Effect of Concurrent Lidocaine, Remifentanil and Methylprednisolone Use on the Clinical Effect of Sugammadex under General Anaesthesia in Rats.

OBJECTIVE: In an in vitro study, lidocaine, remifentanil and methylprednisolone produced inclusion complexes with sugammadex, which lead to a decrease in free and active concentrations of sugammadex. When used concurrently with these drugs, it is likely that the time for sugammadex to reverse a neuromuscular blockade is going to be prolonged due to a synergistic pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic interaction. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether concurrent use of sugammadex with remifentanil, lidocaine and methylprednisolone led to a decrease in the neuromuscular blockade reversal effect of sugammadex produced with neuromuscular blockade agent (NMBA) rocuronium. METHODS: The present study included 42 male Wistar rats. They were randomised into 7 groups, with 6 rats per group. The first group was the control group, the second group received remifentanil and methylprednisolone, the third lidocaine and methylprednisolone, the fourth remifentanil, the fifth lidocaine, the sixth methylprednisolone and the seventh lidocaine and remifentanil. All groups were administered 3.2 mg kg-1 rocuronium for neuromuscular blockade after the administration of study drugs. When the train of four (TOF) value was 0, all groups were administered 16 mg kg-1 sugammadex for the reversal of neuromuscular blockade. With a TOF Watch SX device, the time to TOF ≥0.9 was recorded. RESULTS: When the control group was compared with Groups 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, no statistically significant difference was found. However, in Group 2, time to TOF ≥0.9 was prolonged significantly when compared with the control group. CONCLUSION: We suggest that remifentanil and methylprednisolone used concurrently with sugammadex lead to a decrease in sugammadex reversal effect by giving rise to decrease in its free and active concentrations probably via displacement in rats.

Massive Blood Transfusion during Revision Total Hip Arthroplasty under Combined Spinal Epidural Anaesthesia.

Revision total hip arthroplasty (THA) is an orthopaedic surgery that is known to be associated with excessive bleeding. The rates of mortality and morbidity are high in patients with massive haemorrhage. The patient in this study was administered blood products with high fresh frozen plasma/red blood cell (RBC) suspension ratio and high platelet/RBC suspension ratio without waiting for haemostasis test results. This study suggests that this approach might prove beneficial in reducing the incidence of intra- and postoperative complications. this study presents our experience with a patient who underwent THA and required a transfusion that was three times her estimated total blood volume. The patient was successfully managed with close monitoring of haemorrhage and timely administration of blood and blood products before hypotension and loss of consciousness occurred.

Sensitivity of the Combination of Mallampati Scores with Anthropometric Measurements and the Presence of Malignancy to Predict Difficult Intubation.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the combinations of the Mallampati test and anthropometric measurements with the highest selectivity value. In addition, we aim to identify a possible correlation between head circumference measurement, the presence of malignancy and difficult intubation. METHODS: Patients who were scheduled to undergo elective surgery under general anaesthesia, who fell into Group 1-2 according to ASA criteria and were between the ages of 18-70 years were included in the study. Patients with Cormack-Lehane scores of 3-4 were considered to be difficult intubations. Thyromental distance, sternomental distance, mandibular distance, neck length, neck circumference and head circumference were measured during the anthropometric measurements. RESULTS: According to the ROC analysis, there was a significant difference in the thyromental distance, sternomental distance, neck length, neck circumference and head circumference between the easy and difficult intubation groups (p<0.05). The incidence of difficult intubation was 8.3% in patients with non-head-neck malignancies, whereas the incidence was 7.1% in patients without any malignancies. The difference between these groups was not statistically significant (χ(2)=0.101; p=0.751). CONCLUSION: To predict the incidence of difficult intubation, the test with the highest selectivity and highest positive predictive values was the combination of Mallampati-thyromental distance. We believe that the head circumference and neck length measurement, in addition to the current anthropometric measurements, may be crucial to predict the incidence of difficult intubations. In addition, we believe that the anticipation of difficult intubations in patients with non-head-neck malignancies is not different from the normal population.

Sudden Appearance of Water in Flowmeter During Air/Oxygen and Sevoflurane Anaesthesia.

Endotracheal intubation was performed, and a water bubbling sound was heard from the anaesthesia device immediately after the release of gases to administer the O2-air-sevoflurane mixture. The flowmeter on the anaesthesia device was then found to be filled with water. The breakdown of the dryer in the medical air compressor system was determined as the source of the problem, since a greasy fluid mixture was released from the air-wall outlets in all rooms. Consequently, the anaesthesia team should keep in mind that problems as seen in the current case might emerge and should be alert.

Effects of Systemic Disorders on Postoperative Complications After Simultaneous Bilateral Total Knee Replacement.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to retrospectively evaluate the association between accompanying systemic disorders and major complications developing in the early postoperative period in patients who underwent simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty with combined spinal and epidural anaesthesia. METHODS: In the present study, the medical records of a total of 456 patients were analyzed. Preoperative data, including the American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status and presence of coronary artery disease (CAD), chronic pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension and renal insufficiency were recorded. Furthermore, the data related to major complications, such as cardiac complications, respiratory complications, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), thromboembolism, cerebrovascular accident (CVA), confusion, acute renal failure (ARF), shock and cardiopulmonary arrest were recorded. RESULTS: We found that the frequency of complications markedly increased in the presence of concurrent DM and hypertension, or DM, hypertension and CAD, or DM and CAD. Further, 0.2% of the patients developed AMI, 3.3% developed cardiac complications, 2.2% developed respiratory complications, 0.9% developed thromboembolism, 0.2% developed CVA, 2% developed confusion and 0.4% developed cardiac arrest and shock in the first week after the operation. The frequency of cardiac and pulmonary complications and confusion was higher in patients aged above 65 years compared to patients below 65 years. CONCLUSION: We observed that the frequency of cardiac and pulmonary complications and confusion in the early postoperative period was markedly higher in patients aged above 65 years and in patients with concurrent DM and cardiovascular comorbidities.