Prospective documentation and analysis of the pre- and early clinical management in severe head injury in southern Bavaria at a population based level.

Treatment of patients suffering from severe head injury is so far restricted to general procedures, whereas specific pharmacological agents of neuroprotection including hypothermia have not been found to improve the outcome in clinical trials. Albeit effective, symptomatic measures of the preclinical rescue of patients (i.e. stabilization or reestablishment of the circulatory and respiratory system) or of the early clinical care (e.g. prompt diagnosis and treatment of an intracranial space occupying mass, maintenance of a competent circulatory and respiratory system, and others) by and large constitute the current treatment based on considerable organizational and logistical efforts. These and other components of the head injury treatment are certainly worthwhile of a systematic analysis as to their efficacy or remaining deficiencies, respectively. Deficits could be associated with delays of providing preclinical rescue procedures (e.g. until intubation of the patient or administration of fluid). Delays could also be associated in the hospital with the diagnostic establishment of intracranial lesions requiring prompt neurosurgical intervention. By support of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and under the auspices of the Forschungsverbund Neurotraumatology, University of Munich, a prospective system analysis was carried out on major aspects of the pre- and early clinical management at a population based level in patients with traumatic brain injury. Documentation of pertinent data was made from August 1998 to July 1999 covering a catchment area of Southern Bavaria (5.6 mio inhabitants). Altogether 528 cases identified to suffer from severe head injury (GCS < or = 8 or deteriorating to that level within 48 hrs) were enrolled following admission to the hospital and establishment of the diagnosis. Further, patients dying on the scene or during transport to the hospital were also documented, particularly as to the frequency of severe head injury as underlying cause of mortality. The analysis included also cases with additional peripheral trauma (polytrauma). The efficacy of the logistics and organization of the management was studied by documentation of prognosis-relevant time intervals, as for example until arrival of the rescue squad at the scene of an accident, until intubation and administration of fluid, or upon hospital admission until establishment of the CT-diagnosis and commencement of surgery or transfer to the intensive care unit, respectively. The severity of cases studied in the present analysis is evident from a mortality of far above 40% of cases admitted to the hospital, which was increased by about 20% when including prehospital mortality. The outcome data notwithstanding, the emerging results demonstrate a high efficacy of the pre- and early clinical management, as indicated by a prompt arrival of the rescue squad at the scene, a competent prehospital and early clinical management and care, indicative of a low rate of avoidable complications. It is tentatively concluded on the basis of these findings that the patient prognosis is increasingly determined by the manifestations of primary brain damage vs. the development of secondary complications.

[Anesthesiologic management of ankle joint osteosynthesis in the 35th week of pregnancy in a patient with Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome]. / Anästhesiologisches Management zur Sprunggelenksosteosynthese bei einer in der 35. Woche schwangeren Patientin mit einem Charcot-Marie-Tooth-Syndrom.

We describe the case of an extremely overweight woman in her 35 th week of pregnancy with a manifest Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome (CMT), on whom a tibial fracture was operated under general anaesthesia. Anaesthesia was induced with thiopental, droperidol, fentanyl and maintained with nitrous oxide and isoflurane. Atracurium was administered as a muscle relaxant agent. Depolarizing muscle relaxants have not been used because of a significantly increased risk of hyperkalemia. The immediate intubation using the principle of a so-called "priming dose" was within normal limits. CMT syndrome is a very rare hereditary autosomal dominant degenerative disease of the peripheral nervous system. The main site of manifestation is the peroneus muscle. In case of affection of the respiratory muscular system, which acutely can occur postoperatively even without any suspicious findings in the preoperatively performed lung function tests, an insufficiency of the respiratory tract is predominant and may require a postoperative intensive care with a prolonged artificial respiration. With the application of non-depolarizing muscle relaxants significant prolongations of the half-life period have occasionally been observed. Therefore we recommend the monitoring of the neuromuscular blockade perioperatively using the train-of-four ratio. An extraordinary progression of the disease frequently occurs during pregnancy.