Effect of two surgical circumcision procedures on postoperative pain: A prospective, randomized, double-blind study.

BACKGROUND: Male circumcision (MC) is one of the most commonly used surgical procedures worldwide for medical and traditional reasons. No studies have compared the postoperative pain advantages of conventional techniques (i.e., sleeve and dorsal slit). OBJECTIVE: In this prospective randomized double-blind study, we investigated the effect of two surgical techniques (i.e., sleeve and dorsal slit) on postoperative pain and emergence agitation. STUDY DESIGN: This prospective study was conducted between January and July 2013. Approval was obtained from the local Ethical Committee on 17 December 2012, 06/23 (CLINICAL TRIALS IDENTIFIER: NCT 01909765). We compared two surgical techniques (i.e., the dorsal slit incision technique (Group A) and the double incision (i.e., sleeve) technique (Group B) in 60 children who were subjected to MC surgery under general anesthesia. All children received dorsal nerve blocks with bupivacaine. The modified objective pain scale (MOPS) was used for pain assessment, and the Ramsey Sedation Scale was used for the assessment of agitation during anesthesia emergence. RESULTS: The MOPS scores were lower in Group B than in Group A in the post-anesthesia care unit and during the 4th hour post-surgery (p = 0.01 and p = 0.037, respectively). Twelve children (40%) in Group A and 23 children (76.6%) in Group B required no additional analgesia on postoperative day one (p = 0.004). The Ramsey sedation scores were lower in Group A (p = 0.018). DISCUSSION: Dorsal slit is often the primary method in cases with paraphimosis; during this procedure, the frenulum frequently cannot be preserved at the 6-o'clock position of the mucosa, because of traction applied to skin and mucosa. As a result, the frenular artery is injured. In contrast, the sleeve technique protects the frenulum and the anatomic structures of the glans. In the sleeve technique, providing hemostasis and preventing partial ischemia by protecting the frenular artery reduces postoperative pain and complications. This present study demonstrated that the sleeve technique, which preserved the frenular artery, caused less bleeding, reduced electrocautery use and less ischemia than the dorsal slit technique. The sleeve technique effectively reduces early postoperative pain and agitation after circumcision, provided that adequate postoperative analgesia has been achieved. While all variables except the employed surgical techniques were similar, Group B had advantages with respect to analgesic requirement and pain control during the first 8 h after the operation. CONCLUSION: The sleeve technique provides lower pain scores and a reduced incidence of agitation after elective MC.

The effect of anesthesia type on stress hormone response: comparison of general versus epidural anesthesia.

AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different types of anesthesia on stress hormones. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was included 60 ASAI-II cases scheduled for major lower extremity surgery. The cases were randomized into 2 groups: The EA group was administered epidural anesthesia and the GA group was administered standard general anesthesia. In order to evaluate the surgical trauma - related stress response, CRP, TSH, cortisol, and fasting blood sugar(FBS) levels were measured preoperatively, 30 min after surgical incision, and 24 h post surgery. RESULTS: Between-group comparisons; Preoperative values were not significantly different between the groups.( P > 0,05) Pulse rate and cortisol values significantly higher in general group at 30 min. ( P < 0,05), and the FBS values were significantly higher in the epidural group at 24 h.( P < 0,05) There were not found differences for other parameters at evaluation times. CONCLUSION: No differences were observed between the two anesthesia methods, in terms of minimizing the stress response due to surgical trauma during major low extremity surgery.

Rheumatic heart disease prevalence among schoolchildren in Ankara, Turkey.

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) continues to be a common health problem in the developing world. Although little longitudinal data are available, evidence suggests that there has been little if any decline in the occurrence of RHD over the past few decades. There are only a few population surveys available in Turkey for prevalence of RHD. This survey was undertaken to estimate its prevalence among schoolchildren and changes over the last 20 years in the capital, Ankara. In Ankara, 4,086 schoolchildren aged between six and 17 years were screened over a period four months (March 1995-June 1995) by the same pediatrician. Forty-eight percent (n = 1,945) were female and 52 percent (n = 2,141) were male. Three children out of 4,086 (0.73 per 1,000) were noted to have findings consistent with RHD. Fifteen children had an episode of rheumatic fever (RF). Cumulative prevalence rate (prevalence rate for RF history) was 3.7 per 1,000. We concluded that RHD prevalence has decreased in Ankara over the last decades.