Differences in the thermal properties and surface temperature of prehospital antihypothermia devices: an in vitro study.

Background: Preventing and treating hypothermia in prehospital settings is crucial. Several products have been developed to prevent heat loss and actively warm patients in prehospital settings. We compared the efficacy and the surface temperature of different antihypothermia products, using a fluid-based model at two ambient temperatures.

Effect of Prolonged Hypothermic Cardiopulmonary Bypass, Heparin, and Protamine on Platelet: A Small-Group Study.

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is associated with platelet dysfunction (PD), an important cause of postoperative bleeding. The etiology of PD is not completely understood. We mapped the platelets' function during CPB to determine the etiology of PD.

Intercostal chest drain fixation strength: comparison of techniques and sutures.

Objective: The accidental removal of an intercostal chest drain (ICD) is common and may result in serious complications. A number of fixation techniques and suture material are in use, and the selection is often based on personal preferences and equipment availability. This study is designed to determine which of the common techniques provides the strongest ICD fixation.

[ANESTHETIC DRUGS IN CHILDREN AND PREGNANT WOMEN - IMPLICATIONS OF THE RECENT FDA WARNING].

Recent animal studies demonstrated neuronal apoptosis following early life exposure to most anesthetic drugs. Further research into this question demonstrated neonatal neuronal damage in multiple species (including primates) and evidence that this damage has cognitive and social sequela. These results raised the suspicion that general anesthesia in neonates, infants and pregnant women may injure the developing brain.

Endotracheal tube fixation time: a comparison of three fixation methods in a military field scenario.

Introduction: Endotracheal intubation is required in many emergency, trauma and prehospital scenarios. Endotracheal tube (ETT) fixation must be stable and quick to apply to enable rapid evacuation and patient transport. This study compares performance times of three common ETT securement techniques which are practical for out-of-hospital and combat scenarios.

Three-step management of a newborn with a giant, highly vascularized, cervical teratoma: a case report.

Background: A giant congenital cervical teratoma is often highly vascularized; thus, in addition to a life-threatening airway occlusion at birth it comprises a high risk for significant and lethal blood loss during resection. In the case presented, an endovascular embolization of the carotid artery that supplied a giant congenital cervical teratoma was done as part of a three-stage treatment soon after birth and contributed to an overall good outcome. Embolization in cases of cervical teratomas was not described previously.

One-minute heart rate variability - an adjunct for airway obstruction identification.

Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects cardiac and autonomic nervous system activity. It is usually measured over a relatively prolonged period and presented using multiple parameters. Here, we studied rapid HRV changes during airway obstruction using a short (1 min) sampling window.

Comparison of the performance of battery-operated fluid warmers.

Objectives: Warming intravenous fluids is essential to prevent hypothermia in patients with trauma, especially when large volumes are administered. Prehospital and transport settings require fluid warmers to be small, energy efficient and independent of external power supply. We compared the warming properties and resistance to flow of currently available battery-operated fluid warmers.

Orthopedic Activity in Field Hospitals Following Earthquakes in Nepal and Haiti : Variability in Injuries Encountered and Collaboration with Local Available Resources Drive Optimal Response.

Background: Field hospitals have been deployed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Medical Corps in numerous disaster events. Two recent deployments were following earthquakes in Haiti in 2010 and in Nepal in 2015. Despite arrival in similar timetables, the mode of operation was different-independently in Haiti and in collaboration with a local hospital in Nepal.

Comparison of Rhabdomyolysis Markers in Patients Undergoing Bariatric Surgery with Propofol and Inhalation-based Anesthesia.

Background: Rhabdomyolysis is a relatively uncommon, severe complication of anesthesia and surgery in the morbidly obese. As the use of propofol-based anesthesia has been associated with an increased risk of rhabdomyolysis and metabolic acidosis, this pilot study was designed to assess the effect of propofol anesthesia on the incidence of rhabdomyolysis in morbidly obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery.

Methods: Thirty, morbidly obese patients (body mass index 43 ± 3 kg/m(2)) scheduled for bariatric laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy were randomized to receive either propofol (P) or inhalational anesthetic (I)-based balanced general anesthesia.

Verification of intravenous catheter placement by auscultation--a simple, noninvasive technique.

Background: Verification of proper placement of an intravenous catheter may not always be simple. We evaluated the auscultation technique for this purpose.

Methods: Twenty healthy volunteers were randomized for 18G catheter inserted intravenously either in the right (12) or left arm (8), and subcutaneously in the opposite arm.

Prolonged nerve blockade in a patient treated with lithium.

We report a case of a patient, chronically treated with oral lithium, who presented with an extremely prolonged (42-hour) duration of sensory and motor paralysis following an uneventful infraclavicular block for hand surgery that was performed under ultrasound guidance using bupivacaine and lidocaine. Due to its direct effect on nerve conduction of action potential, we propose that lithium may have had a role in the unusually prolonged duration of a peripheral nerve block.

Skin electrical resistance does not change following infraclavicular block.

Peripheral nerve blocks are common and effective means for anesthesia for limb surgery. The evaluation of the success of a peripheral blockade is based on the loss of sensation, with no objective means of detecting a successful block. The autonomic innervation to the upper extremity, which controls both the vascular tone and the activity of sweat glands, is supplied by nerve fibers accompanying the somatic nerve fibers.

Vascular injury following accidental intra-arterial injection of clindamycin: adverse drug reaction report.

Clindamycin in a commonly used antibiotic, considered safe for oral, intravenous and intra-arterial use. We present a case of a patient that received an inadvertent injection clindamycin 600 mg in 4 mL through a radial arterial line. The patient presented signs and symptoms of vascular occlusion and despite aggressive pharmacological and medical treatment developed massive and severe tissue injury.

Subarachnoid block with hyperbaric bupivacaine and morphine may shorten PACU stay after cesarean delivery.

Spinal anesthesia for cesarean delivery is a widely used modality. Both hyperbaric and isobaric bupivacaine are in clinical use, with or without the addition of opioids, but the baricity of intrathecal bupivacaine has not been correlated with recovery time after cesarean delivery. One hundred parturients scheduled for elective cesarean delivery were randomly divided into four groups: hyperbaric bupivacaine (10 mg), hyperbaric bupivacaine (10 mg) with morphine (100 mcg), isobaric bupivacaine (10 mg), and isobaric bupivacaine (10 mg) with morphine (100 mcg).

[Retrograde tracheal intubation--an alternative in difficult airway management].

Secured airway is a must in spontaneous or assisted ventilation. A variety of methods are in clinical use for establishing an airway, of which endotracheal intubation is the most common. Difficulties in establishing a secured airway may deteriorate to a serious, and even a life-threatening situation.

[Marijuana smoking and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation].

Introduction: Cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug in Israel, and unlike most of the other illegal drugs, it is common among segments of the population with higher demographic characteristics.

Case Report: A healthy 20 year old male patient, with two previous admissions with atrial fibrillation, was admitted to the emergency room with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. The patient presented evidence of cannabis abuse, and no other pathologic cause for atrial fibrillation.