A & A case reports
-
Case Reports
Continuous Quadratus Lumborum Block for Postoperative Pain in Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Case Report.
A 69-year-old man with a history of chronic pain and opioid use presented for total hip arthroplasty. In the interests of ensuring early mobilization and pain control, we chose a continuous quadratus lumborum block technique, a novel ultrasound-guided block that has not yet been described for total hip arthroplasty, hypothesizing that it would be motor-sparing. ⋯ He was able to ambulate on the first postoperative day, reporting pain scores between 0 and 3/10. The quadratus lumborum block is a promising technique that, in our patient, was motor-sparing and provided excellent pain control.
-
One-lung ventilation is challenging in patients with difficult airway who require lung surgery. The choice of airway technique remains limited in patients with permanent tracheostomy after total laryngectomy. Conventional airway management techniques and available airway equipment have limited the options for securing airway in such patients, and dedicated airway equipment is not available for the management of such patients. Here, using endobronchial blocker through adult silicon hyperflex tracheostomy tube with an adjustable flange, we report a successful airway management for 1-lung ventilation in a patient with total laryngectomy with permanent tracheostomy.
-
Tetra-amelia syndrome is a congenital disorder associated with near or complete absence of all 4 limbs. Noninvasive hemodynamic monitoring may be difficult or impossible in such patients. We describe the use of a finger cuff blood pressure system for continuous noninvasive blood pressure monitoring in an infant with near-complete tetra-amelia undergoing laparoscopic gastrostomy tube placement. This case suggests the potential use of such a blood pressure monitoring system for other patients with comparable deformities.
-
Case Reports
Bilateral Continuous Suprascapular Nerve Blocks for Bilateral Shoulder Hemiarthroplasty.
We report a novel case of a patient undergoing a bilateral shoulder hemiarthroplasty for chronic bilateral shoulder dislocations with proximal humeral fractures. Bilateral selective suprascapular nerve catheters were placed preoperatively with the intent to provide continuous local anesthetic-based analgesia while sparing diaphragmatic function. Postoperative respiratory mechanics were relatively spared while numerical rating scale pain scores were suggestive of analgesic benefit.
-
Surgical patients with pulmonary hypertension present a significant challenge to the anesthesiologist. Continuous perioperative monitoring of pulmonary artery (PA) pressure is recommended and most often accomplished with a PA catheter. Placement of a PA catheter may be difficult or contraindicated, and in these cases, transesophageal echocardiography is a useful alternative to monitor dynamic PA physiology. In this case, we used intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography to detect changes in peak PA pressure and guide clinical treatment in a patient with pulmonary hypertension and an extensive PA aneurysm undergoing partial nephrectomy.