Stability of premixed syringes of diamorphine and hyperbaric bupivacaine.

BACKGROUND: It is common clinical practice to add diamorphine to heavy bupivacaine when performing spinal anaesthesia for either obstetric or general surgical procedures. If pre-filled syringes were available potential problems arising due to the wrong mixture being administered could be reduced, whilst also providing greater assurances of sterility and accuracy of dosage. It is therefore necessary to establish whether diamorphine 100 microg/mL is stable in solution with 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine, to allow production of pre-filled syringes for use in spinal anaesthesia. METHOD: Diamorphine hydrochloride was dissolved in water for injection, and added to hyperbaric bupivacaine then stored in 5-mL plastic syringes. Eleven syringes were stored at 40 degrees C/75% relative humidity, 25 degrees C/60% relative humidity and 7 degrees C for 90 days. Samples were taken at five time points for measurement of diamorphine and bupivacaine concentrations using high performance liquid chromatography. RESULTS: Diamorphine concentrations fell over the study period. No significant changes were observed the bupivacaine content of the samples. There was 10% degradation of diamorphine after 4 days at 40 degrees C, after 7 days at 25 degrees C, and after 26 days at 7 degrees C. CONCLUSION: Diamorphine is stable in hyperbaric bupivacaine at 7 degrees C for long enough to allow preparation of pre-filled syringes in advance (by hospital pharmacy aseptic units) for use in spinal anaesthesia.

Long strictureplasty is as safe and effective as short strictureplasty in small-bowel Crohn's disease.

BACKGROUND: For the past 20 years it has been shown that intestinal strictureplasty is safe and effective in the management of short strictureplasty. Long strictureplasty (> 20 cm) may be an alternative to resection in some patients, especially in diffuse disease or after previous extensive resections. We reviewed the outcome of long strictureplasty for Crohn's Disease, to examine safety and recurrence rates, compared with conventional short strictureplasty. METHODS: Sixty-two patients have undergone single strictureplasty for jejunoileal Crohn's disease since 1974. Median follow-up was 121 (range 7-253) months. Twenty-one operations involved a single long strictureplasty, and 41 operations had a single short strictureplasty. RESULTS: No significant differences were identified between the groups. The postoperative complications in long strictureplasty included 2 abscesses only and after short strictureplasty there was one anastomotic leak and one postoperative abscess. The median hospital stay was 10 days after long strictureplasty and 9 days after short strictureplasty. Three-, 5- and 10-year disease-free rates for long and short strictureplasty, respectively, were 3-year 80.4% and 62.1%; 5-year 55.2% and 49.8% and 10-year 49.1% and 33.5% (NS). CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that long strictureplasty is safe and produces equivalent results to conventional (short) strictureplasty.

A comparison of patient-controlled analgesia administered by the intravenous or intranasal route during the early postoperative period.

Intranasal administration of lipophilic opioids has been shown to be an effective method of administration which is devoid of major side-effects. Whether it is as effective as intravenous administration for patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) has been investigated for fentanyl and pethidine, but not for diamorphine. This study reports a randomised controlled trial designed to compare the effectiveness of diamorphine administered as PCA utilising either the intranasal or intravenous routes. We investigated 52 consecutive patients undergoing primary lower limb joint replacement surgery. Patients were randomly allocated to receive PCA diamorphine, administered either intravenously (0.5 mg bolus, 3 min lockout) or intranasally (1.0 mg bolus, 3 min lockout). Pain was assessed using a Visual Analogue Score (VAS) at rest and on movement on five occasions over the first 36 h postoperatively. The results demonstrated that patients in the intranasal PCA group had significantly higher VAS scores than the intravenous group, both at rest (intranasal median 35.5 vs. intravenous median 20; p = 0.030) and on movement (intranasal median 64 vs. intravenous median 50; p = 0.016). However, significantly fewer patients in the intranasal group compared with the intravenous group suffered episodes of vomiting (intranasal 0/24 vs. intravenous 6/24 patients; p = 0.022). We suggest that if a maximal reduction in pain score is considered the goal of PCA management, the intravenous route is preferable to the intranasal route.

The use of the McCoy laryngoscope in patients with simulated cervical spine injuries.

We studied the laryngoscopic view in 167 patients with their head and necks held in the neutral position with manual in-line stabilisation and cricoid pressure to simulate the patient with a suspected cervical spine injury. Each patient underwent laryngoscopy using both a McCoy and a Macintosh laryngoscope. The best view obtained by each larngoscope was graded according to standard guidelines. The results showed that the McCoy was never worse than the Macintosh. It improved the Macintosh grade by 1 grade in 41% and by 2 grades in 8% (p < 0.001). Difficult laryngoscopy, defined as the inability to see the glottis (grade 3 or 4), was found in 56 (33%) with the Macintosh laryngoscope and only eight (5%) (P < 0.001) with the McCoy laryngoscope. We suggest that patients with a suspected cervical spine injury and a full stomach should be intubated using a McCoy in preference to a Macintosh laryngoscope.

Adult Hirschsprung's disease mimicking Crohn's disease.

Although Hirschsprung's disease is diagnosed most commonly during infancy and childhood, some cases are seen in adults, when clinical features are usually similar to those described in younger patients. We report a case whose unusual clinical presentation led to an initial diagnosis and subsequent treatment of colonic Crohn's disease. The correct diagnosis was made only after motility measurements suggested the possibility of adult Hirschsprung's disease and prompted the histological examination of the myoenteric plexus, which led to the establishment of the correct diagnosis.

Clinical index to quantitate symptoms of perianal Crohn's disease.

We describe an anal disease activity index suitable for use in prospective studies of treatment and recording the natural history of anal disease. We studied 40 patients with perianal Crohn's disease (PACD), 14 patients with anal disease not related to Crohn's disease, and 10 normal individuals. Seven symptoms related to anal disease were measured using a linear analog scoring system, which proved easy for the patients to complete. Only three of the seven clinical parameters studied before and after treatment had a high discriminant value. On the basis of these findings, we conclude that a good index of response to therapy in patients with anal disease can be obtained from a linear analog scoring of three symptoms: spontaneous anal pain, pain following defecation, and inhibition of locomotion by pain. The index should be of value in comparing management options in PACD.

Surgical gloves--a comparative study of the incidence and site of punctures.

Five surgical teams in two operating suites were studied for three months with random allocation to receive either A or B operating gloves. The gloves were identified as used by the surgeon, the assistant and the scrub nurse. At the end of each day the gloves were tested by standard air insufflation and immersion under water. Surgeons experienced significantly more punctures 174:884 (19.7%) [17%-23%] than the scrub nurses or assistants 161:1770 (9.4%) [8.6%-10.2%]. Surgeons were particularly prone to experience punctures of the tip of the index or little finger of the left hand whereas nurses were more likely to experience punctures of the index finger and thumb of the left hand. There was a wide variation between the five surgical teams varying between 5.7% [2%-11%] and 37.5% [24%-52%] wearing B and 11.4% and 28.4% wearing A. There were significantly more punctures when wearing A gloves (23.0%) [20%-26%] than when wearing B gloves (15.8%) [13%-19%] for surgeons but no significant difference for surgical assistants or scrub nurses. Contrary to our expectation there were no significant differences between the two types in the tearing of cuffs (1% in each).

Mucosal cell-mediated immunity to mycobacterial, enterobacterial and other microbial antigens in inflammatory bowel disease.

Culture studies have suggested that Mycobacterium paratuberculosis may play a role in the aetiology of Crohn's disease. However, evidence of sensitization to mycobacterial antigens amongst patients with Crohn's disease has not yet been adequately demonstrated. Previous studies of cell-mediated immunity (CMI) in Crohn's disease were restricted to responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) to mycobacterial antigens. In this study we have investigated the proliferative responses of both PBMC and mesenteric lymph node mononuclear cells (MLNMC) to a range of mycobacterial and non-mycobacterial antigens. There was no evidence of specific sensitization in the responses of MLNMC and PBMC from patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to the mycobacterial antigens. However, anergy to M. paratuberculosis could not be excluded. IBD MLNMC responses to most antigens were generally greater than those of PBMC, which were often undetectable. When compared with controls, there was evidence of increased CMI to a range of non-mycobacterial antigens, especially Yersinia enterocolitica, amongst both MLNMC and PBMC from patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (UC). These results do not provide support to the proposed role of mycobacteria in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease, but indicate that further investigation may determine a role for bacterial-specific T cell-mediated responses in the pathogenesis of IBD.

The role of strictureplasty in Crohn's disease.

Crohn's disease is a panintestinal disease of unknown aetiology and a tendency to recrudescence throughout the patient's life. It is therefore impossible to cure Crohn's disease by medical therapy or surgical excision. In spite of this, the majority of patients can be managed through their disease and maintained in a good state of health by a combination of medical and surgical treatment. Early attempts at surgical management of Crohn's disease in the 1930's and 1940's involved bypass procedures which were marred with serious complications of sepsis, development of cancer and increased rate of recurrence. By the 1950's resection became the preferred operation but there soon arose a controversy about the amount of bowel that should be removed. There were some who advocated radical excision; removing all diseased bowel with a large margin of apparently normal tissue on each side of the resection. Others found less radical resection safer as it preserved gut and also had no apparent effect on the rate of recurrence of the disease. Although this argument continued, the balance gradually shifted towards less radical surgery. Furthermore, the wave of conservatism led to the evolution of the concept of minimal surgery.