Impact of oral carbohydrate consumption prior to cesarean delivery on preoperative well-being: a randomized interventional study.

Purpose: Oral carbohydrate consumption before surgery improves insulin sensitivity, cardiac output and well-being, and shortens hospital stays without adverse effects. No work has compared higher-dose carbohydrate beverages made for preoperative consumption to common, commercial oral rehydration solutions with lower carbohydrate concentrations.

Methods: We recruited low-risk women undergoing scheduled cesarean deliveries with planned spinal anesthesia.

Concurrent intraoperative uterine rupture and placenta accreta. Do preoperative chronic hypertension, preterm premature rupture of membranes, chorioamnionitis, and placental abruption provide warning to this rare occurrence?

Uterine and placental pathology can be a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the parturient and infant. When presenting alone, placental abruption, uterine rupture, or placenta accreta can result in significant peripartum hemorrhage, requiring aggressive surgical and anesthetic management; however, the presence of multiple concurrent uterine and placental pathologies can result in significant morbidity and mortality. We present the anesthetic management of a parturient who underwent an urgent cesarean delivery for non-reassuring fetal tracing in the setting of chronic hypertension, preterm premature rupture of membranes, and chorioamnionitis who was subsequently found to have placental abruption, uterine rupture, and placenta accreta.

Delayed Neuraxial Hematoma in Parturient With Fontan Circulation Following Neuraxial Anesthesia for Cesarean Section.

Objective: Neuraxial hematoma is a rare complication of spinal or epidural anesthesia. However, variable coagulation factor defects are relatively common in patients with Fontan circulation, and may predispose such patients to either increased risk of thrombosis or coagulopathy. These defects may indirectly increase their risk of neuraxial hematoma.

A comparison of 4 airway devices on cervical spine alignment in cadaver models of global ligamentous instability at c1-2.

Background: The effects of advanced airway management on cervical spine alignment in patients with upper cervical spine instability are uncertain.

Methods: To examine the potential for mechanical disruption during endotracheal intubation in cadavers with unstable cervical spines, we performed a prospective observational cohort study with 3 cadaver subjects. We created an unstable, type II odontoid fracture with global ligamentous instability at C1-2 in lightly embalmed cadavers, followed by repetitive intubations with 4 different airway devices (Airtraq laryngoscope, Lightwand, intubating laryngeal mask airway [LMA], and Macintosh laryngoscope) while manual in-line stabilization was applied.

Case report of a parturient with cyanotic congenital heart disease palliated with a Glenn procedure.

As the prevalence of adults with palliated congenital heart disease continues to increase, so, too, does the number of these patients who will become pregnant. Practicing physicians need to be familiar with the impact that normal physiologic changes associated with pregnancy and delivery has on patients with palliated congenital heart disease. The physiologic impact of pregnancy on a patient with palliated cyanotic congenital heart disease and the management of her delivery are presented.

Virtual humans versus standardized patients: which lead residents to more correct diagnoses?

Purpose: Medical educators frequently use standardized patient (SP) encounters to bridge the gap between didactic education and practical application. Typically, SPs are healthy adults with no consistent physical findings; however, highly immersive virtual humans (VHs) may enable the consistent presentation of abnormal physical findings to multiple learners across multiple repetitions. Thus, the authors conducted this study to compare how frequently junior anesthesiology residents suspected obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in preoperative assessments of SPs versus a VH.