Effect of premedication on the induction dose of thiopentone in children.

The effective dose of thiopentone in 90% ( ED90 ) of unpremedicated children is 10.5 mg/kg. This is significantly greater (p less than 0.

Perioperative changes in complement associated with cardiopulmonary bypass.

The total haemolytic complement (CH50), the complement components C3 and C4, the complement breakdown product C3d, alternative pathway activation and transferrin, were measured before, during and after cardiopulmonary bypass. As expected, CH50 decreased after heparinization, remained low during bypass and decreased further up to 8 h after bypass. C3 and C4 decreased significantly during bypass, continued to decrease for a further 8 h after bypass (by 35% and 40% respectively) and thereafter increased gradually up to 48 h.