Perioperative complications of abdominal surgery in smokers.

Purpose: This study examined the association between smoking and perioperative complications of laparoscopic abdominal surgery and whether these complications were reduced with ≥ 4 weeks of preoperative smoking cessation.

Methods: A total of 555 patients who underwent gastric and colorectal cancer surgeries under general anesthesia were divided into the following groups retrospectively: 290 individuals without smoking history (NS group), 144 previous smokers (stopped smoking more than 8 weeks before surgery, PS group), and 121 current smokers (CS group) divided to two groups according to preoperative smoking cessation for < 4 (CS1, n = 76) and 4-8 weeks (CS2, n = 45).

Results: When compared with the NS group, postoperative hospitalization duration was significantly longer in the CS1 group (p < 0.

[Treatment of Tension Pneumothorax during Total Right Breast Extirpation and Reconstruction with a Flap of the Latissimus Dorsi Muscle].

A patient developed tension pneumothorax during surgery. A 56-year-old woman with right breast cancer and axillary gland metastasis, was to undergo total right breast extirpation/axillary gland dissection, flap collection from the latissimus dorsi muscle, and reconstruction with this flap. During total right breast extirpation/axillary gland dissection, there were no problems, but the arterial blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) fell after the start of flap collection.

[Anesthetic Management for Endoscopic Sinus Surgery in a Patient with Transplanted Heart--A Case Report].

A 19-year-old male patient with transplanted heart received endoscopic sinus surgery. He was with X-linked dilated cardiomyopathy, and was one year after the transplantation. Preanesthetic study showed lactate dehydrogenase elevation estimated to have derived from striated muscle.

Evidence that D-dimer levels predict subsequent thromboembolic and cardiovascular events in patients with atrial fibrillation during oral anticoagulant therapy.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether elevated D-dimer levels can predict subsequent thromboembolic and cardiovascular events in patients with atrial fibrillation during oral anticoagulant therapy.

Background: Atrial fibrillation is associated with hemostatic abnormalities even during oral anticoagulant therapy. D-dimer levels reflect a pro-thrombogenic state and thus might serve as a marker of thromboembolic and cardiovascular events.

[A Kumamoto model of clinical training in tracheal intubation for paramedics].

Background: Since July 2004, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare approved certified paramedics to perform emergency prehospital tracheal intubation. A specialized training system in tracheal intubation has been established in Kumamoto Prefecture.

Methods: The Kumamoto Prefectural Medical Control Organization, a tracheal intubation task force was established: consisting of the departments of Anesthesiology at Kumamoto University and 11 other major hospitals, along with Kumamoto Prefecture and the 14 prefectural fire-departments.