Articles: analgesia.
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Int J Obstet Anesth · Apr 1998
Continuous caudal analgesia in labour for a patient with Harrington rods.
We report the case of a 29-year-old patient who had Harrington rods inserted from T8 to L4 at the age of 14. She had been discouraged from having epidural anaesthesia in the antenatal clinic but, whilst in labour, requested analgesia in addition to Entonox and pethidine. Continuous caudal analgesia was commenced and provided good pain relief for labour and delivery.
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Rev Esp Anestesiol Reanim · Apr 1998
Clinical Trial[Thoracic epidural analgesia in the postoperative period of pediatric surgery for the repair of pectus excavatum and pectus carinatum].
To assess thoracic analgesia by continuous infusion in surgery to repair pectus excavatum and carinatum in children. This prospective study enrolled 14 children aged 6 to 14 years old scheduled for surgery to correct pectus excavatum and carinatum. After induction of general anesthesia, the T8-T9 epidural space was accessed and a catheter was inserted to T3-T7 with radioscopic monitoring. ⋯ We recorded one case of pruritus (7.1%), three of nausea (21.4%) that subsided when butorphanol was given epidurally (20 micrograms/kg), and two cases of light sedation. Thoracic epidural analgesia is effective for alleviating postoperative pain from corrective thoracic surgery in children. Side effects were minimal and no anesthetic complications were observed.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Apr 1998
Bacterial colonization and infection rate of continuous epidural catheters in children.
Continuous epidural infusions are widely used for postoperative analgesia in children. We prospectively studied the incidence of bacterial colonization of caudal and lumbar epidural catheters, as well as the incidence of serious systemic and local infection, in 210 children after short-term epidural analgesia. Using aseptic technique, epidural catheters were inserted into either the lumbar or the caudal epidural space based on the preferences of the anesthesia team and/or clinical indication. The integrity of the catheter and overlying transparent dressing site was evaluated by a member of the pediatric pain service at least once a day. The catheters were aseptically removed if the patient had a fever greater than 39 degrees C, if the dressing was compromised, or when epidural analgesia was no longer required. The subcutaneous portion of the catheter was semiquantitatively cultured. Cellulitis (erythema, swelling, purulent discharge, pustule formation, or tenderness) was diagnosed by examination of the epidural insertion site. The mean (+/- SD) age of patients in the caudal catheter group (n = 170) was 3 +/- 3 yr; their mean weight was 13 +/- 11 kg. The mean (+/- SD) age of patients in the epidural catheter group (n = 40) was 11 +/- 4 yr; their mean weight was 36 +/- 23 kg. All catheters remained in place for 3 +/- 1 days (range 1-5 days). There was no serious systemic infection (meningitis, epidural abscess, or systemic sepsis). Of all epidural catheters, 35% (73 of 210) were colonized. Gram-positive colonization was similar in caudal (25%; 43 of 170) and lumbar (23%; 9 of 40) catheters. Gram-negative organisms were cultured from 16% of the caudal catheters (27 of 170) and 3% of the lumbar catheters (1 of 40). In patients treated with caudal epidural catheters, children aged >3 yr were less likely to have colonized epidural catheters than younger children. Age did not affect the probability of developing cellulitis at the insertion site. Although patients aged <3 yr with caudal catheters had a slightly greater risk of cellulitis than children aged >3 yr (14% vs 9%), this association was very weak (P = 0.33). We observed that, despite bacterial colonization of caudal and lumbar epidural catheters, serious systemic and local infection after short-term epidural analgesia did not occur in our study. ⋯ Continuous epidural infusions are widely used for postoperative analgesia in children. We found no serious systemic infections after short-term (3 days) continuous epidural analgesia in children.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Apr 1998
Comment Letter Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialDose-response function of epidural fentanyl versus sufentanil.