Articles: general-anesthesia.
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Anasth Intensivther Notfallmed · Jun 1985
[Suppression of the adrenal cortex by infusion of etomidate in general anesthesia].
The effects of anaesthesia with fentanyl and prolonged etomidate infusion (0.8 mg/kg/h) on the peroperative and postoperative change in blood concentrations of aldosterone, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, ACTH, epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine, glucose, lactate and free fatty acids (FFA) were investigated in connection with major abdominal surgery. During surgery and anaesthesia with prolonged etomidate infusion no significant alterations in plasma catecholamine concentrations were observed. ⋯ Despite this endogenous ACTH stimulus, aldosterone (121.8 +/- 19.4 pg/ml----58.4 +/- 10.4 pg/ml) and cortisol (12.3 +/- 2.84 micrograms/dl----5.79 +/- 1.2 micrograms/dl) and dehydroepiandrosterone (2.28 +/- 1.09 ng/ml----1.27 +/- 0.25 ng/ml) levels were markedly depressed in every patient during the perioperative period. Twenty-four hours after surgery the basal steroid values were within or above normal limits.
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Sixty-four cases of posterior lumbar extension osteotomy performed at the Toronto East General Hospital between 1969 and 1983 are reviewed. The anaesthetic management is presented. The procedure was performed with local infiltration anaesthesia, heavy sedation and a brief period of general anaesthesia induced with nitrous oxide, halothane or ketamine. ⋯ A method of supporting these deformed patients in the prone position in moulded plaster casts is described. Anaesthetic and surgical complications and postoperative psychological disturbances are described and discussed. It is suggested that caudal epidural opioid or local anaesthetic analgesia be explored as an aid in the management of these patients.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · May 1985
Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialAtracurium infusion requirements in children during halothane, isoflurane, and narcotic anesthesia.
We were interested in determining the dose-response relationship of atracurium in children (2-10 yr) during nitrous oxide-isoflurane anesthesia (1%) and the atracurium infusion rate required to maintain about 95% neuromuscular blockade during nitrous oxide-halothane (0.8%), nitrous oxide-isoflurane (1%), or nitrous oxide-narcotic anesthesia. Neuromuscular blockade was monitored by recording the electromyographic activity of the adductor pollicis muscle resulting from supramaximal stimulation at the ulnar nerve at 2 Hz for 2 sec at 10-sec intervals. To estimate dose-response relationships, three groups of five children received 80, 100, 150 micrograms/kg atracurium, respectively. ⋯ At equipotent concentrations, halothane and isoflurane augment atracurium neuromuscular block to the same extent, compared to narcotic anesthesia. Atracurium steady-state infusion requirements averaged 6.3 +/- 0.6 micrograms . kg-1 . min-1 during halothane or isoflurane anesthesia; the requirements during balanced anesthesia were 9.3 +/- 0.8 micrograms . kg-1 . min-1 (P less than 0.05). There was no evidence of cumulation during prolonged atracurium infusion.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Maternal and neonatal responses related to the volatile agent used to maintain anaesthesia at caesarean section.
A standardized technique of general anaesthesia, with one randomly selected variable, was provided for 237 patients undergoing elective and 540 undergoing emergency Caesarean section. The variable was the volatile agent used to maintain anaesthesia, the choice resting between trichloroethylene (0.2 or 0.3 vol.%) and halothane (0.2, 0.3, 0.4 or 0.5 vol.%). No association was found between the type of agent and the duration of anaesthesia, or the duration of either the I-D or the U-D interval. ⋯ The incidence of maternal awareness plus unpleasant dreams was unacceptably high when the lower concentrations were used, and it is recommended that either trichloroethylene 0.3 vol.% or halothane 0.4 or 0.5 vol.% be used. Neither agent, at these concentrations, was associated with neonatal depression in group A elective sections in which the fetus presented by the vertex, and although there was a possible tendency for their use in cases of fetal compromise to be associated with an increase in the incidence of neonatal respiratory depression, the degree of depression was of little consequence to neonatal well-being. It was confirmed that breech presentation and prolongation of the U-D interval are important determinants of depression and birth asphyxia among infants delivered by Caesarean section under general anaesthesia.
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Cardiac arrests due solely to anesthesia were studied in a large university hospital over a 15-year period. There were 27 cardiac arrests among 163,240 anesthetics given, for a 15-year incidence of 1.7 per 10,000 anesthetics. Fourteen of these patients (0.9 per 10,000) subsequently died. ⋯ Hemodynamic instability in very ill patients was an association in 22%. Specific errors in anesthetic management could be identified in 75%. Progressive bradycardia preceding the arrest was observed in all but one case.