Aspiration during induction of anaesthesia in patients with colon interposition.

The risk of aspiration during induction of anaesthesia in patients with oesophageal disease is not well defined, and controversy exists with respect to patients who have undergone pharyngeal-gastric colon interposition. Excellent gastrooesophageal competence has been documented in many of these patients, and propulsive peristalsis has been demonstrated in interposed colonic segments, suggesting that aspiration risk is low. This report, however, describes recent anaesthetic experiences in two patients with colon interpositions and shows that these patients may have markedly redundant interposed segments that retain food or other particulate residue and, thus, present a significant risk of particulate aspiration. Awake intubation may be the best approach to avoid aspiration in these patients.

Publications resulting from anesthesia meeting abstracts.

Of 55 abstracts presented at the 1979 annual meeting of the International Anesthesia Research Society (I.A.R.S.) 24 (43.6%) and of 62 abstracts presented at the 1980 annual meeting of the I.A.R.S. 25 (40.3%) were published by July 1, 1981. Of 324 abstracts presented at the 1978 annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (A.S.A.) 98 papers (30.1%) were published by January 1, 1981. Eighty-two percent of the I.A.R.S. meeting papers and 66.7% of the A.S.A. papers were published in anesthesia journals, and the rest of the papers appeared in publications representing a variety of other disciplines. The average lag time between publication of the abstract and publication as an article was 8.2 months for I.A.R.S. abstracts and 12.2 months for A.S.A. abstracts. By July 1, 1981, four 1979 I.A.R.S. abstracts were filed in Science Citation Index (SCI) as cited reference and by January 1, 1981, fifty-six 1979 A.S.A. abstracts were filed.