Postendarterectomy Cerebral Hyperperfusion Syndrome: The Etiological Significance of "Cerebral Reserve".

Postoperative cerebral hyperperfusion syndrome (CHS) in patients undergoing carotid intervention is thought to be related to the absence of cerebral reserve. Although hyperperfusion syndrome is rare, severe postoperative headache is common and is considered to be a prodromal sign. Cerebral reserve is measured by studying the response of cerebral vessels to a vasodilator such as hypercarbia.

Impact of intraoperative normovolemic hemodilution on transfusion requirements for 68 patients undergoing lumbar laminectomies with instrumented posterolateral fusion.

Study Design: To determine whether the normovolemic hemodilution (NH) technique would limit postoperative homologous blood transfusion requirements in 68 patients having multilevel lumbar laminectomies (3-6 levels) with predominant 1- or 2-level instrumented fusions.

Objective: In this setting, to define postoperative homologous blood transfusion requirements using NH.

Summary Of Background Data: NH limits postoperative homologous blood transfusion requirements following various types of surgical procedures including those on the spine.

Tension pneumothorax during one-lung ventilation: a case report.

A 76-year-old woman underwent double-lumen endotracheal tube intubation for right upper lobectomy. During one-lung ventilation, she developed tension pneumothorax on her dependent lung and suffered cardiac arrest. The presenting signs of tension pneumothorax--hypoxemia, hypotension, and increased airway pressure--are relatively common during this procedure, leading to a delay in diagnosis and effective treatment.

The effect of lumbar epidural and general anesthesia on plasma catecholamines and hemodynamics during abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.

Twenty-four patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair were studied to compare the effects of lumbar epidural anesthesia (LEA) and general anesthesia (GA) on plasma catecholamine levels and hemodynamics before and during infrarenal aortic cross-clamping. Patients received either a high dose of opioid anesthetic (GA group, n = 12), or lumbar epidural anesthesia to T4 sensory level with a light general anesthetic (LEA group, n = 12). Systemic vascular resistance (SVR) and norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E) levels were measured before anesthetic induction (before epidural activation in the LEA group, and before general anesthesia induction in the GA group), 15 min before cross-clamping, and 1,5, and 10 min after cross-clamping.