Effect of pre-incisional continuous regional block on early and late postoperative conditions in tibial osteotomy and total knee arthroplasty.

Background: Postoperative regional anesthesia hastens recovery and reduces the length of hospital stay of orthopedic surgical patients. This study was designed to assess the impact of pre-incisional continuous femoral block on postoperative conditions (POC) of tibial osteotomy and total knee arthroplasty patients.

Methods: After insertion of a femoral catheter under peripheral nerve stimulation control, 111 patients scheduled for total knee arthroplasty or tibial osteotomy were randomized to receive either pre-incisionnal (treatment) or postoperative (control) continuous femoral block.

[Postpartum perineal pain: effectiveness of local ropivacaine infiltration].

Goal: To assess efficiency of local ropivacaine infiltration in perineal pain after episiotomy and perineal tear during the first 24 h after vaginal delivery.

Materials And Methods: Case control survey, including 62 consecutive patients with episiotomy and/or perineal tear during two consecutive periods: the ropivacaine group from February 2, 2008 to March 27, 2008 (n=31) and the control group from December 27, 2007 to January 1, 2008 (n=31). In the ropivacaine group, patients received 10 ml of ropivacaine 7,5mg/ml as a local infiltration along the perineal damage.

Optimising tracheal intubation success rate using the Airtraq laryngoscope.

In this study we have used a video-recording, retrospective analysis technique to evaluate the influence of the Airtraq laryngoscope manipulations and the resulting changes in position of the glottic opening and inter-arytenoids cleft, on the success rate of tracheal intubation. The video recordings of the internal views of 109 tracheal intubation attempts, in 50 anaesthetised patients were analysed. We demonstrated that successful tracheal intubation using the Airtraq laryngoscope require the glottic opening to be centred in the view, and positioning the inter-arytenoid cleft medially below the horizontal line in the centre of the view.

Video-assisted versus conventional tracheal intubation in morbidly obese patients.

Background: We compared tracheal intubation characteristics and arterial oxygenation quality during airway management of morbidly obese patients whose trachea was intubated under video assistance with the LMA CTrach (SEBAC, Pantin, France) or the Airtraq laryngoscope (VYGON, Ecouen, France) with that of the conventional Macintosh laryngoscope.

Methods: After standardized induction of anesthesia, 318 morbidly obese patients scheduled for elective morbid obesity surgery received tracheal intubation with the LMA CTrach, the Airtraq laryngoscope, or the conventional Macintosh laryngoscope. Duration of apnea, time to tracheal intubation, and oxygenation quality during airway management were compared between the LMA CTrach and the laryngoscope groups.

Tracheal intubation of morbidly obese patients: a randomized trial comparing performance of Macintosh and Airtraq laryngoscopes.

Background: The Airtraq laryngoscope is designed to allow visualization of the glottis without alignment of the oral, pharyngeal, and laryngeal axes. We hypothesized that this new airway device would facilitate tracheal intubation of morbidly obese patients. We compared tracheal intubation performance of standard Macintosh laryngoscope with the Airtraq laryngoscope in morbidly obese patients.