Expedited awake tracheal intubation using ropivacaine topicalisation for the evacuation of a postoperative neck haematoma in the presence of lignocaine allergy.

Progressive airway compromise from a neck haematoma is a feared complication of head and neck surgery that can rapidly lead to death if not urgently intervened upon. We report a case of a patient developing a progressively expanding neck haematoma on the first postoperative night after parotidectomy and neck dissection for malignancy. Although he did not have respiratory compromise or stridor, ultrasound examination of his airway revealed marked tracheal deviation, and flexible nasoendoscopy showed significant supraglottic swelling.

Idiopathic congenital talipes equinovarus; not always an isolated anomaly. A review of long-term outcomes.

Objective: To describe the long-term outcomes of children at school age who were thought to have isolated idiopathic congenital talipes equino varus (ICTEV) at birth.

Method: A retrospective review of all children attending a regional talipes clinic who had achieved school age.

Results: One hundred sixty-three children were followed up.

Improved compliance with the World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist is associated with reduced surgical specimen labelling errors.

Aims: A new approach to administering the surgical safety checklist (SSC) at our institution using wall-mounted charts for each SSC domain coupled with migrated leadership among operating room (OR) sub-teams, led to improved compliance with the Sign Out domain. Since surgical specimens are reviewed at Sign Out, we aimed to quantify any related change in surgical specimen labelling errors.

Methods: Prospectively maintained error logs for surgical specimens sent to pathology were examined for the six months before and after introduction of the new SSC administration paradigm.