ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: To provide good control of intraocular pressure (IOP) during anaesthesia and surgery, we conducted a study comparing the effects on IOP during maintenance and recovery of sevoflurane vs propofol anaesthesia in 33 patients (ASA I-II) undergoing elective non- ophthalmic surgery. METHODS: Anaesthesia was induced with propofol 2 mg kg(-1), fentanyl 2 micro g kg(-1) and vecuronium 0.1 mg kg(-1). Patients were allocated randomly to receive either propofol 4-8 mg kg(-1) h(-1) (group P; n=16) or 1.5-2.5 vol% sevoflurane (group S; n=17) for maintenance of anaesthesia. Fentanyl 2-4 micro g kg(-1) was added if necessary. The lungs were ventilated with 50% air in oxygen. Blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation and end-tidal carbon dioxide were measured before and throughout anaesthesia and in the recovery room. IOP was determined with applanation tonometry (Perkins) by one ophthalmologist blinded to the anaesthetic technique. RESULTS: There was a significant decrease in IOP after induction and during maintenance of anaesthesia in both groups. No significant differences in IOP between the two groups was found. CONCLUSION: Sevoflurane maintains the IOP at an equally reduced level compared with propofol.
Subject(s)
Anesthetics, Inhalation/pharmacology , Intraocular Pressure/drug effects , Methyl Ethers/pharmacology , Propofol/pharmacology , Adolescent , Adult , Analysis of Variance , Anesthesia Recovery Period , Blood Pressure/drug effects , Female , Heart Rate/drug effects , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Sevoflurane , Single-Blind MethodABSTRACT
A cross-sectional, dichotic listening study of 210 right-handed, middle-class children four to ten years old used thirty pairs of one-syllable words and thirty pairs of four-syllable numbers to assess the developmental course of ear asymmetry. A significant decrease in REA for both word and number pairs was found. Although right-ear and left-ear performance both increased with age, the developmental gain in left-ear performance was greater than the gain in right-ear performance, thus resulting in a decrease in REA with age. The results are discussed with respect to investigations which found no change in REA during development and a structural model based on the development of interhemispheric connectivity is proposed to explain the findings.
