Ultrasound-guided continuous thoracic paravertebral block provides comparable analgesia and fewer episodes of hypotension than continuous epidural block after lung surgery.

Purpose: Both paravertebral block (PVB) and thoracic epidural block (TEB) are recommended for postoperative pain relief after lung surgery. The addition of fentanyl to the anesthetic solution became popular for TEB because of the stronger effects; however, there have been few comparable trials about the addition of fentanyl to PVB. The purpose of this study was thus to compare postoperative analgesia, side effects, and complications between ultrasound-guided PVB (USG-PVB) and TEB with the addition of fentanyl to ropivacaine after lung surgery.

[Anesthetic management of a patient with deep brain stimulators].

A 68-year man with severe Parkinson's disease who had been implanted with deep brain stimulators into both sides, received an emergency surgery uneventfully under general anesthesia with standard monitoring. During the operation, the surgeon turned off the impulse generators and used bipolar diathermy. Postoperatively, he had transient episodes of severe Parkinson symptoms, which were controled by levodopa drugs.

[Prolonged paralysis after long-term administration of vecuronium in the intensive care unit].

A 51-year-old woman with renal failure requring hemodialysis received a total of 446 mg of vecuronium over a period of 4 days to help mechanical ventilation and developed generalized muscle weakness after its discontinuation. It took 2 wks to wean her from mechanical ventilation and 3 wks for her to be able to walk. She did not receive drugs which might alter neuromuscular transmission such as corticosteroid and aminoglycoside antibiotics.

[Successful resuscitation of intractable hyperkalemic cardiac arrest].

We report on a 42-year-old oliguric uremic man on regular hemodialysis who developed sudden cardiac arrest, secondary to severe hyperkalemia, with a plasma potassium concentration of 9.7 mEq x l(-1). The cardiac arrest persisted after the initiation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and intensive treatment for marked hyperkalemia for an hour and 55 minutes.

Intravenous magnesium sulfate as a preanesthetic medication: A double-blind study on its effects on hemodynamic stabilization at the time of tracheal intubation.

The effects of magnesium sulfate (MgSO) as a preanesthetic medication were studied with regard to whether it can sedate or relieve a patient who is scheduled to undergo surgery, and whether it can control the hemodynamic response to tracheal intubation. Twenty adult patients in ASA status 1-2 undergoing elective surgery were studied. Ten patients received 50 mg·g MgSO intravenously by drip infusion from 30 min before the induction of anesthesia, and another ten patients received saline as a control.