Does ultrasound guidance improve the efficacy of dorsal penile nerve block in children?

Background: Penile nerve block (PNB) is a well-established technique used for circumcision; it requires the injection of local anesthetics close to the dorsal nerve of the penis. The goal of this study was to compare the efficacy of ultrasound-guided PNB versus the classical landmark-based technique (LBT) in children undergoing circumcision.

Methods: Forty boys, aged 1-14 years old that were scheduled for circumcision were randomly assigned to ultrasound-guided and landmark-based groups.

Effects of propofol on human microcirculation.

Background: It is increasingly believed that acute microvascular alterations may be involved in the development of organ dysfunction in critically ill patients. Propofol significantly decreases vascular tone and venous return, which can induce arterial hypotension. However, little is known about the microcirculatory effects of propofol in healthy humans.

[The anesthesiology-recovery department].

The Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation is organised in units with clinical activities, which include the pre-operative care of patients, anesthesiological care and immediate post-operative supervision. Two post-operative treatment rooms also form part of the department. The main fields of research of the various units result from collaborations with other departments of Hôpital Erasme, in particular with regard to the development of advanced techniques or fit within the confines of the speciality.

[Invasive techniques in chronic pain control].

A wide range of invasive techniques are available for pain treatment. Treatment must be adapted to the severity of the underlying disease and the intensity of pain. Very few controlled studies concerning these techniques have been performed, and it is therefore difficult to assess their short and long term efficacy.

A multicentre comparison of the costs of anaesthesia with sevoflurane or propofol.

Day-case anaesthesia requires rapidly eliminated anaesthetics which are relatively expensive. This multinational, multicentre European study assessed the relative costs of propofol or sevoflurane anaesthesia in 211 patients. Anaesthesia was induced and maintained with propofol in group 1, with propofol and sevoflurane in group 2, and with sevoflurane in group 3.

Sympathetic nerve blocks in refractory sympathetic dystrophy syndrome.

The authors tried to evaluate the benefit of sympathetic nerve blocks with guanethidine in 32 patients with a sympathetic dystrophy syndrome who failed to respond to conventional treatment.

Visual evaluation of residual curarization in anesthetized patients using one hundred-hertz, five-second tetanic stimulation at the adductor pollicis muscle.

Unlabelled: We were looking for a clinical test to indicate a train-of-four (TOF) ratio of approximately 0.9. We compared the adductor pollicis muscle (AP) visually evaluated response to ulnar nerve 100-Hz, 5-s tetanus (RF100 Hz) with the measured AP TOF ratio in 30 ASA physical status I or II adult anesthetized (propofol, sufentanil, N2O/O2) patients.

Conditions to optimise the reversal action of neostigmine upon a vecuronium-induced neuromuscular block.

Background: Since neostigmine was introduced for reversal of neuromuscular block, there has been controversy about the optimum dose for antagonizing neuromuscular block. The purpose of this study was to characterise recovery of neuromuscular transmission following a vecuronium-induced block 15 min after neostigmine administration using different stimulation patterns, and to determine the effects of different doses of neostigmine given at various pre-reversal twitch heights.

Methods: Adductor pollicis (AP) mechanical activity in response to low (0.

Low and high frequency stimulation tests to characterize the effects of edrophonium on vecuronium-induced neuromuscular block.

We recorded adductor pollicis mechanical activity in response to low (0.1 and 2 Hz) and high (50 and 100 Hz) frequency stimulation 15 min after edrophonium 250, 500 and 1000 micrograms kg-1, given to antagonize vecuronium-induced block at 10, 25 and 50% pre-reversal twitch height. We studied 54 ASA class I and II anaesthetized (methohexitone, fentanyl, nitrous oxide) young adult patients allocated randomly to nine groups of six patients each.

Comparison of neostigmine-induced recovery with spontaneous recovery from mivacurium-induced neuromuscular block.

In 24 ASA I-II adults anaesthetized with thiopentone, fentanyl and nitrous oxide in oxygen, we studied neuromuscular transmission with isometric adductor pollicis monitoring. Patients received mivacurium 0.2 mg kg-1 followed by an infusion lasting at least 60 min and adjusted to maintain twitch height at 1-5%.

Impairment of the antagonism of vecuronium-induced paralysis and intra-operative disopyramide administration.

A 63-year-old male was admitted to hospital for a cholecystectomy, vagotomy and gastro-enterostomy. Muscle paralysis was induced with 70 micrograms/kg vecuronium, followed by increments of 20 micrograms/kg when the initial twitch height returned to 25% of control. The patient received 3 doses of 10 mg disopyramide intravenously, on account of supraventricular ectopic beats, followed by an infusion of 25 mg/hour.

[Spontaneous development of paralysis induced by equipotent doses of vecuronium, atracurium, fazadinium, pancuronium, gallamine and d-tubocurarine].

Thirty-six patients undergoing elective surgery were studied after obtaining their informed consent. They were randomly assigned to six series of six patients each. One hour before anaesthesia, all patients received 0.

[Atracurium in the elderly subject].

The effects of age on the pharmacodynamics of atracurium have been studied in twenty-four consenting adult patients undergoing elective surgery. They were divided in three groups according to their age (mean +/- SEM): group 1 (n = 8; 26 +/- 3 yr), group 2 (n = 8; 53 +/- 2 yr) and group 3 (n = 8; 76 +/- 2 yr). Anaesthesia was induced with methohexitone (1 mg .

The haemodynamic effects of flunitrazepam in anaesthetized patients with valvular or coronary artery lesions.

The Haemodynamic effects of flunitrazepam (FLU) 1.25 mg X m-2 administered intravenously were studied in 18 anaesthetized cardiac patients suffering from isolated mitral (MIT, n = 6), aortic (AOR, n = 6) or coronary (COR, n = 6) lesions. A placebo group of 18 clinically similar patients was used to assess the stability of the cardiovascular parameters under the conditions of the study.