[Chest drain injury of the heart]. / Poranení srdce hrudním drénem.

INTRODUCTION: Injury to the heart during chest drainage is a very rare but potentially fatal complication of the procedure. CASE REPORT: A 56-year-old, polymorbid, poorly co-operative and extremely obese patient with chronic cardiac subcompensation and pleural effusion was admitted to a district hospital. A drain was inserted into the left pleural cavity in order to evacuate the pleural effusion. Fresh oxygenated blood was flowing out from the drain. The drain was clamped immediately. Echocardiography showed drain insertion into the left ventricle. A cardiac surgeon was contacted and indicated patient transfer to a cardiac surgery department followed by an emergency surgery. During the surgery performed through a left thoracotomy, a defect in the left ventricular wall was sutured. The patient was then stabilized, transferred back to the district hospital and, after achieving cardiopulmonary compensation, discharged home. CONCLUSION: Injury to the heart in chest drainage is a very serious iatrogenic complication. If it is to be managed successfully, the site of the insertion of the drain tip needs to be correctly identified and the drain must not be extracted. A surgical department capable of adequately addressing this complication needs to be contacted promptly, as emergency surgery may be the only lifesaving possibility.Key words: chest drainage - complication - heart injury.

[Diclofenac 75mg. and 30 mg. orfenadine (Neodolpasse) versus placebo and piroxicam in postoperative analgesia after arthroscopy]. / Diklofenak 75 mg s orfenadinem 30 mg (NEODOLPASSE) versus placebo a piroxikam v pooperacní analgezii u artroskopií.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Arthroscopy is often performed in an out-patient department or as one-day surgery. Opioids often used as postoperative analgesics may have unwanted side effects that may postpone the patient's discharge from hospital. This study was designed to evaluate a substitute for the most frequently used opioid pethidine. For pain relief, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs are recommended, but they offer a limited choice for parenteral administration. We used a new agent (Neodolpasse) based on diclophenac and orphenadine, and compared its efficacy with piroxicam and placebo. METHODS: A total of 119 patients scheduled for knee joint arthroscopy were included in this prospective study. In a randomized, double-blind manner, they received piroxicam (P), Neodolpasse (combining 75 mg diclophenac and 30 mg orphenadine; N) or placebo (C). The number of patients in groups P, N and C were 44, 35 and 40, respectively. The effect of therapy was evaluated on the basis of the following criteria: duration of post-operative analgesia until a request for another analgesic, pain intensity (0-10 VAS), side effects and the patient's satisfaction with analgesia. The efficacy was evaluated for 24 hours after arthroscopy; premedication and analgesia induction and administration followed the same anesthetic protocol in all groups. The ethic committee approved the study and patients gave their informed consent. The results were statistically evaluated using the ANOVA analysis of variance completed by a multiple comparison of levels of significance according to Bonferroni. The presence of side and unwanted effects was analyzed by the chi-square of Fisher's exact test. A p value les than 0.05 was regarded as statistically significant. RESULTS: There were significant differences in the number of patients not requiring further analgesic medication after arthroscopy (P 52.3% vs. C (11.7%) p < 0.05, N (68.6%) vs. C p < 0.001), lower average postoperative pain (0 to 10-point scale, P 2.4 vs. C 2.9 p < 0.05, N 1.5 vs. C p < 0.05) and fewer side effects (N vs. both P and C, p < 0.05). DISCUSSION: The combination of diclophenac with orphenadine for intravenous application has only recently been available in the Czech Republic. The addition of a central muscle relaxant to a peripheral analgesic has a better effect than diclophenac alone. This may also account for a longer duration of analgesia in comparison with piroxicam reported to have significantly longer analgesic effects. The new medication also had fewer side effects. It was interesting to record that even the patients who had more pain and shorter postoperative analgesia were satisfied with the therapy provided. CONCLUSIONS: The main result of this study is the finding that Neodolpasse significantly reduces the intensity of postoperative pain and increases the duration of postoperative analgesia after knee joint arthroscopy.

[Adverse hemodynamic changes during laparoscopic cholecystectomy and their possible suppression with clonidine premedication. Comparison with intravenous and intramuscular premedication]. / Nezádoucí hemodynamické zmeny behem laparoskopických cholecystektomií a moznost jejich potlacení clonidinem v premedikaci. Srovnání intravenózní a intramuskulární premedikace.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomies have adverse haemodynamic effects which limit their use in risk patients with heart disease. This applies in particular to significant hypertension. The etiology is analysed in detail in a review of the literature. The authors confirmed in their work involving 21 patients the incidence of these effects and tried to suppress them by premedication with clonidine (CATAPRESAN, Boehringer). 21 patients were given 0.15 mg clonidine in an infusion 15 minutes before operation and 21 patients 0.15 mg clonidine by the i.m. route 60-90 min. before operation. Standard anaesthesia was administered. A highly significant drop in the incidence of hypertension was recorded during operation for systolic pressure (p < 0.001) after both ways of administration, as well as of diastolic pressure (p < 0.01 for intravenous and p < 0.05 for intramuscular premedication). Premedication with intravenous clonidine can be recommended as a routine procedure before laparoscopic cholecystectomies.