Incidence of spinal haematoma after epidural puncture: analysis from the German network for safety in regional anaesthesia.

Context: The incidence of epidural haematoma after epidural anaesthesia is uncertain.

Objective: To quantify epidural haematoma after epidural anaesthesia in 2008 and 2009 in a network for safety in regional anaesthesia in Germany.

Design: Analysis of data systematically documented within the German network for safety in regional anaesthesia.

Ultrasound imaging techniques for regional blocks in intensive care patients.

Ultrasound imaging techniques have gained great popularity in anesthesia during the last decade. They have been shown to allow better quality of regional blocks, improving the outcome of patients and reducing the costs at the same time, for two major reasons. First, ultrasound imaging provides information of the individual anatomic structure and abnormalities before puncture.

[Off-pump versus on-pump coronary artery bypass surgery. Comparison of 270 case-matched elderly patients].

Introduction: Off-pump versus on-pump coronary artery bypass surgery: it still remains a matter of debate which method results in a lower incidence of perioperative morbidity and mortality. This case-matched study evaluates the outcome of elderly patients in both groups.

Methods: All patients aged 75 and older, who underwent CABG from 1998 to 2002, were examined retrospectively.

Fibrinolytic activity and bleeding after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass and low-dose aprotinin therapy.

Low-dose aprotinin inhibits hyperfibrinolysis in cardiac surgery. However, excessive postoperative bleeding and increased fibrinolysis may occur despite low dose-aprotinin administration. We investigated (i) whether fibrinolytic activity significantly rises under low-dose aprotinin administration, and (ii) whether this is associated with excessive postoperative bleeding (> or = 1000 ml/24 h).

Effects of desmopressin on thrombogenesis in aspirin-induced platelet dysfunction.

Aspirin causes a coagulation disorder. Desmopressin has haemostatic effects by increasing the plasma levels of coagulation factor VIII and von Willebrand factor. The precise effects of desmopressin on thrombogenesis are not known.