High dose alfentanil pre-empts pain after abdominal hysterectomy.

This study tested the hypothesis that high dose systemic alfentanil administered before and during abdominal hysterectomy would pre-empt post-operative pain to a greater extent than administration of either low dose alfentanil or no alfentanil perioperatively. Patients (ASA 1 or 2) were randomly assigned to group 1 (n = 15), no opioid; group 2 (n = 15), low dose alfentanil; or group 3 (n = 15), high dose alfentanil. Anaesthesia was induced in group 1 with midazolam and thiopentone and was maintained with isoflurane and 70% N2O in O2.

Pre-emptive lumbar epidural anaesthesia reduces postoperative pain and patient-controlled morphine consumption after lower abdominal surgery.

The present study tested the hypothesis that patients receiving epidural bupivacaine before surgery would require less morphine postoperatively and/or report less intense pain than patients receiving epidural bupivacaine after incision but before the end of surgery. Forty-two patients (ASA class I-III) scheduled for lower abdominal surgery were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups of equal size and prospectively studied using a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design. Epidural catheters were placed in the T12-L1 or L1-L2 interspaces pre-operatively, the position of the catheter was confirmed with 3% chloroprocaine with epinephrine 1:200,000, and sensory testing was carried out until levels had receded to below T12.

Thyrotoxicosis factitia in a post-aortocoronary bypass patient.

A 52-yr-old man presented with an evolving myocardial infarction and unstable angina. Previously, he had undergone aortocoronary bypass surgery for triple vessel disease and at that time was diagnosed as hypothyroid. He had been refractory to thyroxine treatment and now required 0.

Do not resuscitate orders in an Irish teaching hospital.

A chart review was performed to determine the resuscitation status of all in-patients in this hospital on a single day. A decision not to resuscitate had been made for 11 (3.7%) of 293 patients.