Duration of antiplatelet therapy cessation before coronary artery bypass surgery: Relation with platelet count.

As of now, no study or data is available to determine the period of discontinuation of antiplatelet therapy and the timing of elective surgery in clopidogrel treated patients. The 2011 ACCF/AHA Guidelines have a Class-I recommendation for withdrawing clopidogrel for 5 days before elective coronary artery bypass grafting. However, 5 days period may not suit all patients as platelet count varies from 150 × 10(9)/L to 450 × 10(9)/L.

A combination of the modified Mallampati score, thyromental distance, anatomical abnormality, and cervical mobility (M-TAC) predicts difficult laryngoscopy better than Mallampati classification.

Objective: Unanticipated difficult tracheal intubation is a significant source of morbidity and mortality in anesthetized patients. A number of modules have been developed to predict difficult airways, but they are often complex in nature. We combined the modified Mallampati score (M), thyromental distance (T), anatomical abnormality (A), and cervical mobility (C) into a single scoring system with the acronym M-TAC, and evaluated it against Mallampati scoring.

Anaesthetic management of a giant encephalocele: size does matter.

Encephalocele is a form of neural tube defect, characterized by protrusion out of the meninges and brain tissue through a bony skull defect. As per the site of origin, these encephaloceles have been classified into different types, out of which the frontoethmoidal one is exclusively common in Southeast Asia with a reported incidence of 1 in 5,000. Neurological outcome of such malformations depends on the size of the sac, neural tissue content, hydrocephalus, associated infection, and other pathologies that accompany this condition.

Preemptive gabapentin decreases postoperative pain after lumbar discoidectomy.

Purpose: We investigated whether the preemptive use of gabapentin, a structural analogue of gamma amino butyric acid could reduce postoperative pain and fentanyl consumption in patients after single-level lumbar discoidectomy.

Methods: Fifty-six ASA I and II patients were randomly allocated into two equal groups to receive either gabapentin 300 mg or placebo two hours before surgery. After surgery, the pain was assessed on a visual analogue scale (VAS) at intervals of 0-6, 6-12, 12-18, and 18-24 hr at rest.