Reversal of rocuronium-induced neuromuscular block with the novel drug sugammadex is equally effective under maintenance anesthesia with propofol or sevoflurane.

In this study we investigated whether the novel reversal drug, sugammadex, is equally effective at reversing rocuronium-induced neuromuscular block (NMB) in patients under propofol or sevoflurane maintenance anesthesia. After receiving propofol for induction, patients were randomized to propofol (n = 21) or sevoflurane (n = 21). Rocuronium 0.

Determination of the full dose-response relation of intrathecal bupivacaine, levobupivacaine, and ropivacaine, combined with sufentanil, for labor analgesia.

Background: Ropivacaine and levobupivacaine are local anesthetics that produce less motor block and greater sensory-motor separation when compared with equal milligram doses of bupivacaine. Although minimum local analgesic concentration studies suggested that they are less potent than bupivacaine, full dose-response studies have not been performed. The current trial describes the dose-response relation of levobupivacaine, ropivacaine, and bupivacaine, combined with sufentanil, when used for intrathecal labor analgesia.

Cardiac output monitoring using a brachial arterial catheter during off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting.

Objective: To investigate the accuracy of cardiac output measurements by transpulmonary thermodilution and pulse contour analysis using a brachial arterial catheter.

Study Design: Criterion standard study.

Setting: University hospital, single institution.

Intrathecal clonidine prolongs labour analgesia but worsens fetal outcome: a pilot study.

Purpose: Intrathecal clonidine prolongs total duration of spinal bupivacaine analgesia. However, there are contradictory reports about its effect on maternal blood pressure and only limited data are available on fetal and neonatal outcome. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of spinal clonidine combined with ropivacaine and sufentanil and its effects on maternal and fetal outcome.

Objective assessment of frequency-specific hearing thresholds in babies.

Objective: To report on clinical experience using dichotic multiple-stimulus auditory steady-state responses (ASSRs) as an objective technique to estimate frequency-specific hearing thresholds in hearing-impaired infants.

Methods: A comparison was made between the click-evoked auditory brainstem response (ABR), auditory steady-state responses and behavioral hearing thresholds (BHTs). Both ears of 10 infants between 3 and 14 months of age were tested.

Effects of levosimendan on right ventricular function and ventriculovascular coupling in open chest pigs.

Objective: Levosimendan is a promising calcium sensitizer that potentially could be useful in settings of pulmonary vasoconstriction and right ventricular dysfunction. There is a shortage of information concerning its effects on right ventricular function and ventriculovascular coupling. The aim of the present study was to characterize the effects of levosimendan on right ventricular and pulmonary vascular function by means of pressure-volume and pulsatile flow analysis.

Effects of vasopressin on right ventricular function in an experimental model of acute pulmonary hypertension.

Objective: Arginine vasopressin is a promising systemic vasopressor in settings such as vasodilatory shock and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The evidence that arginine vasopressin may also have a pulmonary vasodilatory effect makes it an attractive drug for the treatment of circulatory shock secondary to right ventricular failure and pulmonary hypertension. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of arginine vasopressin on right ventricular function and ventriculovascular coupling in the setting of moderate acute pulmonary hypertension and compared these effects with those of phenylephrine.

The limitations of preload-adjusted maximal power as an index of right ventricular contractility.

Unlabelled: Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction is an important cause of perioperative morbidity and mortality, particularly in cardiac surgery. However, assessment of RV contractility remains difficult in clinical practice. Our goal in this study was to examine the value of preload-adjusted maximal power (PWR(max)/end-diastolic volume [EDV](2); PAMP) as an alternative to the load-independent pressure-volume-derived indices of contractility in the RV.