Nitrous oxide in pediatric anesthesia: friend or foe?

Volatile Anesthesia for the pediatric brain: friend or foe?

The story of volatile anesthetics being “friendly” for the brain originated many years ago with the observation that anesthetized patients seemed to experience minimal or no neurologic injury after cardiac arrest. In the ensuing years, animal cerebral ischemia models were studied to evaluate volatile anesthesia neuroprotection. (1) Although cardiac arrest rarely occurs in pediatric anesthesia, ...

Case-series of nurse-administered nitrous oxide for urinary catheterization in children.

BACKGROUND Children undergoing urologic imaging studies requiring urethral catheterization experience considerable discomfort and psychological distress. Nitrous oxide sedation may mitigate these detriments but the requirement for physician administration has limited the applicability of this technique. METHODS Registered nurses underwent the nitrous oxide training requirements prescribed for...

Hemodynamic effects of intravenous ephedrine in infants and children anesthetized with halothane and nitrous oxide.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of age on the hemodynamic responses to intravenous (IV) ephedrine in pediatric patients anesthetized with halothane, nitrous oxide, and oxygen. One hundred ten pediatric patients, ranging in age from 0.1 to 15 yr, were assigned to receive 0.1 mg/kg (n = 55) or 0.2 mg/kg (n = 55) IV ephedrine. General anesthesia was maintained with 1.0 minimum alv...

Kant: Friend or Foe of the Believer? Plantinga and Other American Christian Responses to Kant's Epistemology

Nitrous oxide analgesia for minor pediatric surgical procedures: an effective alternative to conscious sedation?

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE Minor surgical procedures in children, while usually not requiring general anesthesia, need effective control of pain, anxiety, and motion. Certain techniques of conscious sedation may result in loss of protective airway reflexes. Nitrous oxide, however, when inhaled at levels below 50% maintains protective reflexes and does not require fasting or postprocedure monitoring. Th...