New Zealand's First General Anaesthetic

Fibreoptic bronchoscopy without general anaesthetic.

We have used flexible fibreoptic bronchoscopy using sedation and local anaesthesia in 50 children aged 2-19 years (median 10) using an Olympus BFP20 instrument. Indications were opportunistic pneumonias (n = 11), persistent atelectasis (n = 11), recurrent pneumonia (n = 7), miscellaneous lower airway disease (n = 7), recurrent wheezing (n = 3), haemoptysis (3), to diagnose infection or rejectio...

Potency of mixtures of general anaesthetic agents.

The anaesthetic potencies of binary mixtures of the gases argon (Ar), nitrous oxide (N2O) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) have been measured using mice. The mixtures SF6-N2O and N2O-Ar showed additive behaviour, whereas the constituents of the mixture SF6-Ar were non-additive, having a smaller total potency than expected. Further experiments on this mixture with Italian Great Newts and on the ca...

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy during elective general anaesthetic induction.

DESCRIPTION This 55-year-old lady became acutely hypotensive during induction of anaesthesia with fentanyl, propofol and atracurium for elective cholecystectomy. She developed anterior ST segment elevation and runs of ventricular tachycardia. The operation was abandoned, and subsequent ECGs showed a deep T-wave inversion in the anterolateral leads (figure 1). Her troponin was elevated. The pati...

Regional anaesthetic techniques for the general practitioners.

Dental general anaesthetic trends among Australian children

BACKGROUND Children receive dental general anaesthetic (DGA) care when standard dental treatment is not possible. Receipt of DGA care is resource-intensive and not without risk. This study examines trends in receipt of DGA care among Australian children. METHODS Child DGA data were obtained from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Hospital Morbidity Database for 1993-2004. Poisson ...