Nonanticoagulant heparin reduces myocyte Na+ and Ca2+ loading during simulated ischemia and decreases reperfusion injury.

Heparin desulfated at the 2-O and 3-O positions (ODSH) decreases canine myocardial reperfusion injury. We hypothesized that this occurs from effects on ion channels rather than solely from anti-inflammatory activities, as previously proposed. We studied closed-chest pigs with balloon left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion (75-min) and reperfusion (3-h).

Comparison of a new cardiac output ultrasound dilution method with thermodilution technique in adult patients under general anesthesia.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of cardiac output (CO) measured by a new ultrasound dilution method (COud) in comparison with CO by pulmonary artery thermodilution (COtd) in adult patients undergoing surgery.

Design: A prospective study.

Setting: A university hospital, single institutional.

Direct toxic effects of aqueous extract of cigarette smoke on cardiac myocytes at clinically relevant concentrations.

Aims: Our goal was to determine if clinically relevant concentrations of aqueous extract of cigarette smoke (CSE) have direct deleterious effects on ventricular myocytes during simulated ischemia, and to investigate the mechanisms involved.

Methods: CSE was prepared with a smoking chamber. Ischemia was simulated by metabolic inhibition (MI) with cyanide (CN) and 0 glucose.

[Anesthetic management of thoracoscopic mini maze procedure for atrial fibrillation].

We anesthetized three patients with refractory atrial fibrillation undergoing the new thoracoscopic mini Maze procedure. This minimally invasive surgical procedure provides isolation and ablation of the bilateral pulmonary vein without thoracotomy or cardiopulmonary bypass, which was performed first in the United States in 2003. General anesthesia was administrated with a double lumen tracheal tube for bilateral single lung ventilation, and epidural anesthesia was also administrated.

[Central venous catheterization complication by a guide wire].

Central venous catheterization using the Seldinger technique is a well known and often used method. On the other hand, there are also well known complications by needle puncture or by indwelling catheter, there are few reports about a guide wire which got hung up around the tricuspid valve. We report a case in which a guide wire got hung up to the chordae tendineae of the tricuspid valve.

[The use of epidural ropivacaine for a gravida with disposition for malignant hyperthermia].

It is reported that ropivacaine, a new amide-linked local anesthetic, can be used safely in patients susceptible to malignant hyperthermia. We report a case of the use of epidural ropivacaine for a gravida with disposition for malignant hyperthermia. A 33-year-old female patient, 11 weeks and 2 days pregnant, was admitted for torsion of the right ovarian cyst.

[Does electromagnetic interference not occur to a bipolar pacemaker during TUR-P?].

It has been reported that a unipolar pacemaker is more sensitive to electromagnetic interference (EMI) than a bipolar pacemaker. However, we experienced cases in which electrosurgery device interfered with a bipolar pacemaker, but not with a unipolar pacemaker during TUR-P. It has been suggested that EMI occurs to a bipolar pacemaker depending on sensitivity and electric resistance of a patient.

Repeated deflation of a gas-barrier cuff to stabilize cuff pressure during nitrous oxide anesthesia.

Unlabelled: Although a nitrous oxide (N(2)O) gas-barrier cuff effectively limits the increase of cuff pressure during N(2)O anesthesia, there are few data assessing whether an N(2)O gas-barrier cuff is more beneficial for stabilizing intracuff pressure than standard endotracheal tubes when cuffs are repeatedly deflated to stabilize pressure during N(2)O anesthesia. In the present study, the pressure of air-filled standard-type cuffs (Trachelon; Terumo, Tokyo, Japan) and N(2)O gas-barrier type endotracheal tube cuffs (Profile Soft-Seal Cuff [PSSC]; Sims Portex, Kent, UK) was measured during 67% N(2)O anesthesia (n = 8 in each), during which the cuffs were repeatedly deflated every 30 min (Trachelon) or 60 min (PSSC) for the first 3 or 4 h. After aspirating the cuffs for 3 h, the cuff pressure exceeded 22 mm Hg in more than half of the patients in both groups.