Accidental intradural injection during attempted epidural block: A case report / 대한마취과학회지

Several cases of accidental subdural injection have been reported, but only few of them are known to be accidental intradural injection during epidural block. Therefore we would like to report our experience of accidental intradural injection. A 68-year-old female was referred to our pain clinic due to severe metastatic spinal pain. We performed a diagnostic epidural injection at T9/10 interspace under the C-arm guided X-ray view. Unlike the usual process of block, onset was delayed and sensory dermatomes were irregular range. We found out a dense collection of localized radio-opaque contrast media on the reviewed X-ray findings. These are characteristic of intradural injection and clearly different from the narrow wispy bands of contrast in the subdural space.

An anesthetic experience in a patient with Seckel syndrome: A case report / 대한마취과학회지

Seckel syndrome is an autosomal recessive, primordial dwarfism. The clinical symptoms and signs include severe intrauterine and postnatal growth retardation, nanocephaly, proportional dwarfism, bird-like faces, beak-like triangular nose, and mental retardation. We report a successful anesthetic management including endotracheal intubation with the GlideScope(R) video laryngoscope in an 18-year old man with Seckel syndrome for curettage of chronic osteomyelitis of pelvic bone.

Effect of prophylactic continuous infusion of isosorbide dinitrate on myocardial protection and hemodynamics in patients undergoing off-pump coronary bypass surgery

BACKGROUND: Multi-vessel off-pump coronary bypass surgery (OPCAB) imposes cumulative myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury, which may be attenuated by continuous infusion of nitrate. However, nitrate infusion and consequent decrease in preload may be hazardous during heart displacement which causes restrictive filling of the ventricles. Therefore, we evaluated the effect of nitrate infusion on myocardial protection and hemodynamics in patients undergoing OPCAB, in a prospective, randomized and controlled trial. METHODS: Fifty patients with stable angina and left ventricular ejection fraction >40% undergoing elective, isolated, multivessel OPCAB were enrolled. Patients were randomized equally to either continuous infusion of isosorbide dinitrate 0.5microg/kg/min or same amount of normal saline during the surgery. Operative data including hemodynamic variables, intraoperative ST segment changes and postoperative cardiac enzyme release (creatine kinase-MB, troponin T) were compared. RESULTS: Patients characteristic and operative data including ST segment changes and use of vasopressors were similar between the groups except the total amount of infused crystalloid during the surgery which was significantly higher in the nitrate group. Postoperative variables including cardiac enzyme release were also similar between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Prophylactic continuous infusion of nitrate during OPCAB exerted no additional benefit in terms of myocardial protection. It also, was not associated with accentuated decrease in cardiac output during heart displacement, and the decrease in preload seems to have been nullified by modest increase in fluid therapy.

Hormonal Changes of the Brain-Dead Organ Donors: A 3-Year Experience / 대한구급학회지

BACKGROUND: Success of transplantation is critically dependent upon the quality of the donor organ and optimal management. Recently, hormonal replacement therapy has been reported to result in rapid recovery of cardiac function and enable significantly more organs to be transplanted, while some other studies show conflicting results. The aim of this study is to comprehensively evaluate changes in basal circulating hormonal levels of the brain-dead organ donors. METHODS: We reviewed the records of all brain-dead patients between January, 2004, and June, 2007. Hemodynamic variables, plasma hormone levels were recorded at following time points: admission to the ICU (T1, baseline), 30 minutes (min) after first apnea test (T2), 30 min after second apnea test (T3), before operation for harvesting (T4). Hormonal measurements included cortisol, adrenocorticotrophic hormone, triiodothyronine (T(3)), thyroxine, free thyroxine, thyroid-stimulating hormone, growth hormone, and testosterone. RESULTS: Nineteen patients were included in this study. Comparisons of hemodynamic parameters and hormonal levels to baseline values revealed no significant changes throughout the study period. When the patients were divided into 2 groups according to the requirement of norepinephrine (either>0.05 or 0.05microgram/kg/min of norepinephrine had T(3) level below the normal range at significantly more time points of measurement (7 vs. 0). CONCLUSION: In this comprehensive assessment of hormonal levels in brain-dead organ donors, we could not observe any significant changes during the ICU stay. Replacement therapy of T(3) may be considered in patients requiring >0.05microgram/kg/min of norepinephrine.