Whitacre 22-gauge pencil-point needle for spinal anaesthesia. A controlled trial in 300 young orthopaedic patients.

In a prospective study of 300 young orthopaedic in-patients (less than 40 years) given spinal anaesthesia through a 22-gauge Whitacre (n = 150) or a 25-gauge Quincke spinal needle (n = 150), we found a 5.3% and a 9.3% incidence of post-spinal headache (PSH) respectively.

Post-dural puncture headache in young orthopaedic in-patients: comparison of a 0.33 mm (29-gauge) Quincke-type with a 0.7 mm (22-gauge) Whitacre spinal needle in 200 patients.

The incidence of postdural puncture headache (PDPH) following spinal anaesthesia with a 0.33 mm (29-gauge) and two types of 0.7 mm (22-gauge) Whitacre needles was investigated in 400 patients less than 40 years old.

Intermittent femoral nerve blockade for anterior cruciate ligament repair. Use of a catheter technique in 208 patients.

The duration of postoperative analgesia following femoral nerve block with a catheter technique was studied. Intermittent doses of bupivacaine were given to 208 consecutive patients presenting for open repair of the anterior cruciate ligament, initially 0.5% and thereafter 0.

[Mechanomyography and electromyography--2 competing methods of relaxometry using vecuronium].

The recording of the evoked twitch tension has been the established reference method to quantitate neuromuscular blockade. The evoked compound electromyogram has been introduced later as a clinically more convenient alternative. We compared both methods in 20 patients in whom cumulative dose response curves of vecuronium and the time constants of weaning neuromuscular blockade were determined.