Telemedicine pre-anesthesia evaluation: a randomized pilot trial.

Objective: Pre-anesthesia evaluation allows discovery of conditions affecting perioperative planning, but when inadequate it may be associated with delays, cancellations, and preventable adverse events. Not all patients who could benefit will keep appointments. Telemedicine pre-anesthesia evaluation may provide for safe patient care while reducing patient inconvenience and cost.

Evaluation of pulse cooximetry in patients undergoing abdominal or pelvic surgery.

Background: Intraoperative transfusion decisions generally are guided by blood loss estimation and periodic invasive hemoglobin measurement. Continuous hemoglobin measurement by pulse cooximetry (pulse hemoglobin; Rainbow® SET Pulse CO-Oximeter, Masimo Corporation, Irvine, CA) has good agreement with laboratory hemoglobin in healthy volunteers and could aid transfusion decision-making. Because intraoperative physiology may alter performance of this device, this study investigated pulse hemoglobin during surgery.

A case of autonomically mediated pain due to spinal epidural abscess in an adolescent female.

Spinal epidural abscess (SEA) is a rare disease in children without predisposing risk factors. Atypical presentations of SEA without the classic triad of fever, back pain, and neurological signs, have previously been described. We report an atypical presentation of an acute SEA in a previously healthy adolescent female.

Pediatric stroke and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase polymorphisms: an examination of C677T and A1298C mutations.

Although rare in children, stroke is becoming increasingly recognized as an important cause of morbidity and mortality with an annual incidence of approximately 3 per 100,000 per year. While several studies have documented the underlying mechanisms and pathogenesis related to stroke in adults, including genetic and acquired prothrombotic conditions, the data available on similar conditions in children is limited. Evidence suggests that mutations in methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) appear to be linked with hyperhomocysteinemia (HHC) and cerebral-thrombotic events in children.