Comparison of propofol/fentanyl and ketamine anesthesia in children during extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy.

OBJECTIVE: Extracorporeal Shockwave Lithotripsy (ESWL) is an effective and safe way for treatment of upper urinary system stones. For pediatric patients, throughout ESWL, sufficient sedation and analgesia is needed to cope with the procedural pain. In this study, our goal was to compare 2 methods of intravenous anesthesia, applied to pediatric patients during ESWL. METHODS: Forty patients, between 3 months and 15 years of age who were admitted to the Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Turkey between September 2003 to September 2004 with upper urinary system calculi were randomized into 2 groups. All patients received intranasal midazolam 0.3 mg/kg premedication. Group K received intravenous (iv) ketamine 2 mg/kg; Group PF received a bolus of iv propofol 3 mg/kg and iv fentanyl 1 microg/kg along with a propofol infusion of 1 mg/kg/hr throughout the procedure. Procedural, recovery and discharge times, incidences of intra and post-procedural complications were compared. RESULTS: Demographics, procedural and discharge times were similar in 2 groups. While recovery times and post-procedural complication incidence was higher for the Group K, intra-procedural complication incidence was higher for the Group PF. CONCLUSION: Although both protocols do not differ much according to ease of application and efficacy in providing sufficient analgesia for ESWL, they have their corresponding side effects and they can only be practiced safely by experienced anesthesiologists in a monitorized and well equipped setting.

Tracheomalacia and bronchomalacia in 34 children: clinical and radiologic profiles and associations with other diseases.

We reviewed our experience on tracheomalacia (TM) and bronchomalacia (BM) in children who presented with chronic respiratory problems and evaluated their clinical and radiologic characteristics and their associations with other disorders. There were 26 males and 8 females with a median age of 9 months. The main symptoms were wheezing, persistent or recurrent pneumonia, and chronic cough. Atelectasis on chest radiograph was the most common sign. Of 23 children with TM, 1 had a double aortic arch, 1 had tracheoesophageal fistula, and 1 other had associated laryngomalacia. BM was found in 27 children and was predominantly seen on the right side. TBM was found in 16 cases (in an infant TBM was accompanied by pharyngeal dyskinesia and in another by laryngomalacia). Malacia disorders were associated with gastroesophageal reflux, cardiovascular anomalies, and tracheoeosophageal fistula. TM and BM should be considered in the differential diagnosis of children with chronic and recurrent respiratory symptoms. Early diagnosis of malacia disorders will prevent unnecessary use of antibiotics or antiasthmatic drugs, which are often abused to treat these children. In these patients, treatment for associated diseases should also be considered.

Pediatric obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and anesthetic management.

Sleep-related breathing disorders require special attention in children who spend a considerable time sleeping. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is characterized by episodes of upper airway obstruction during sleep. Symptoms include hyperactivity, enuresis, headache, failure to thrive, and increased respiratory effort and total sleep time. The most common cause is adenotonsillar hypertrophy. Coexisting diseases are obesity, neuromuscular and craniofacial anomalies, and Down's syndrome. Early diagnosis is important to minimize neurocognitive, cardiac and developmental complications. Polysomnography is the gold standard for diagnosis. Although the features of pediatric obstructive sleep apnea syndrome are distinctly different from that in adults, it may predispose to the adult type of the syndrome. As therapy concerns several surgical approaches as well as conservative techniques, anesthetic management calls for particular attention. Pre- and postoperative sedation must be performed cautiously and patients must be watched closely with respect to airway obstruction and hypoventilation. Difficult intubation must always be considered.

[The effect of day and night shift working on the attention and anxiety levels of anesthesia residents]. / Gece ve Gündüz Vardiya Calismasinin Bir Grup Anestezi Asistaninin Dikkat ve Anksiyete Düzeyleri Uzerine Etkisi.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the attention, learning and memory related cognitive functions after 12-hour day versus night shift-work in anaesthesia residents. METHOD: Fifteen residents working on the day shift and 18 working on the night shift volunteered. All were interviewed with the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), Visual Aural Digit Span Test (VADST), and State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) before and after the shifts. Residents' self-evaluations of their fatigue, stress, sleep quality and duration of sleep were sought. RESULTS: The two groups were similar regarding age, gender, attention, fatigue, stress, affection, sleep quality and duration of sleep. The number of words learned in the first trial of the Rey AVLT decreased after the shifts in both groups. Before the night shift the word list could be learned more effectively and with fewer trials compared to the pre-day shift. The learning deteriorated, and repetitions and forgotten words increased after the night shift. The aural oral, aural written and visual written subtest scores deteriorated after the night shift. State anxiety levels did not differ between the night and day shift groups or before and after the shifts. CONCLUSION: The cognitive functions of residents may be impaired after the night shift. We think that close supervision of residents and provision of more rest for them during night shifts would be beneficial in decreasing their errors, which may affect patients.