Anaesthesia for a patient with Leigh's syndrome undergoing surgery for scoliosis.

Anaesthesia for patients with Leigh's syndrome has rarely been reported. Leigh's syndrome or subacute necrotizing encephalomyelopathy is a neurodegenerative disorder of infancy or childhood. Acute exacerbation with respiratory failure may accompany surgery and general anaesthesia.

Optimization of desflurane administration in morbidly obese patients: a comparison with sevoflurane using an 'inhalation bolus' technique.

Background: The concept of an 'inhalation bolus' can be used to optimize inhaled drug administration. We investigated the depth of anaesthesia, haemodynamic stability, and recovery time in morbidly obese patients resulting from bispectral index (BIS)-guided sevoflurane or desflurane administration and BIS-triggered inhalation boluses of sevoflurane or desflurane combined with titration of remifentanil.

Methods: Fifty morbidly obese patients undergoing laparoscopic gastroplasty received either BIS-guided sevoflurane or desflurane anaesthesia in combination with a remifentanil target-controlled infusion.

Ambulatory electrical external cardioversion with propofol or etomidate.

Study Objective: To compare, in pairwise fashion, the effects of propofol and etomidate during ambulatory cardioversion and early recovery.

Design: Clinical, prospective, randomized, blinded, monocenter, pairwise, comparative study

Setting: OR and recovery area of the electrophysiological department, University Hospital Ghent, Belgium.

Patients: 34 patients with atrial arrhythmia who were scheduled for repetitive electrical cardioversion, of whom 25 patients completed the study.

Dose requirements and recovery profile of an infusion of cisatracurium during liver transplantation.

Study Objective: To examine the dose requirements and recovery profile of an infusion of cisatracurium during liver transplantation.

Design: Open-label, descriptive study.

Setting: University hospital.