Acute paraplegia after general anesthesia

Acute paraplegia is a rare but catastrophic complication of surgeries performed on aorta and corrective operations of vertebral column. Trauma to spinal cord after spinal anesthesia and ischemia of spinal cord also may lead to acute paraplegia. Acute paraplegia as a complication of general anesthesia in surgeries performed on sites other than aorta and vertebral column is very rare. Here we present a 56 year old woman with acute paraplegia due to spinal cord infarction after laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anesthesia probably caused by atherosclerosis of feeding spinal arteries and ischemia of spinal cord after reduction of blood flow possibly due to hypotension during general anesthesia

Effect of dimenhydrinate on benign paroxysmal positional vertigo after Epley maneuver therapy

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo [BPPV] is the most common cause of peripheral vertigo in adults. Reason of this type of vertigo is movement of otoliths in semicircular canals [especially posterior]. Main treatments for BPPV are antivertiginous drugs and maneuvertherapy. The purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of Dimenhydrinate after maneuvertherapy of Epley on duration, number of vertigo attacks and duration of dizziness after each vertigo attack in patients with Posterior canal BPPV. One hundred forty eight patients with posterior Canal BPPV were evaluated in a randomized clinical trial in 2008 2009.Maneuvertherapy of Epley were done for all patients. They were divided into two groups: Dimenhydrinate group [75] and Placebo group [73] and drug prescribed for 2 weeks. Patients were followed up after treatment for duration of vertigo [days], number of vertigo attacks and duration of dizziness after each vertigo attack [minute]. Data were analyzed with statistical software SPSS 11/5 and comparison of means were done with T test and relationship between qualitative variables with X[2] square. Mean duration of recovery from vertigo attacks were 3/2 +/- 2/9 days in Dimenhydrinate and 3/8 +/- 3/3 in Placebo groups, mean number of vertigo attacks after treatment were 2 +/- 0/7 in Dimenhydrinate and 2/2 +/- 1 in placebo groups and Mean duration of dizziness after each vertigo attack was 32/75 +/- 2/07 minutes in Dimenhydrinate and 39 +/- 3/55 minutes in placebo groups with no statistically difference [P<0/05]. Epley maneuvertherapy is an effective treatment for Posterior canal BPPV and adding Dimenhydrinate does not increase its effectiveness