Broken needle during spinal anesthesia: an avoidable complication.

The occurrence of a needle breaking is a very rare complication of spinal anesthesia (SA). We report a case of a broken spinal needle occurring in a morbid obese pregnant woman during SA indicated for an emergent cesarean section. Multiple puncture attempts due to difficult identification of lumbar spine, associated with an inadequate use of the introducer, contributed to this complication.

Post-operative pain management in paediatric surgery at Sylvanus Olympio University Teaching Hospital, Togo.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate pain management in paediatric surgery at Sylvanus Olympio University Teaching Hospital, Lome.

Patients And Methods: A prospective descriptive study was conducted in the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care at Sylvanus Olympio teaching hospital from 1 January to 30 June 2012. Data collected include: demography, type of surgery, American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) classification, anaesthetic protocol, analgesia technique, post-operative complications and cost of analgesia.

Pediatric anesthesia in developing countries: experience in the two main university hospitals of Benin in West Africa.

Aims: To describe the practice of pediatric anesthesia in the main University Hospitals in Benin.

Patients And Methods: We conduct a retrospective study involving 512 children at the 'Centre National Hospitalier et Universitaire' and the 'Hôpital de la Mère et de l'Enfant Lagune' in Cotonou. All children less than 15 years of age undergoing surgery from January to December 2007 were included.

Anesthesia for children in Sub-Saharan Africa--a description of settings, common presenting conditions, techniques and outcomes.

Anesthesia in developing countries deserves special attention. The most common technique is general anesthesia (with spontaneous or manually assisted ventilation). Nonmedical anesthetists with limited training and supervision and lacking the most common drugs and anesthetic equipment administer anesthesia, usually for emergency surgery.