[Transfusional record and blood grouping methods: essential factors of transfusion safety]. / Dossier transfusionnel et techniques de groupage sanguin: éléments essentiels de la sécurité transfusionnelle.

The clinical and biological control of the whole transfusion process is a major preoccupation for everyone dealing with blood transfusion. Specially when the patient is a female recipient or belongs to a group with a high prevalence of alloimmunisation. This case report points out the outstanding importance of the immune compatibility, which must be strongly maintained to prevent any harmful consequences. The transfusional record transmission and a simple and sensitive blood grouping test are essential to increase transfusion safety.

[Clinical and biological surveillance of envenomed patients]. / Surveillance clinique et biologique des patients envenimés.

Faced with an envenomation, the problem is to take sufficiently rapidly the decision to administer the only effective treatment--immunotherapy--, to know which antivenom to choose and how long to administrate it. If the snake is not identified, symptoms and initial development give information on the type of venom. It is convenient to classify the symptoms according to four clinical types: i) the cobra syndrome with a potentially fatal evolution within two to ten hours and which resembles an Elapid bite, ii) the viper syndrome associating bleeding and inflammation, which can be due either to a viper, pit viper or, in Australia, to Elapids, iii) disturbance of blood circulating functions and iv) disturbance of other live functions. Between the third to the half of snakebite victims present no envenomation. Severe envenomations must be monitored in an intensive care unit, with experience in emergency management and monitoring of patients with major life-threatening conditions. Throughout the world, snakebites induce more than 100,000 deaths every year. Schematically, the emergency may be considered in terms of seconds for blood circulation disorders, minutes for respiratory paralysis, and hours for the coagulopathy.

[Bolus esmolol prior to tracheal intubation of the elderly patient]. / L'esmolol en bolus avant l'intubation trachéale du sujet âgé.

Twenty-seven patients 76 +/- 7 years old, ASA I or II, scheduled for short eye surgery, were randomized in two groups so as to study and compare the effects of esmolol--injected after induction of general anaesthesia, 2 or 3 mg.kg-1--or topic laryngeal anaesthesia on the haemodynamic consequences of endotracheal intubation. Induction was performed with fentanyl, thiopental and atracurium. The rate-pressure product was significantly lower (less than 11.000 b.min-1.mmHg-1) in the esmolol group. However 4 patients out of 5 who received the higher dosage of esmolol (3 mg.kg-1) had a marked blood pressure fall requiring ephedrine. A vascular collapse was observed in one of them but Buffington's ratio never fell under the critical value. In all cases small doses of ephedrine were efficient. No serious complications were observed in both groups. This preliminary study lacked a control group without esmolol or laryngeal spray. On the other hand, haemodynamic effects of tracheal intubation could be further studied after bolus esmolol or topic anaesthesia in real ASA III cardiovascular patients.

Effects of premedication on dose requirements for propofol: comparison of clonidine and hydroxyzine.

The influence of a single dose of clonidine (5 micrograms kg-1) or hydroxyzine (1 mg kg-1) on intraoperative propofol requirements was determined in 28 male patients (ASA I) undergoing elective orthopaedic surgery. Patients were randomly allocated to receive either clonidine or hydroxyzine orally 2 h before induction of anaesthesia. After a loading dose of propofol (2.5 mg kg-1), mivacurium (0.2 mg kg-1) and alfentanil (15 micrograms kg-1), anaesthesia was maintained with a standardized propofol infusion supplemented with nitrous oxide (66%) in oxygen. During surgery, additional propofol boluses (1 mg kg-1) were administered when heart rate or mean arterial pressure increased by more than 10% compared with preinduction values. The clonidine group demonstrated a 14.5% decrease in total propofol requirements (P < 0.05) and a 52.2% reduction in additional propofol boluses (P < 0.02) in comparison with the hydroxyzine group. intraoperative heart rate and mean arterial pressure were significantly lower in the clonidine group but no patients needed treatment with ephedrine for hypotension or bradycardia. Recovery of psychomotor function and discharge from the recovery room were not delayed in the clonidine group. This study indicates that 5 micrograms kg-1 clonidine given as premedication in ASA I patients reduces intraoperative propofol requirements in comparison with 1 mg kg-1 hydroxyzine without inducing adverse effects on recovery or haemodynamic stability.