[Broken chest tube into the pleural cavity by a Monod' trocar]. / Section intrapleurale d'un drain thoracique par un trocart de Monod.

We report the case of a 56-year-old man who presented a section of a chest drain into the pleural cavity. Following an oesogastrectomy with coloplasty for oesophageal carcinoma, the patient developed a pleural effusion. During the implementation of pleural drainage, the intrathoracic drain tip was sectioned. The patient underwent a thoracotomy to remove the foreign body. The drain was probably cut during device removal through the particularly cutting trocar. This observation strengthens the need to refrain from withdrawing the movement tube through a Monod trocar.

[Physico-chemical stability and sterility of non-opioid analgesics in solution]. / Stabilité physicochimique et bactériologique d'associations d'antalgiques de classe I en solution.

OBJECTIVES: The combination of non-opioid analgesic drugs (P: paracetamol, K: ketoprofen and N: nefopam) is currently recommended for postoperative pain control. In practice, these analgesics are often administered in the same solution. We investigated the chemical stability and sterility of three mixtures of analgesics (P+K, P+N and K+N). METHODS: For each mixture, concentrations of active principles were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography over 24 hours. These mixtures were cultured for microbiological colonization. RESULTS: Our study demonstrated chemical and bacteriologic stability of these three mixtures over a 24-hour period. The results allow the use of P+K, P+N and K+N in the same ready to use solution.

[Syringe drug labels: a French national survey]. / Enquête nationale sur le marquage des seringues d'anesthésie en France.

INTRODUCTION: The French Society of Anaesthesiology (SFAR) recommends the use of pre printed self-stick syringe labels. However, French anaesthesia-syringe labelling customs is yet unknown. STUDY DESIGN: Therefore, a national phone survey was performed in order to investigate this issue. RESULTS: Forty-five percent of the answering centers (324/722) used colour self-stick labels, with a larger proportion in public centers and a large regional variability. The kind of colour code differed from an area to another. Among centers using colour labels, the international recommended colour code was used in only 36% of them. The majority of health care providers declare to be favourable to the use of the colour self-stick labels and the standardization of the colour code as well. A relationship between the University hospital and the surrounded area has been observed for the use of the colour labels and the choice of the colour code. CONCLUSION: Colour labels are used in France by nearly half of the centers, but international colour code is less spread.