Broken Epidural Catheter After Vaginal Delivery.

The breakage of the epidural catheter is an alarming, rare, yet well-known complication. Despite the advances in modern imaging technologies, visualization of the broken catheter remains challenging, and surgical intervention might be necessary to remove the broken catheter. We report a case of a broken epidural catheter post-vaginal delivery, which was managed by surgical intervention.

Comparison of Postoperative Outcome in Children Undergoing Inguinal Hernia Repair Using Regional With General Versus General Anesthesia Alone: A Single Center Study.

BACKGROUND: Inguinal hernia repair is one of the most common general surgical procedures. It has been performed under local, regional, or general anesthesia. We hypothesized that using regional plus general anesthesia rather than general anesthesia alone would improve outcomes in neonates and pediatric patients undergoing hernia repair. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study, including all pediatric patients who underwent inguinal hernia repair from 2015-2021. We divided patients into two groups. The first group was labeled "general anesthesia" (GA), while the second group was labeled "combined general and regional anesthesia" (GA+RA). We compared both groups in terms of demographic data, intraoperative outcome variables, and postoperative outcome variables. RESULTS:  212 children fulfilled the study criteria, with 57 in the GA group and 155 in the GA+RA group. Demographic and preoperative data were comparable between both groups except for age, which was 60.3±49.4 months in the GA group versus 26.7±33.13 months in the GA+RA group (p<.0001). Outcome variables demonstrated statistically significant improvement in postoperative pain occurrence, length of hospital stay, incidence of bradycardia, and need for mechanical ventilation in the GA+RA group in comparison to the GA group with P values of 0.031, 0.02, 0.005, and 0.02, respectively. CONCLUSION: Using regional and general anesthesia techniques rather than general anesthesia alone is associated with a decrease in postoperative pain, length of hospital stay, incidence of bradycardia, and need for mechanical ventilation. Further studies are still warranted to validate our conclusions.

Critical arrhythmia in postoperative cardiac children: Recognition and management.

Arrhythmias after pediatric cardiac surgery are common and can be life-threatening. They occur intraoperatively or may appear shortly after surgery during postoperative care. They require early management and specific intervention. In this review, we describe important critical arrhythmias that are encountered during postoperative management of children undergoing cardiac surgery. We review the diagnosis, management, and explain the role of epicardial electrocardiogram in diagnosing certain types of postoperative rhythm abnormalities seen during early period after pediatric cardiac surgery.

Development and validation of Arabic version of the pain catastrophizing scale.

INTRODUCTION: The pain catastrophizing scale (PCS) is the most widely used tool to assess pain catastrophizing. The aim of this study was to translate, culturally adapt, and validate the PCS questionnaire in Arabic. METHODS: A systematic translation process was used to translate the original English PCS into Arabic. After the pilot study, we validated our version among patients with chronic pain at two tertiary care centers. We tested the reliability of our version using internal consistency and test-retest reliability. We examined the validity by assessing construct validity, concurrent validity (by investigating the associations with Brief Pain Inventory [BPI]), and face validity. RESULTS: A total of 113 subjects (50 men, 63 women) were included in the study. Cronbach's α was 0.94 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.92-0.96), and interclass correlation coefficients was 0.83 (95% CI: 0.77-0.89) for the total scale. There was no statistically significant difference in the total PCS scores between patients who reported experiencing current pain and those who did not. Among patients who reported having current pain, pain severity was weakly associated with the total PCS scores (r = 0.22, P = 0.03). PCS and its subscales were not statistically significantly associated with any of the BPI items. Nonetheless, patients who were diagnosed with neuropathic pain had statistically significantly higher scores on the total PCS, rumination, and helplessness subscales. Most patients found the PCS questions to be clear and easy to understand, and thought the questionnaire items covered all their problem areas regarding their pain catastrophizing. CONCLUSION: Our translated version of PCS is reliable and valid for use among Arabic-speaking patients.

Cardiac emergencies in neonates and young infants.

Cardiac emergencies in children are not infrequent. Early recognition and management are essential to save life and prevent any comorbidity. The presentation of cardiac emergencies and etiologies is variable depending on the age of child at the time of presentation and type of cardiac lesion. Cyanotic and noncyanotic congenital heart diseases are the main causes in neonates and infants. Acquired heart diseases and dysrhythmia are more common causes for cardiac emergencies in toddler and childhood. In this review, we discuss the most common causes for cardiac emergencies in neonates and young infants highlighting important points in the presentation and management that are essential for early recognition and timely management of infants presenting with these conditions.