[Undergraduate teaching of anaesthesiology : a nationwide survey in Germany]. / Universitäre Lehre der Anästhesiologie : Bestandsaufnahme in Deutschland.

BACKGROUND: In 2003 anaesthesiology was implemented as a compulsory speciality of undergraduate teaching in Germany due to the revised regulations of medical education. Besides the preexisting subject of emergency medicine an obligatory course in anaesthesiology was introduced. Thus anaesthesiology has gained considerable importance in all medical faculties. To gain insight into the current status of undergraduate medical education in the university departments of anaesthesiology a nationwide survey at all university departments in Germany was initiated. METHODS: In cooperation with the German Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI) a standardized questionnaire was developed and sent to 36 departments of anaesthesiology of all German medical faculties. Questions concerned the structure of the respective curriculum, learning goals, teaching, assessment and evaluation methods as well as facultative courses. RESULTS: Of the 36 university departments of anaesthesiology, 35 returned the questionnaire. In 66% undergraduate education in anaesthesiology is part of the fourth or fifth year of medical training. In 91% of the faculties lectures were accompanied by teaching in small student groups. A simulator-based training is integrated either in anaesthesiology and/or in emergency medicine in 91% of the departments of anaesthesiology. In 69% of the departments contents of anaesthesia, critical care medicine, emergency medicine and pain management are an integral part of undergraduate teaching in anaesthesiology. The primary learning goals are directed towards general anaesthesia and there is less focus on topics of preoperative or postoperative care, such as preoperative risk evaluation, postoperative pain management and regional anaesthesia. Besides a multiple choice test (91%) oral (63%) and/or practical examinations (71%) are used as assessment tools. In 71% of the medical faculties the respective departments of anaesthesiology are leading and organising skills laboratories. In student evaluations anaesthesiology achieved best ranking in 66% of the medical faculties compared to other specialties. The possibility to take an elective course in anaesthesiology exists in 74% of the faculties. Half of these faculties organize this elective as a longitudinal course for one complete semester, the other half as a full time course over mostly 1 or 2 weeks. At present E-learning plays a minor role. CONCLUSIONS: This survey provides detailed information about the current status of undergraduate teaching of the university departments of anaesthesiology in Germany. The study shows a remarkable consistency of structure, contents and methods of education in anaesthesiology throughout all university departments of anaesthesiology. This information is the basis for triggering synergistic effects, for improving educational standards in anaesthesiology and for introducing a platform for developing modern learning media, e.g. through the scientific society DGAI.

[Fluorescein aspiration during induction of anaesthesia : complication preceding surgical treatment of cerebrospinal fluid fistula]. / Fluoreszeinaspiration während der Narkoseeinleitung : Komplikation vor operativer Sanierung einer Liqourfistel.

This case history deals with an 85-year-old patient who underwent surgery to treat rhinoliquorrhea. The patient aspirated a lutescent fluid shortly after anesthesia was administered. However, this fluid was not gastric juice but cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) running down the nasopharynx. The CSF had been stained with fluorescein prior to surgery in order to help localize the CSF fistula. This case of top down aspiration is discussed and preventive measures which can be employed in order to avoid similar complications in patients with rhinoliquorrhea are presented.

[Further education in anesthesiology. Implementation at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf]. / Weiterbildung in der Anästhesiologie. Umsetzung am Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf.

Due to the lack of physicians and the changing demands of junior staff more attractive curricula are needed in anesthesiology in Germany. In the German Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine as well as the Association of German Anesthesiologists discussions on the optimization of training have a long tradition. The following article gives a description of the concept and the practical approach to the training curricular at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf and is designed to stimulate discussion on possible concepts for training in anesthesiology.

[Intra-operative drop in sevoflurane and oxygen concentrations. Leakage of the ventilation system]. / Intraoperativer Abfall der Sevofluran- und O2-Konzentration. Leckage des Beatmungssystems.

After problem-free induction of narcosis in an 84-year-old female patient an intra-operative drop in sevoflurane and oxygen concentrations occurred during low-flow anesthesia. Although the concentrations of sevoflurane and oxygen in the fresh gas flow were increased no adequate elevation of the inspiratory concentrations could be achieved. Disconnection of the Dräger Primus IE manual bag-valve-mask could be identified as the cause of the drop in concentrations. Interestingly no error alarm function was initiated. This case demonstrates how important knowledge of the function, set-up and alarm conditions of respiratory machines is. This should be an important component of training in anesthesiology as well as securely established algorithms for difficult ventilation to ensure safe anesthesia despite technical failures.

[Measurement of the depth of anaesthesia]. / Messung der Narkosetiefe.

One of the most important mandates of the anaesthesiologist is to control the depth of anaesthesia. An unsolved problem is that a straight definition of the depth of anaesthesia does not exist. Concerning this it is rational to separate hypnosis from analgesia, from muscle relaxation and from block of cardiovascular reactions. Clinical surrogate parameters such as blood pressure and heart rate are not well-suited for a valid statement about the depth of hypnosis. To answer this question the brain has become the focus of interest as the target of anaesthesia. It is possible to visualize the brain's electrical activity from anelectroencephalogram (EEG). The validity of the spontaneous EEG as an anesthetic depth monitor is limited by the multiphasic activity, especially when anaesthesia is induced (excitation) and in deep anaesthesia (burst suppression). Recently, various commercial monitoring systems have been introduced to solve this problem. These monitoring systems use different interpretations of the EEG or auditory-evoked potentials (AEP). These derived and calculated variables have no pure physiological basis. For that reason a profound knowledge of the algorithms and a validation of the monitoring systems is an indispensable prerequisite prior to their routine clinical use. For the currently available monitoring systems various studies have been reported. At this time it is important to know that the actual available monitors can only value the sedation and not the other components of anaesthesia. For example, they cannot predict if a patient will react to a painful stimulus or not. In the future it would be desirable to develop parameters which allow an estimate of the other components of anaesthesia in addition to the presently available monitoring systems to estimate sedation and muscle relaxation. These could be sensoric-evoked potentials to estimate analgesia and AEPs for the detection of awareness.

[The new regulations for the licence to practice medicine. Implementation for the faculty of anesthesiology at the University Clinic Hamburg-Eppendorf]. / Die neue Approbationsordnung für Arzte. Umsetzung für das Fach Anästhesiologie am Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf.

After the amendments to the regulations for the licence to practice medicine, the rating of the faculty of anesthesiology has clearly increased. In the following article a concept will be described whereby these standards were implemented at the University of Hamburg. The basic principle, especially the training in the practical proficiencies, is to achieve a continuous learning process from students through to specialists for anesthesiology.

SNAP index and Bispectral index during different states of propofol/remifentanil anaesthesia.

The accuracy of the new SNAP index with the Bispectral index (BIS) to distinguish different states of propofol/remifentanil anaesthesia was compared in 19 female patients who were undergoing minor gynaecological surgery. Comparisons of the SNAP index, BIS, spectral edge frequency, mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate were performed. The ability of all parameters to distinguish between the steps of anaesthesia -awake vs. loss of response, awake vs. anaesthesia, anaesthesia vs. first reaction and anaesthesia vs. extubation - were analysed with the prediction probability. The prediction probability to differentiate between two interesting nuances of anaesthetic states -loss of response vs. first reaction - was calculated. Only the BIS showed no overlap between the investigated steps of anaesthesia. Both the SNAP index and BIS failed to differentiate the nuances of anaesthesia. The SNAP index and BIS were superior to mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate and spectral edge frequency in distinguishing between different steps of anaesthesia with propofol and remifentanil and provided useful additional information.

Bispectral index and A-line AAI index as guidance for desflurane-remifentanil anaesthesia compared with a standard practice group: a multicentre study.

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to investigate the impact of bispectral index (BIS) or A-line AAI index (based on middle-latency auditory evoked potential) monitoring on recovery times and drug consumption when compared with standard anaesthetic practice during desflurane-remifentanil anaesthesia. METHODS: After having obtained approval from the institutional review board and written informed consent, 200 adult patients undergoing minor surgical procedures were randomized to receive a desflurane-remifentanil anaesthetic controlled either solely by clinical parameters or by BIS or AAI to the following target values: during maintenance of anaesthesia to a value of '50' (BIS) or '30' (AAI), 15 min before the end of surgery to '60' (BIS) or '45' (AAI). Recovery times and drug consumption were recorded by a blinded investigator. RESULTS: Compared with standard practice, patients with BIS or AAI monitoring needed similar desflurane concentrations (standard practice 2.9 [0.5] vol%, BIS 3.3 [0.9] vol%, AAI 2.6 [0.5] vol%), and had similar recovery times (open eyes 5.6 [2.5] min, 5.9 [3.4] min, 5.0 [3.1] min; extubation 6.3 [2.4] min, 6.6 [3.5] min, 5.6 [3.0] min; stating name 7.3 [2.4] min, 7.6 [3.5] min, 7.3 [6.6] min). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with standard anaesthetic practice BIS and AAI guided titration to the used target ranges did not result in a reduction of desflurane consumption or recovery times during minor surgery with use of remifentanil.

[SNAP-index and bispectral index during induction of anaesthesia with propofol and remifentanil]. / SNAP-Index und Bispectral-Index während Narkoseeinleitung mit Propofol und Remifentanil.

OBJECTIVE: Measurement of "depth of anesthesia" is of enormous interest to the anesthesiologist. New monitor systems, based on the electroencephalogram (EEG) were developed. The aim of the present study was to compare the SNAP index and the Bispectral index during induction of anesthesia with propofol and remifentanil. METHODS: After IRB approval and written informed consent we investigated 19 female patients during minor gynecologic surgery. Target controlled infusion (TCI) of propofol was increased in a step-by-step mode (0.5 micro g/kg) every 1 min until the patients lost response to the modified Observer's Assessment of Alertness/Sedation scale (MOAAS). 5 min after the patient lost response remifentanil 0.4 micro g/kg/min was started. Every 20 s SNAP index, BIS, spectral edge frequency, mean arterial blood pressure, heart rate and MOASS were recorded. Prediction probability ( P(K)) was used to analyze the relationship of MOAAS, TCI propofol, and all investigated parameters. Changes after start of remifentanil were analyzed with Friedman and Wilcoxon test. RESULTS: SNAP index ( P(K) = 0.91) and BIS ( P(K) = 1.0) were able to distinguish reliably between MOAAS = 5 and MOAAS = 0. Start of remifentanil infusion resulted in statistically significant changes for all parameters except the SNAP index (p > 0,05). CONCLUSIONS: SNAP index and BIS were reliable parameters to distinguish different levels of sedation, but SNAP index was not able to reflect the analgesic potency of remifentanil during propofol infusion.

Acute heart failure during spinal surgery in a boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) are at high risk of perioperative complications. DMD may be accompanied by heart failure resulting from dystrophic involvement of the myocardium, which can be subclinical in the early stages of the disease. This case demonstrates that a normal preoperative ECG and echocardiograph cannot exclude the development of heart failure during anaesthesia in DMD patients undergoing major surgery.

Topography of clonidine-induced electroencephalographic changes evaluated by principal component analysis.

BACKGROUND: Principal component analysis is a multivariate statistical technique to facilitate the evaluation of complex data dimensions. In this study, principle component analysis was used to reduce the large number of variables from multichannel electroencephalographic recordings to a few components describing changes of spatial brain electric activity after intravenous clonidine. METHODS: Seven healthy volunteers (age, 26 +/- 3 [SD] yr) were included in a double-blind crossover study with intravenous clonidine (1.5 and 3.0 microg/kg). A spontaneous electroencephalogram was recorded by 26 leads and quantified by standard fast Fourier transformation in the delta, theta, alpha, and beta bands. Principle component analysis derived from a correlation matrix calculated between all electroencephalographic leads (26 x 26 leads) separately within each classic frequency band. The basic application level of principle component analysis resulted in components representing clusters of electrodes positions that were differently affected by clonidine. Subjective criteria of drowsiness and anxiety were rated by visual analog scales. RESULTS: Topography of clonidine-induced electroencephalographic changes could be attributed to two independent spatial components in each classic frequency band, explaining at least 85% of total variance. The most prominent effects of clonidine were increases in the delta band over centroparietooiccipital areas and decreases in the alpha band over parietooccipital regions. Clonidine administration resulted in subjective drowsiness. CONCLUSIONS: Data from the current study supported the fact that spatial principle component analysis is a useful multivariate statistical procedure to evaluate significant signal changes from multichannel electroencephalographic recordings and to describe the topography of the effects. The clonidine-related changes seen here were most probably results of its sedative effects.