Deep fascia iliaca block combined with sacral plexus block for hip fracture surgery: A retrospective series of cases.

This case series describes a novel anaesthetic approach for hip fracture surgery using the deep fascia iliaca block combined with the sacral plexus block. This single-centre, retrospective study involved 15 patients aged 85 years or older and having significant cardiac disease. All the patients were managed with single-shot deep fascia iliaca block (22 or 25 ml of ropivacaine 0.5%) and sacral plexus block (12 or 15 ml of ropivacaine 0.5%, according to the patients' weight) after the administration of 50 µg of fentanyl intravenously. Intraoperatively, the patients were also administered light-to-moderate sedation. All patients presented a successful sensory block and a high level of haemodynamic stability (nil vasopressor consumption). In hip fracture surgery, low volume deep fascia iliaca block may be combined with sacral plexus block as primary anaesthetic technque, without any neuraxial technique or sympathetic blockade.

Outcome of Children and Adolescents With Primary Intracranial Germinoma Treated With Chemotherapy and Reduced Dose-Field Irradiation: A Prospective Brazilian Experience.

PURPOSE: This prospective Brazilian single-arm trial was conducted to determine response to chemotherapy and survival after response-based radiotherapy in children with intracranial germinomas, in the setting of a multi-institutional study in a middle-income country (MIC) with significant disparity of subspecialty care. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Since 2013, 58 patients with histologic and/or serum and CSF tumor marker evaluations of primary intracranial germ cell tumors were diagnosed; 43 were germinoma with HCGß levels ≤200 mIU/mL and five between 100 and 200 mIU/mL. The treatment plan consisted of four cycles of carboplatin and etoposide followed by 18 Gy whole-ventricular field irradiation (WVFI) and primary site(s) boost up to 30 Gy; 24 Gy craniospinal was prescribed for disseminated disease. RESULTS: Mean age 13.2 years (range, 4.7-25.5 years); 29 were males. Diagnosis was made by tumor markers (n = 6), surgery (n = 25), or both (n = 10). Two bifocal cases with negative tumor markers were treated as germinoma. Primary tumor location was pineal (n = 18), suprasellar (n = 14), bifocal (n = 10), and basal ganglia/thalamus (n = 1). Fourteen had ventricular/spinal spread documented by imaging studies. Second-look surgery occurred in three patients after chemotherapy. Thirty-five patients achieved complete responses after chemotherapy, and eight showed residual teratoma/scar. Toxicity was mostly grade 3/4 neutropenia/thrombocytopenia during chemotherapy. At a median follow-up of 44.5 months, overall and event-free survivals were 100%. CONCLUSION: The treatment is tolerable, and WVFI dose reduction to 18 Gy preserves efficacy; we have demonstrated the feasibility of successfully conducting a prospective multicenter trial in a large MIC despite resource disparity.

Low-dose spinal block combined with epidural volume extension in a high-risk cardiac patient: A case-based systematic literature review.

Background: Anesthetic management of patients with severe cardiac disease can be challenging during prolonged surgical procedures. Thus, alternative neuraxial anesthetic techniques have been described to avoid general anesthesia in these patients. Methods: A case-based systematic literature review on low-dose spinal block combined with different methods of epidural block extension in high-risk cardiac patients was performed. Results: We describe the successful management of a patient with poor left ventricular function who underwent excision arthroplasty of an infected hip prosthesis under low-dose spinal block with levobupivacaine 5 mg and fentanyl 15 µg combined with saline epidural volume extension (EVE). Epidural ropivacaine 0.75% was administered as a bolus of 5 ml followed by an infusion at 5 ml/h later during the course of surgery. Conclusions: Although continuous spinal anesthesia (CSA) or epidural anesthesia may limit hemodynamic instability, the possibility of devastating central nervous system infection may prevent CSA use, and epidural block alone may be less reliable than CSA. Epidural block alone may require large volumes of concentrated local anesthetic to obtain sacral block, which may produce hemodynamic instability. The EVE, particularly using saline EVE, has rarely been described in high-risk cardiac patients as an alternative to CSA or epidural block alone, with the intention to avoid general anesthesia, but it has demonstrated efficacy and a low rate of complications. Hemodynamic stability was maintained in most cases.