Local infiltration analgesia with ropivacaine in acute fracture of thoracolumbar junction surgery.

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study. INTRODUCTION: Local infiltration analgesia is effective in many surgeries as knee arthroplasty, but the analgesic efficacy of local infiltration analgesia with ropivacaine in trauma spine surgery in T10 to L2 has not been clarified. We conducted a trial to assess the analgesic efficacy of intraoperative local infiltration analgesia (LIA) with ropivacaine. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to clarify the effect of intraoperative local infiltration analgesia with ropivacaine on postoperative pain for patients undergoing thoracolumbar junction fracture surgery. METHODS: In a retrospective study, in 76 patients undergoing spine surgery for thoracolumbar junction fracture, 20ml of ropivacaine 7.5% (n R group=38) was infiltrated using a systematic technique, or no infiltration was realized (n M group=38). We assessed postoperative pain with Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and morphine consumption in the 24 first hours. RESULTS: VAS pain score upon awakening and at 2hours postoperatively were significantly lower in the ropivacaine group (P=0.01 and P=0.002). Rescue opioid requirement during the 24 first hours were about 50% lower in the ropivacaine group (P=0.01). No local or systemic side effects were observed. CONCLUSION: Intraoperative LIA with ropivacaine in thoracolumbar junction fracture surgery may have an analgesic effect in postoperative pain control (24hours) with a reduction of VAS and morphine consumption.

Toxic and biochemical effects of 3,3',4,4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl (CB-77) and clophen A50 on eider duckling (Somateria mollissima) in a semi-field experiment.

In this study the possible toxic and biochemical effects of one intraperitoneal dose of 5 or 50 mg kg(-1) of 3,3',4,4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl (CB-77) or 50 or 200 mg kg(-1) of Clophen A50 (CloA50) on 28-day-old eider ducklings (Somateria mollissima) were investigated. After ten days, no significant differences could be observed in any of the toxic and biochemical parameters studied, apart from ethoxyresorufin (EROD) activity, when comparing group average values of the dosed and control animals. However, significant correlations were observed at day 10 after exposure between the individual internal PCB concentration and body weight gain and beak length growth (negative correlations in the CloA50 groups); relative liver weight and cytochrome P4501A activity (positive correlations in CB-77 and CloA50 groups); plasma thyroid-hormone and hepatic retinoid levels (negative correlations in CB-77 groups); and plasma retinol levels and the ratio plasma retin/hepatic retinyl palmitate (positive correlations in CB-77 groups only). Animal activity was significantly reduced in the group that received 50 mg CB-77 kg(-1). These observations indicate that eider ducks are a sensitive species to PCB toxicity and may be at risk for development of adverse health effects in relatively highly contaminated areas such as the Waddenzee.

The influence of postmenstrual age estimation on the scatter of brainstem auditory evoked potential latencies.

In normal twins the brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP) was recorded. The inter-individual variation of the I-V peak latency-interval within the twins appears to be of the same order of magnitude as the variation of the I-V peak latencies generally observed in infants. Consequently we conclude that in low-risk twins the inter-individual variation of the I-V peak latencies of the BAEP is maximally 0.4 msec and cannot be ascribed to a difference in postmenstrual age.

A longitudinal study of brainstem auditory evoked potentials of preterm infants.

Brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) of nine 'healthy' preterm infants were recorded at weekly intervals between 32 and 36 weeks conceptional age to study the relationship between stimulus intensity and central transmission time through the subcortical auditory pathway (i.e. the interval latency between peak I and peak V) as a function of conceptional age. Stimulus intensities of 70, 80 and 90 dB nHTL were used. Changes in click intensity produced changes in the absolute latency of all BAEP peaks, but the interval latency I to V remained constant. The absolute latencies and interval latencies reflected maturity, but varied widely between these preterm infants. The peak V latency and the I to V interval latency decreased with increasing conceptional age. Exponential regression analysis suggested that, above 70 dB nHTL, the time-constant of the calculated exponential function most likely represents maturation and function of the central subcortical pathway, and may give an indication of the infants' development.