OBJECTIVE To identify specific fears being entertained about general anaesthesia. METHODS People who do work in any medical facility were targeted in this prospective questionnaire-based study. All respondents were literate. The questionnaire was divided into two sections; (a) The baseline information, which included age, sex, marital status, occupation, previous exposure to anaesthesia and p...

Cases of intraoperative hyperkalaemia in healthy greyhound dogs under general anaesthesia have previously been reported veterinary literature. This case report describes the identification and treatment an otherwise undergoing for a fracture repair. The clinical signs were sudden bradycardia loss P waves on electrocardiogram waveform. Treatment consisted intravenous 10% calcium gluconate, rapid...

BACKGROUND Neuraxial anaesthesia in adults decreases the dose of i.v. or inhalational anaesthetic needed to reach a desired level of sedation. Furthermore, spinal anaesthesia alone has a sedative effect. The mechanism behind this phenomenon is presumed to be decreased afferent stimulation of the reticular activating system after sympatholysis. We hypothesized that this mechanism is equally acti...

PURPOSE Local anaesthesia for vitreoretinal surgery is little used as these procedures are deemed to be too long and uncomfortable for patients to tolerate. In this unit anterior intraconal local anaesthesia is used for most routine surgery. We undertook an audit to ensure that surgical standards and patient acceptability were not compromised. METHODS A prospective observational audit was per...

Parkinson's is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by increased activity of GABA in basal ganglia and the loss of dopamine in nigrostriatum, associated with rigidity, resting tremor, gait with accelerating steps, and fixed inexpressive face. Being a neurological disease, spinal anaesthesia is often avoided in Parkinson's. Yet, in Parkinsons' patients, general anaesthesia may mask neurolog...

OBJECTIVE Among various methods of providing analgesia during surgery for e.g., parenteral opiates and NSAIDS, epidural anaesthesia and analgesia seem to have beneficial efficacy and less side effect profiles. METHODS This study was conducted in 1.53 patients coming for operation at KMCTH between August 2003 to August 2004. Patients were divided in two groups, one group were operated under so...

BACKGROUND Anaesthesia guidelines recommend regional anaesthesia for most caesarean sections due to the risk of failed intubation and aspiration with general anaesthesia. However, general anaesthesia is considered to be safe for the foetus, based on limited evidence, and is still used for caesarean sections. METHODS Cohorts of caesarean sections by indication (that is, planned repeat caesarea...

The use of EEG monitors to assess the level of hypnosis during anaesthesia has become widespread. Anaesthetists, however, do not usually observe the raw EEG data: they generally pay attention only to the Bispectral Index (BIS™) and other indices calculated by EEG monitors. This abstracted information only partially characterizes EEG features. To properly appreciate the availability and reliabil...

BACKGROUND Recent evidence suggests that neuraxial and regional anaesthesia may influence the progression of the underlying malignant disease after surgery. METHODS This retrospective cohort study assessed whether neuraxial anaesthesia would affect the progression of cervical cancer in 132 consecutive patients who were treated with brachytherapy in a tertiary cancer centre in Australia. RES...

Regional anaesthesia provides effective anaesthesia and analgesia in the perioperative setting. Central neuraxial blocks-that is, spinal and epidural blocks-are well established as an alternative or adjunct to general anaesthesia. Peripheral blocks may be used as part of multimodal anaesthesia/analgesia in perioperative practice, reducing the need for opioid analgesics and enhancing early recov...