Anesthesiologists and Capital Punishment.

Physician professional organizations in all Western countries consistently hold that it is unethical for physicians to participate in judicial executions. Physician participation in capital punishment is of particular concern for anesthesiologists, who have been identified by the courts as ideal candidates to participate in executions, particularly lethal injection executions. Arguments in favor of participation are based on flawed interpretations of the ethical principle of double-effect, mistaken analogies with physician aid-in-dying, and ignore evidence of prisoner suffering in the execution process.

Barriers to recovery for medical professionals: Assessing financial support through a survey of Physician Health Programs.

Background And Objectives: There is increasing focus on physician burnout, psychiatric problems, and substance use disorders. Costs of recovery for physicians enrolled in Physician Health Programs (PHPs) remain unexamined with little known regarding funding resources. We sought to elucidate perceived costs of recovery from impairing conditions and highlight resources for financial strain.

The "Mother of pediatric cardiac anesthesia": An interview with Dr Dolly D. Hansen, a pioneering woman in medicine.

Dr Dolly D. Hansen (1935-), Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, devoted her life to improving the perioperative care of children with congenital heart disease. She applied her knowledge of cardiovascular and pulmonary physiology and the effects on anesthetic agents in children with and without heart disease into clinical practice and thereby greatly influenced the practice of pediatric anesthesia, cardiology, surgery, and critical care medicine.

Responding to a medical crisis: Lessons from the Halifax disaster 100 years ago.

One hundred years ago, a massive explosion occurred in the harbor of Halifax, Nova Scotia, destroying the city and killing more than 2,000 and injuring more than 9,000. It was the worst manmade explosion the world had ever seen, not exceeded until the atomic bomb blast over Hiroshima in 1945. An urgent appeal for assistance came from the survivors, and many volunteers responded.

Freeman Allen: Boston's pioneering physician anesthetist.

On October 16, 1846 dentist William T. G. Morton successfully demonstrated at the Massachusetts General Hospital that ether could prevent the pain of surgery.

"A thrill of extreme magnety": Robert E. Gross and the beginnings of cardiac surgery.

Seventy-five years ago, a 7-year-old girl underwent the first successful ligation of a patent ductus arteriosus. This procedure transformed her health and was a milestone in the development of cardiac surgery. The operation was performed by Dr.

Anesthetic concerns for pediatric patients in an intraoperative MRI suite.

Purpose Of Review: Intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) is an evolving technology used to provide precise intraoperative navigation during a variety of neurosurgical and other types of surgical procedures. Anesthesiologists need to be aware of the unique challenges created by this environment. Failure to recognize the differences between the diagnostic MRI environment and the iMRI environment can compromise the safety of the patient and operating room staff and present logistical problems.

Betty Lank: a kind and gentle anesthetist devoted to children.

Many noted clinicians and educators led the development of nurse anesthesia as a profession during the first half of the 20th century. Betty E. Lank, CRNA, a nurse anesthetist at Children's Hospital Boston, Massachusetts, for 34 years, devoted her professional life to the delivery and advancement of pediatric anesthesia.

Pediatric neuroanesthesia.

Recent advances in pediatric neurosurgery have drastically improved the outcome in infants and children afflicted with surgical lesions of the central nervous system (CNS). Because most of these techniques were first applied to adults, the physiologic and developmental differences that are inherent in pediatric patients present challenges to neurosurgeons and anesthesiologists alike. The aim of this paper is to highlight these age-dependent approaches to the pediatric neurosurgical patient.

Detection of unanticipated intracranial hemorrhage during intraoperative magnetic resonance image-guided neurosurgery. Report of two cases.

The authors report unanticipated intraoperative intracranial hemorrhaging in two pediatric neurosurgical patients. Both children were undergoing elective craniotomies with the aid of intraoperative magnetic resonance (iMR) imaging. In both cases, the ability of iMR imaging to aid in diagnosis allowed prompt and definitive treatment of potentially life-threatening complications.

Perioperative management of diabetes insipidus in children.

Managing children with diabetes insipidus (DI) in the perioperative period is complicated and frequently associated with electrolyte imbalance compounded by over- or underhydration. In this study the authors developed and prospectively evaluated a multidisciplinary approach to the perioperative management of DI with a comparison to 19 historical control children. Eighteen children either with preoperative DI or undergoing neurosurgical operations associated with a high risk for developing postoperative DI were identified and managed using a standardized protocol.

Long-term outcome in children with moyamoya syndrome after cranial revascularization by pial synangiosis.

Object: Moyamoya syndrome, a narrowing of the basal intracranial vessels accompanied by the development of a cloud of collateral "moyamoya" vasculature, causes cerebral ischemia and stroke. This study was undertaken to determine if a standardized neurosurgical revascularization procedure, pial synangiosis, conferred long-term benefit in pediatric patients.

Methods: The authors reviewed the clinical and radiographic records obtained in a consecutive series of patients with moyamoya syndrome.

Perioperative management of diabetes insipidus in children [corrected].

Managing children with diabetes insipidus (DI) in the perioperative period is complicated and frequently associated with electrolyte imbalance compounded by over- or underhydration. In this study the authors developed and prospectively evaluated a multidisciplinary approach to the perioperative management of DI with a comparison to 19 historical control children. Eighteen children either with preoperative DI or undergoing neurosurgical operations associated with a high risk for developing postoperative DI were identified and managed using a standardized protocol.

Anaesthetic management of children with tuberous sclerosis.

Background: Tuberous sclerosis (TS) is a hamartomatous disease that usually presents with cutaneous and intracranial lesions, but can also affect other organ systems.

Methods: In this report, we retrospectively reviewed the perioperative course of 24 children with TS who had medically intractable seizures as the primary disease process.

Results: Cardiac rhabdomyoma was detected in 11 of 18 patients who had a cardiac evaluation, and coexisting congenital heart defects were diagnosed in six.

Pediatric neuroanesthesia.

The perioperative management of pediatric neurosurgical patients presents many challenges to neurosurgeons and anesthesiologists. Many conditions are unique to pediatrics. Thorough preoperative evaluation and open communication between members of the health care team are important.

Sedation before ventilator withdrawal: medical and ethical considerations.

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