[Dexmedetomidine is an excellent sedative for voice monitoring surgery].

We experienced anesthesia for three cases of unilateral recurrent nerve palsy scheduled for thyroplasty type I requiring voice monitoring. The patients were sedated with dexmedetomidine and locally anesthetized. Dexmedetomidine provided sedation of high quality with natural sleep, good response to asking for phonation and very few respiratory depressions.

On-line monitoring of end-tidal propofol concentration in anesthetized patients.

Background: Propofol (2,6-diisopropylphenol) has some volatility, so it can be detected in expired breath of individuals receiving intravenous propofol. This study measured volatile propofol exhaled by patients and investigated the relation between exhaled and plasma propofol concentrations.

Methods: Nineteen patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I or II who were undergoing elective surgery participated in this two-part study.

The Brandt tube system attenuates the cuff deflationary phenomenon after anesthesia with nitrous oxide.

The Brandt tube system can limit excessive cuff pressure during nitrous oxide (N(2)O) anesthesia, but there is a lack of data assessing whether the Brandt tube system avoids cuff deflation after cessation of N(2)O administration. In this study, we recorded air-filled cuff pressures of the Mallinckrodt Brandt or Hi-Contour (control) tracheal tubes (Mallinckrodt, Athlone, Ireland) during 67% N(2)O anesthesia and the cuffs were aspirated if the cuff pressure exceeded 22 mm Hg; 180 min later, O(2) was substituted for N(2)O. The cuff pressure of both groups significantly decreased after N(2)O anesthesia but the time required for the cuff pressure to return to the initial pressure was longer in the Brandt group than in the control group (76.

Rapid deflation of the bronchial cuff of the double-lumen tube after decreasing the concentration of inspired nitrous oxide.

Unlabelled: Deflationary phenomena of the endotracheal tube cuff may occur after inspired nitrous oxide (N(2)O) concentrations are reduced, but deflationary phenomena of the double-lumen tube (DLT) cuff have not been investigated. In this study, tracheal and bronchial cuffs of left-sided Mallinckrodt (Athlone, Ireland) DLTs were inflated with air, 40% N(2)O, or 67% N(2)O (Air, N40, or N67 groups, respectively) in 24 patients undergoing thoracic surgery; 40 min later, O(2) was substituted for N(2)O in some of the patients in the N40 group (N40-c group). Intracuff gas volumes, N(2)O concentrations, and cuff compliance were also measured.