Background: Low flow anaesthesia has been used in anesthetic practice to prevent operation room pollution and also for econormical reasons. Since the safety of low flow technique has not been clearly determined in previous researches this study was performed to compare the end-tidal CO2 pressure during laparoscopic cholecystectomy in low flow as opposed to high flow anesthesia.
Methods: Forty patients, 30-65 years of age, ASA physical status I or II, scheduled for laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anesthesia were randomly alloted to low flow and high flow groups. End-tidal CO2 pressure, arterial blood pressure, pulse oximetric oxygen saturation, and heart rate were measured before, during and after insufflation of CO2 into the peritoneal cavity. The data were compared between two groups.
Results: Pneumoperitoneum caused a decrease in PaO2 and oxygen saturation together with increases in PaCO2 and end-tidal CO2 pressure in both groups but the differences between two groups were not statistically significant.
Conclusions: The result of this study shows that end-tidal CO2 pressure during laparoscopic cholecystectomy using low flow anesthesia system is comparable to that with high flow system. Therefore it can be concluded that low flow anesthesia can be used with relative safety in anesthetic management of patients during laparoscopic cholecystectoy.
Background: Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) in these days is usually carried out on ambulatory or outpatient basis. With the application of a lithotriptor of modern version an appropriate yet cost-effective analgesia with minimal side effects for ESWL is mandatory.
Methods: The analgesic effect of oral morphine (30 mg) was compared with that of pentazocine (100 mg) in a prospective study comprising 100 patients undergoing ESWL with a lithotripter of improved version for urinary tract stones. All patients received orally lorazepam 1 mg as sedative together with the appointed tested drug 30 min before the procedure. The analgesic effects of both drugs were assessed having recourse to the pain scale and efficacy scale.
Results: There were 94% of patients in the pentazocine (mixed agonist-antagonist) group who felt satisfied with the regimen and stood the procedure well without resort to supplemental drug, as compared with the morphine (potent mu-agonist) group in which only 70% of patients did so. Although the adverse effect such as dizziness was found in the pentazocine group, the degree of sleepiness produced by its deeper sedation effect was to the advantage of patients during the lithotripsy procedure. There were no significant changes in intergroup mean blood pressure (MBP), but heart rate (HR) was higher and O2 saturation (SpO2) was lower in the pentazocine group after treatment. Both narcotics did not induce renal colic in our study. Also, pentazocine 100 mg plus lorazepam 1 mg given orally did not induce psychotomimetic reaction intraoperatively or postoperatively.
Conclusions: We concluded that oral pentazocine at 100 mg plus lorazepam 1 mg, could offer satisfactory analgesia in patients undergoing ESWL for urinary tract stones with a lithotripter of improved version.
We report a case of delayed hypoxemia in an aged healthy male patient, which developed 2 hours after cementation of the prosthesis in total hip replacement (THR) under spinal anesthesia. The patient was doing well throughout the operation but unfortunately, progressive tachypnea was noted 1 h after he was transferred to the recovery room (i.e. 2 h after the application of bone cement into the femur). An hour further, distinct wheeze was heard bilaterally on auscultation, which signified bronchospasm. Arterial blood gases analysis revealed a low PaO2 of 71 mmHg and a decrease of oxygen saturation to 91% with supplement of fractional oxygen of 35%. Aerosolization of bronchodilator with terbutaline was administered and supplemental fractional oxygen was increased to 50%. Although wheezing soon subsided, tachypnea and desaturation persisted. He was then transferred to the surgical intensive care unit for further management. Ventilation-perfusion lung scan was performed, which was suggestive of multiple pulmonary embolism.
Although accidental subdural injection is a well-recognized complication of epidural block, only a mere handful cases have been substantially proven by radiological evidence. Here we report a case of subdural catheterization during the attempt of epidural anesthesia for a gynecological procedure. Its clinical course and radiological findings are compared with those of the cases previously reported in literature. Whenever there is the occurrence of widespread of sensory block together with respiratory distress and hemodynamic unstability following epidural injection of local anesthetic, a subdural injection should be considered in spite of a negative confirmation. Repeated subdural injection of a local anesthetic at the same site may predispose patients to serious morbidity. Therefore, we recommend that when a subdural injection is evident or suspected, reinsertion of the catheter in the epidural space via another entry or contemplation of a switch to another anesthetic technique is mandatory.