Use of the peridural catheter with subcutaneous port in a 13-year-old girl: 120 anesthesia procedures in 31 months.

The authors report their experience using a peridural catheter with a subcutaneous port. This was used to obtain 120 peridural anesthesia inductions during a program of surgical debridement in a 13-year-old girl. The authors advocate the use of epidural dexamethasone to treat the ineffective anesthetic injection through a long-lasting catheter.

[Comparison of the effect of premedication with diazepam and trazodone on anesthesia induced with althesin]. / Valutazioni comparative degli effetti della premedicazione con diazepam e con trazodone sulla narcosi da althesin.

Interference on the part of premedication with diazepam and trazodone with althesin anaesthesia was investigated and compared by means of variance analysis according to Fisher, and the X2c test according to Yates, in 150 patients aged 35-45 yr in three groups of 50 during examination of the uterine cavity. No marked difference between the effects of the two drugs were noted, with two exceptions: 1) trazodone was better able to potentiate the hypnotic action of althesin, so that less was needed for the induction of anaesthesia; 2) patients pretreated wih diazepam displayed a marked increase in postoperative somnolence, this being an expression of the drug's hypnotic effect.

[Double-blind analysis of the possibilities of the use of trazodone in sedation of ambulatory dental patients]. / Analisi in doppio cieco delle possibilità di impiego del trazodone nella sedazione del paziente odontoiatrico ambulatoriale.

The sedative properties of trazodone were the object of a double blind study in dental out-patients, comparison being made with diazepam. It was observed that oral trazodone possesses considerable tranquillizing activity. It has no side-effects either after intake or during return home. The use of capsules containing 50 mg of trazodone is recommended. At this dose, sympathetic hyperactivity is also inhibited. Diazepam doses of 15 mg lead to mental sedation and inhibition of symptoms due to sympathetic hyperactivity but, unlike trazodone, diazepam possesses hypnotic acitivity and side-effects that make its use dangerous in patients who cannot be taken home by somebody else, or who have to drive a car.