Clinical Observation of the Patient who recieved Blood Transfusion / 대한마취과학회지

It is a well known fact that the best method of determinign need ofr transfusion is the accurate measurement of blood loss related to the patient's status and surgical maneuvers during operation. There are many complications of blood transfusion and their pathophysiologic mechanism, and theprevention and management has been discussed. Among the complications of blood transfusion, urticaria is the most common symptom. The pathophysiologic mechanism of urticaria is understood in some degree at the present time but there are many different opinions as to its prevention and management. Furthermore antihistamine has been widely used for the prevention of urticaria but there are many debatable events about the use of antihistamine. This study was undertaken to investigate the recent reports concerning the use of antihistamine for the prevent in and management of urticaria. Two hundred eighty eight transfused patients among the total of six thousand four hundred forty eight surgical cases done at the Hanyang University hospital from January 1st to December 31th 1983. were reviewed. The result are as follows: 1) The incidence of urticaria was 28 cases (9.72%) among the 288 transfused cases and there was no sex difference. 2) The age distribution was 10 cases (12%) in the 2nd decade and 9 cases(11.3%) in the 4th decade. 3) The lowest incidence of urticaria was 5 cases (5.3%) with A blood type and high of incidence with B, O and AB blood type. 4) The physical status of class 3 was seem in 10 cases(43.5%) as the most common occurrence of urticaria. 5) The highest incidence of urticaria was observed in 9(45%) of 20 obstetric cases. 6) There was no significant differnece of urticaria incidence between the groups which did and did not use antihistamine. Also in the group which received histamine 10 minutes before treansfusion there was a significant decreases 6 cases (3.41%) among the 178 transfused cases. 7) There was no significant statistical difference between blood loss and transfused blood volumes. 8) There was no significant statistical change in the mean values of hemoglobin and hematocrit which were measured preoperatively, in recovery room and 24 hours after operation. 9) In the patient's who were tranfused with more than 10 oints of whole blood, urticaria developed in 9 cases (50%) among 18. From the results of this study, I consider the most effective method for the prevention of urticaria to be the administration of histamine 10 minutes before transfusion. Further investigation of this method will be carried out.

The Clinical Comparative Stndy on Liver Function with Enflurane and Halothane Anesthetics / 대한마취과학회지

Halothane was introduced in 1956. It has been used worldwidely as a relatively safe inhalation anesthetic but it is generally accepted that it can cause decrease of liver function. But the causative factor has not yet been pinpointed. Enflurane also seems to decrease liver function but the exact cause is not yet known. In order to study the effects of enflurane and halothane on liver function, we used 10 cases of spinal anesthesia as a control group, and 20 cases each of enflurane and halothane anesthesia respectively as experimental group. We then checked serum GOT, GPT, total bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, and eosinophil count in peripheral venous blood before oeration and 6 days after operation and looked for the existence of high fever of more than 39 degrees C 3 days postoperatively. The results are as follows: 1) We found statistical significant change of serum GOT, GPT, total billirubin alkaline phosphatase and eosinophil count in spinal, enflurane, or halothane anesthesia beofre and after operation. There was no statistically significance between the control and experimental groups. 2) No patient developed high fever of more than 39 degrees C until 3 days after anesthesia in any group. 3) No significant change of mean arterial blood pressure was observed before and during anesthesia in each group. In this study no definite conclusion that enflurane and halothane might have affected the liver function.

Clinical Study of Electrical Stimulation of the Peripheral Nerve / 대한마취과학회지

Recent studies in western countries have reported that the mechanism pf pain are concorded with gate control opiage receptor binding sites and the release of intrinsic morphine like substances, sodium glutamate and also with bradykinin, seroconin, histamine and prostaglandin E. Otherwise the mechanism of the stimulstion producing analgesia has been reported to involve a neurophysiologic and neurohumoral inhibitory effect at the level of spinal cord, brain stem, thalamus and cortex. This has been clarified but further study should improve the chance of understanding the mechanism of pain. From the standpoint of pain management, medications used to manage pain have some unfortunate side effects. nerve blocks cause anesthesia toxicity, major neurosurgical procedures have many complications. Subarachnoidal and epidural analgesics have unknown irritation pneumonia and drug toxicity, and plexus or pituitary gland block with phenol or alcohol has uneventful complication. From January 1980 to December 1982, electrical acupuncture stimulation has been used on 210 cases at HANYANG university hospital in the pain clinic. I found it useful in relieving pain which has not responded to various conventional methods which included medications, nerve blocks, neurosurgical intervantion and neuropolytics. The results are as follows: 1) There are two kinds of treated patients: One is consultation case-12 from internal medicine, 16 from orthopedic surgery, 10 from neurosurgical and 2 from psychiatry. Another 170 cases were patients who directly to the clinic. And the age distribution shows the highset number of patients in the 3rd decade(21%) and in the 4th decade(24.8%). 2) The region of pain was 21% lumbar, 13.8% shoulder, 10% lower leg and head or face with 9.5%. 3) The duration of the pain showed 10 days 25.7%, 1~2 month 18.6%, one year 11.4% and the longest up to 20 years. 4) Patients who were able to walk into the clinic were 19.5%, moderate cases who to be accompanied were 58.6% and bedridden cases were 21.9%. 5) Treatment was conducted mainly on low frequency stimulation with various waves that included the general dynamic activity point plus reactive electro permeable point (REPP) 81.9% and REER plus head in situ needle 18.1%. 6) In 16.7% only one treatment was administered, in 46.1% 2~5 treatments were given, in 28.6% 6~10 treatments were given and in 3 cases more than 100 treatments were administered. 7) Of the 210 cases, 43.3% showed marked improvement, 41.4% were improved, 13.8% showed translent improvement and there were 3 cases of no improvement. The total confidence was 84.7%. 8) There are no serious complications except hypertensive shock case, submucosal hemorrhagic petechia 7 cases and generalized fatigue 18 cases. In conclusion, electrical acupuncture stimulation of the peripheral nervous system can be used to relieve pain replacing such conventional means as medications, nerve blocks, major neurosurgical procedures, neuroytics and physiopsychic therapy which are generally less effective.

Anesthetic Management in Patient with Myasthenia Gravis / 대한마취과학회지

Myasthenia gravis is a disease characterized by muscle weakness upon exertion of an involved muscle group and partial return of function eithe with rest or the administration of anticholinesterase. It is generally thought that myasthenia gravis is caused by an autoimmune response associated with the thymus gland and thymectomy is considered to be the treatment of choice for countering this autoimmune process. It is a well known fact that perioerative nticholinesterase therapy, muscle relaxant administration during operation and postoperative respiratory management are in dispute. We described a case of a 42 year old male myasthenic patient with mild symptoms who needed 4 days of artificial ventilatory support following thymectomy.