Troubleshooting for epileptiform activity during percutaneous transvenous mitral commisurotomy

Percutaneous transvenous mitral commisurotomy (PTMC) is a frequently used minimally invasive procedure for patients with symptomatic mitral stenosis. However, it is not without complications. Few complications which are distinctive to the procedure are thromboembolism, left-to-right shunts, mitral regurgitation, cardiac tamponade and complete heart block. We present the case of a 32-year-old female patient scheduled for a PTMC, who had multiple complications during the procedure. She developed cardiac tamponade for which pericardiocentesis and autotransfusion was done. Subsequently she exhibited epileptiform activity for which there was a diagnostic dilemma due to the presence of multiple confounding factors. However, she had a complete recovery without any residual sequelae at the time of discharge.

Lipid emulsion therapy of local anesthetic systemic toxicity due to dental anesthesia

Local anesthetic systemic toxicity (LAST) refers to the complication affecting the central nervous system (CNS) and cardiovascular system (CVS) due to the overdose of local anesthesia. Its reported prevalence is 0.27/1000, and the representative symptoms range from dizziness to unconsciousness in the CNS and from arrhythmias to cardiac arrest in the CVS. Predisposing factors of LAST include extremes of age, pregnancy, renal disease, cardiac disease, hepatic dysfunction, and drug-associated factors. To prevent the LAST, it is necessary to recognize the risk factors for each patient, choose a safe drug and dose of local anesthesia, use vasoconstrictor , confirm aspiration and use incremental injection techniques. According to the treatment guidelines for LAST, immediate application of lipid emulsion plays an important role. Although lipid emulsion is commonly used for parenteral nutrition, it has recently been widely used as a non-specific antidote for various types of drug toxicity, such as LAST treatment. According to the recently published guidelines, 20% lipid emulsion is to be intravenously injected at 1.5 mL/kg. After bolus injection, 15 mL/kg/h of lipid emulsion is to be continuously injected for LAST. However, caution must be observed for >1000 mL of injection, which is the maximum dose. We reviewed the incidence, mechanism, prevention, and treatment guidelines, and a serious complication of LAST occurring due to dental anesthesia. Furthermore, we introduced lipid emulsion that has recently been in the spotlight as the therapeutic strategy for LAST.

Hypersensitivity Reaction to Perioperative Drug Mistaken for Local Anesthetic Systemic Toxicity in a Patient under Brachial Plexus Block / 고신대학교의과대학학술지

Perioperative anaphylaxis, although rare, is a severe, life-threatening unexpected systemic hypersensitivity reaction. Simultaneous administration of various drugs during anesthesia, the difficulty of communicate with patients in sedation and anesthesia, and coverage of the patient with surgical drapes are considered to be factors that impede early recognition of anaphylactic reactions. It is very important to perform an intradermal skin test because antibiotics are the most common cause of perioperative anaphylaxis. We report a case of negative-intradermal skin test antibiotic anaphylaxis mistaken for local aesthetic systemic toxicity without increase of serum tryptase for confirmative diagnostic biomaker during surgery under brachial plexus block. It is not possible to exclude the danger of anaphylaxis completely, even if it is negative-intradermal skin test and normal tryptase level. Therefore, anesthesiologists should be closely monitored and treated early for antibiotics related hypersensitive reaction, like other medicines during anesthesia.