[Anesthesia for four pediatric patients with difficult airway in whom airway scope was useful for Intubation].

In the field of pediatric anesthesia, devices to solve difficult airway are scant compare to devices for adult difficult airways. We report successful use of an Airway Scope with a pediatric blade in four children with difficult airways. Difficult tracheal intubation had been predicted in all the children, and two had history of difficult intubation.

[Use of the airway scope for rapid sequence induction in the emergency operation].

Rapid sequence intubation is a common procedure in emergency patients at risk for pulmonary gastric aspiration. However, in some of these cases may accompany a difficult airway. The Airway Scope (AWS) has been shown to be useful for difficult airway.

[Anesthetic management for surgery of the ankle joint fracture in a patient with Ebstein's anomaly].

The authors describe the successful anesthetic management of a patient with Ebstein's anomaly and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome who underwent repair for foot joint fracture. Anesthesia was provided by combined spinal-epidural block to minimize hemodynamic changes which cause an increase in right-to-left shunt and hypoxemia. We estimated hemodynamic status using radial arterial pressure, central venous pressure and ECG from the start of anesthesia.

[Case of peripartum cardiomyopathy developed after an emergency cesarean section--a case report].

A 28-year-old woman was admitted because of pregnancy induced hypertension at 35 weeks of gestation with twin babies. The premature labor had been inhibited for 2 weeks with ritodrine (100 microg min(-1) continuous infusion). At 37 weeks of gestation, an emergency cesarean section was carried out under combined spinal epidural anesthesia.

[Anesthetic management of 7-9th total spondylectomy for severe scoliosis].

Patients with scoliosis are at a great risk of perioperative problems including excessive blood loss, respiratory and circulatory failure, postoperative pain, malignant hyperthirmia and particularly, spinal cord damage. A case of a 22-year-old girl undergoing 7-9th total spondylectomy for severe scoliosis is presented. To avoid spinal cord damage, we employed deep anesthesia, wake-up test with BIS and postoperative pain management.

[Effects of olprinone hydrochloride in patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting].

Background: Olprinone hydrochloride (OLP) is a new phosphodiesterase III inhibitor with positive inotropic and vasodilator properties. It is characterized by strong inotropic effect and relatively weak vasodilating effect. Although the method for administration of OLP has been reasonably optimized, no studies have examined the administration mode for patients with off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB).