Risk factors for the development of reversible psychomotor dysfunction following prolonged isoflurane inhalation in the general intensive care unit.

Study Objective: To identify risk factors for reversible psychomotor dysfunction after prolonged sedation with isoflurane during mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Design: Retrospective case series.

Setting: General ICU at Tonami General Hospital.

[Pulseless electric activity during postural change after epidural anesthesia].

We experienced a case of pulseless electrical activity (PEA) during posture change after epidural anesthesia. A 79-year-old man was scheduled for open reduction of left femoral neck fracture. Past history included severe diabetes, which is hardly controlled even by hypodermic injection of insulin before surgery.

[Transient sick sinus syndrome by oral intake of high dose dehydrocodeine for postherpetic neuralgia].

An 88-year-old man was admitted to the intensive care unit after the ingestion of 150 mg of dehydrocodeine. The ECG showed severe brodycardia and he was diagnosed as sick sinus syndrome. The recovering of sinus node function took 5 days after the ingestion.

[The epidemiology of SIRS.sepsis in Japan].

We outline the epidemiology of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), sepsis and severe sepsis among intensive care unit (ICU) patients in Japan. One survey conducted in the ICU of a university hospital suggested that the prevalence of SIRS reached 84% among all ICU patients, and that about 8% of patients with SIRS progressed to severe sepsis. Gram-positive cocci were the most common isolates (58%) from ICU patients with sepsis.

Sensitivity to vecuronium in seropositive and seronegative patients with myasthenia gravis.

Unlabelled: Patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) are hypersensitive to nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocking drugs. Although antibodies to the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) often are observed in MG patients, 10% to 30% of patients do not show an anti-AChR antibody. Little is known about differences in sensitivity to nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocking drugs between MG patients with and without anti-AChR antibody.