive distribution of both airway and neuraxial lesions.