Endotracheal Intubation for Penetrating Neck Trauma.

Tracheal intubation is performed as part of daily routine in the operating room, rarely with complications. However, management of airway for cases such as a penetrating neck trauma case might constitute exceptions, in which cases the stabilization of the neck to prevent any further neural damage is a significant source of concern for the anesthesiologist. Generally, intubation techniques for penetrating neck trauma were planned according to the initial position of patients. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of alterated the position of the patient during the anesthesia induction for direct laryngoscopy. We report a case of successful airway management of a patient with penetrating neck trauma, by endotracheal intubation with direct laryngoscopy (DL) technique.

[The prognostic value of cerebral oxygen saturation measurement for assessing prognosis after cardiopulmonary resuscitation]. / O valor da medida da saturação cerebral de oxigênio para avaliar o prognóstico após ressuscitação cardiopulmonar.

BACKGROUND: Despite new improvements on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), brain damage is very often after resuscitation. OBJECTIVE: To assess the prognostic value of cerebral oxygen saturation measurement (rSO2) for assessing prognosis on patients after cardiopulmonary resuscitation. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: We analyzed 25 post-CPR patients (12 female and 13 male). All the patients were cooled to a target temperature of 33-34°C. The Glascow Coma Scale (GCS), Corneal Reflexes (CR), Pupillary Reflexes (PR), arterial Base Excess (BE) and rSO2 measurements were taken on admission. The rewarming GCS, CR, PR, BE and rSO2 measurements were made after the patient's temperature reached 36°C. RESULTS: In survivors, the baseline rSO2 value was 67.5 (46-70) and the percent difference between baseline and rewarming rSO2 value was 0.03 (0.014-0.435). In non-survivors, the baseline rSO2 value was 30 (25-65) and the percent difference between baseline and rewarming rSO2 value was 0.031 (-0.08 to -20). No statistical difference was detected on percent changes between baseline and rewarming values of rSO2. Statistically significant difference was detected between baseline and rewarming GCS groups (p=0.004). No statistical difference was detected between GCS, CR, PR, BE and rSO2 to determine the prognosis. CONCLUSION: Despite higher values of rSO2 on survivors than non-survivors, we found no statistically considerable difference between groups on baseline and the rewarming rSO2 values. Since the measurement is simple, and not affected by hypotension and hypothermia, the rSO2 may be a useful predictor for determining the prognosis after CPR.

Anaesthesia Management of a Child with West Syndrome.

West syndrome (WS) is an epileptic encephalopathy usually occurring during the first year of life and is characterized by severe electroencephalography (EEG) derangement. Most of these patients may develop cerebral palsy, facial malformations, and skeletal deformities. The anaesthesiologist should make the preoperative assessment carefully due to epileptic seizures and should consider the possibility of difficult intubation because of coexisting anatomic malformations during the anaesthesia management of patients with WS. This report presents a case of general anaesthesia management in a left femoral fixation operation in an 11-year-old, 18 kg male patient.