Pioneers of laryngoscopy: indirect, direct and video laryngoscopy.

Airway management is one of the core skills of the anaesthetist and various techniques of airway management have developed over many years. Initially, the only view of the glottis that could be obtained was an indirect view (indirect laryngoscopy). Late in the 19th century, a direct view of the glottis was obtained via various direct laryngoscopes.

Surgical blood order equation in femoral fracture surgery.

Aim: This study aimed at establishing the clinical utility of the surgical blood order equation (SBOE) in patients undergoing femoral fracture surgery.

Background: A blood ordering schedule defines the perioperative blood use in elective surgery. It lists the number of units of blood required for each procedure preoperatively.

Local anesthesia for endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.

Objectives: This study reports the results of a prospective continuous cohort of patients treated for endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) with a unified anesthetic strategy based on the use of local anesthesia (LA) in all patients, while reserving regional (RA) or general anesthesia (GA) only for those with predefined individually or surgically specific indications.

Methods: All patients treated by EVAR for an elective aortic abdominal aneurysm (AAA) between April 1998 and December 2003 were included. The strategy of treatment generated three cohorts of patients (LA, RA, or GA).

Adjusted transfusion triggers improve transfusion practice in orthopaedic surgery.

Although blood transfusion has never been safer, there remains concern about adverse effects. We designed guidelines, the 6-8-10-Flexinorm, based on the conditions which are relevant to the decision to transfuse. To evaluate these new guidelines, we performed a case-control study in patients undergoing elective primary total hip replacement.

A practical clinical approach to management of the difficult airway.

Difficult airway management represents a challenge in anaesthesia. In the last decades airway difficulty awareness has improved as a result of better anticipation and decision-making. Airway algorithms and protocols have a more prominent role in training and in clinical anaesthesia practice.

Anaesthetic management of the airway in The Netherlands: a postal survey.

Background And Objective: A postal survey was conducted in order to investigate current practice in airway management amongst Dutch anaesthetists and to investigate the role of recent training and the role of an 'Access to the Airway' airway management course.

Methods: A questionnaire containing 27 questions was sent to all practising anaesthetists in The Netherlands. Questionnaires were returned anonymously and were analysed using the Pearson chi(2)-test (P < 0.

Transient nerve damage following intubation for trans-sphenoidal hypophysectomy.

Purpose: To describe a case of transient lingual and hypoglossal nerve damage following intubation for a trans-sphenoidal hypophysectomy.

Clinical Features: A 56-yr-old acromegalic man was scheduled for trans-sphenoidal hypophysectomy. He had been treated with octreotide six months previously which had reduced the swelling of the tongue to an acceptable degree to the patient.