Self-reported recovery time of daily activity after bone marrow harvesting from healthy donors.

PURPOSE: The study was planned to describe and compare the resumption of daily activity after bone marrow harvesting (BMH) under general anesthesia with different anesthetic agents, isoflurane, sevoflurane and propofol. METHODS: Sixty-five adult healthy allogenic donors (26 women, 39 men; 37.0 +/- 9.5 years of age; ASA class I or II) were studied. BMH was performed under general anesthesia with isoflurane, sevoflurane, or propofol as the main anesthetic agent. On day 1, donors were asked how soon they could resume five daily activities: talking, walking, drinking, eating, and reading. RESULTS: Although there was considerable variation in resumption time within and among these five activities, 77% of donors resumed all of these basic daily activities within 12 h after BMH. Donors who received propofol resumed talking significantly faster than those who received sevoflurane or isoflurane, but the choice of main anesthetic agent did not affect the time of resumption of other activities. Lower preoperative hemoglobin concentration and greater decline of hemoglobin concentration on day 1 were significantly associated with slower resumption of walking and reading. CONCLUSION: Although the choice of main anesthetic agent and anemia affected postoperative recovery, 77% of donors could resume these five daily activities within 12 h.

Anaesthetic management of two paediatric patients with Hecht-Beals syndrome.

We undertook the anaesthetic management of two children with Hecht-Beals syndrome for orthopaedic surgery under general anaesthesia. Both patients had arachnodactyly, kyphoscoliosis, and multiple congenital joint contractures, but limited mandible excursion was not obvious preoperatively in either, although mental retardation made it difficult for them to cooperate with mouth examination. They had no apparent difficulties with their mouths in daily activities. The anaesthesia records of one patient showed that intubation had been difficult in an earlier procedure. The other patient also had a history of difficult intubation, with slight tearing of the corners of her mouth during an intubation procedure. During slow induction of general anaesthesia with sevoflurane, face mask ventilation was easily performed. We attempted to visualize the larynx under anaesthesia with muscle relaxation, but we were unsuccessful because of the limited mouth opening. After several trials, blind oral intubations were fortunately successful in both patients. There were no postoperative problems with the airway.