Aphonia induced by conversion disorder during a Cesarean section.

Aphonia induced by conversion disorder during surgery is a rare event. We report a woman 28 years of age who was undergoing a Cesarean section under epidural anesthesia. The patient sustained aphonia without detected neurologic deficits. Emergency consultations of a psychiatrist and neurologist were carried out in the operating room postoperatively. After a thorough medical and neurologic work-up, the consultative psychiatrist and the neurologist unanimously made the diagnosis of conversion disorder. Thirty-six hours after the operation, the patient's voice started to return. We venture on sharing the findings of this case with our fellow anesthesiologists in order to highlight discussion and illuminate the differential diagnosis. We have reviewed the literature and excluded an organic lesion as the culprit of the event.

Difficult weaning from mechanical ventilator in a patient with corticosteroid insufficiency after low anterior resection of sigmoid colon.

A 75-year-old man underwent low anterior resection for sigmoid colon cancer under general anesthesia. Comprehensive preoperative surveys showed normal cardiopulmonary functions. In spite of adequate fluid administration, persistent intraoperative hypotension required vasopressors to maintain an acceptable blood pressure. Although the patient was fully awakened from anesthesia with adequate oxygenation, repeated attempts to wean him from the ventilator failed in the postanesthesia intensive care unit, despite recovery from the effect of muscle relaxant. Low plasma cortisol level was found in a series of laboratory analyses. After supplementation with corticosteroid, the patient was successfully weaned from the mechanical ventilator without any sequelae.

Development and validation of the questionnaire of satisfaction with perioperative anesthetic care for general and regional anesthesia in Taiwanese patients.

BACKGROUND: To fulfill the increasing demand of service quality improvement in recent years, it is imperative to develop a proper instrument to evaluate patient satisfaction with perioperative anesthetic care for many institutes in Taiwan. METHODS: We used a six-factor 32-item pilot questionnaire developed in our previous study as our starting point in this study. Exploratory factor analysis of the pilot questionnaire for factor structure generation was performed in general anesthesia patients (group 1, n = 320) and resulted in the generation of the Patient Satisfaction with Perioperative Anesthetic Care questionnaire (PSPACq). Confirmatory factor analysis of the PSPACq in general anesthesia (group 2, n = 565) and regional anesthesia (group 3, n = 225) patients was performed for validation and cross-validation of the PSPACq model, respectively. The confounding variables and the patient loyalty effects on PSPACq scores were analyzed to evaluate the nomological validity of the PSPACq. RESULT: Exploratory factor analysis of the pilot questionnaire in group 1 resulted in the development of the PSPACq (a seven-factor 30-item model). The standardized coefficients and indexes for the assessment of fit of the PSPACq model in group 2 (validation) and group 3 (cross-validation) patients revealed a well-fitting model. The results of the loyalty scores and confounding variables support the nomological validity of the PSPACq. CONCLUSIONS: A valid and reliable questionnaire (PSPACq) with Taiwanese culture characteristics was developed and is suitable for testing of patient satisfaction with perioperative anesthesia care for patients receiving general or regional anesthesia for their surgery.

Urinary catheterization may not be necessary in minor surgery under spinal anesthesia with long-acting local anesthetics.

BACKGROUND: This prospective study was designed to compare the incidence of urinary retention after spinal anesthesia between 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine and 0.5% hyperbaric tetracaine in patients who underwent minor orthopedic and general surgeries. METHODS: Eighty patients aged 18-40 were randomly assigned to receive either hyperbaric bupivacaine or tetracaine for spinal anesthesia. Intravenous fluids were administered for maintenance of basal requirement, replacement of blood loss and prevention of hypotension. The highest level of analgesia, regression time of sensory block to L5 level, length of time from spinal injection to spontaneous urinary voidance, and volume of perioperative fluid administered were recorded. RESULTS: Of the 80 patients who received either hernioplasty, fistulectomy, hemorroidectomy or orthopedic surgery, two were catheterized (2.5%) because of urinary retention. They were administered less than 800 mL of fluid intraoperatively. Intraoperative blood loss was less than 100 mL in all cases. There were no statistical differences in demographic data, types of surgery, sensory blockade and perioperative fluid administration between the two groups. Although the regression time of sensory blockade with tetracaine (means +/- SD, 259.3 +/- 39.6 min) was significantly longer than that of bupivacaine (225.0 +/- 38.6 min, P < 0.01), the time elapsing from the spinal injection to the first spontaneously voiding after surgery did not show statistical difference between two groups (433.9 +/- 89.1 vs. 411.0 +/- 98.3 min, P = 0.286). CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that, in younger surgical patients who did not receive large amount of fluid intraoperatively, the incidence of urinary retention was low, although prolonged sensory blockade by both long-acting local anesthetics was evident. Thus, urinary catheterization should not be a routine must for every patient undergoing minor surgery with long-acting spinal local anesthetics. From the viewpoint of financial expense, avoidance of complication and annoyance of urinary catheterization, careful observation of urinary bladder fullness in the form of lower abdominal distension, discomfort, bradycardia, or vomiting after surgery is superior to routine retention urinary catheterization just for ease with work in younger patients under-going minor surgery under long-acting spinal local anesthetics.