Ankle-brachial blood pressure differences before and during anesthesia

BACKGROUND: In surgeries involving the upper extremities and breast, the blood pressure is frequently measured at the ankles. As the blood pressure is used as a pain indicator in the full surgical anesthesia, the ankle blood pressure higher than the brachial blood pressure may be misinterpreted by the anesthesiologist, in determining the depth of the anesthesia. This paper investigated whether the ankle blood pressure is significantly higher than the brachial blood pressure before the anesthesia induction, during induction, and after tracheal intubation. METHODS: Two hundred seventeen patients requiring general anesthesia for elective surgery were included in this study. Ankle and brachial blood pressure were simultaneously measured before the anesthesia induction, during induction, and after tracheal intubation. RESULTS: The ankle blood pressure was higher than the brachial blood pressure before induction, during induction, and after tracheal intubation. Ankle-brachial blood pressure differences were significantly higher before induction and after intubation as compared to that during induction. The correlation coefficient between the systolic ankle-brachial blood pressure difference before induction and that after tracheal intubation was 0.623. In 33 child patients with an ankle-brachial blood pressure index > or =1 before induction, there were no significant differences in the ankle-brachial blood pressure during induction. The brachial systolic blood pressure could be predicted by simple and multiple regression equations (R2 = 0.349-0.828). CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study suggest that the anesthesiologists need to consider the ankle-brachial blood pressure differences in monitoring the anesthesia, in cases where the brachial blood pressure cannot be measured during surgery.

Stress-induced cardiomyopathy after general anesthesia for total gastrectomy: A case report / 대한마취과학회지

Stress-induced cardiomyopathy, which is also known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy, is a cardiac syndrome of a transient, reversible left ventricular dysfunction that is caused by emotional and/or physical stress and surgery. Its clinical manifestations are similar to those of myocardial ischemia without a coronary artery lesion. Stress-induced cardiomyopathy is more common in middle-aged women, and the prognosis is favorable. We report the case of a 50-year-old female patient who underwent a total gastrectomy and developed stress-induced cardiomyopathy after surgery.

A stent thrombosis that developed due to altered preoperative anticoagulation therapy in a patient with a drug eluting stent (DES): A case report

A 73 year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of septic shock. He had undergone drug eluting stent (DES) insertion 40 days before this admission. After about 50 days in the hospital, a coccyx sore required a flap operation. The anticoagulation therapy (aspirin and clopidogrel) was then changed to LMWH. Eleven days after this change, he developed very severe chest pain. The emergency coronary angiography showed occlusion of the left anterior descending artery, left circumflex artery, and right coronary artery due to thrombosis. During the angiography procedure, his heart collapsed. We performed cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), but were unsuccessful. Patients in very high risk groups need special attention during peri-operative periods. Doctors must have full knowledge about the different anticoagulation strategies, and cooperation among the different clinical departments is needed to properly treat these high risk patients.