[Comparison of clonidine and tramadol added to prilocaine brachial plexus block - analgesia, sensory and motor block].

In a randomized, double-blind study we investigated the effect of clonidine and tramadol added to prilocaine on duration of analgesia, sensory and motor brachial plexus block. 60 patients were randomized in three groups. Group A received 40 ml prilocaine 1,5 % with tramadol 1,5 mg/kg KG, group B 40 ml prilocaine 1,5 % plus clonidine 1,5 microg/kg KG and group C 40 ml prilocaine 1,5 % without any additional medication.

[Anaesthesia in an adult patient with a congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries].

A 27 year old woman suffering from a congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries was admitted for vitrectomy due to progressive diabetic retinopathy. The congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries is a rare form of congenital heart disease based on malrotation of the embryonic cardiac tube with complete atrio-ventricular and ventriculo-arterial discordance. The anatomic right ventricle with the tricuspidal valve supports the systemic circulation and tends to decompensation.

[Anesthetic complications. The incidence of severe anesthetic complications in patients and families with progressive muscular dystrophy of the Duchenne and Becker types].

Unlabelled: During the last 30 years a great number of case reports presented severe anaesthetic complications with sudden cardiac arrest in patients with muscular dystrophies, mostly unsuspected at the time of the event. As succinylcholine was involved in the majority of the intractable incidents with lethal outcome the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States recommended a warning of the administration of succinylcholine in young children and adolescents in 1992 and an extensive international discussion on the routine use of succinylcholine in paediatric anaesthesia. Epidemiological studies on this issue are rare.

[Postoperative bilateral compartment syndrome resulting from prolonged urological surgery in lithotomy position. Serum creatine kinase activity (CK) as a warning signal in sedated, artificially respirated patients].

We report two cases of compartment syndrome of the lower leg that occurred in male patients aged 62 and 57 years, respectively, after 10 and 12-h urological surgery in the lithotomy position. During sedation and mechanical ventilation creatine kinase (CK) activity of more than 8,000 U/l was found in both patients. After extubation, clinical symptoms of the compartment syndrome were found.