Interrelations among children, parents, premedication, and anaesthetists in paediatric day stay surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the incidence of difficulties associated with parental presence during the induction of anaesthesia in children and the influence of premedication with special reference to vomiting after papaveretum. DESIGN: Mixed factual and multiple choice questionnaire completed by medical and nursing staff and parents during and after admission. SETTING: Teaching hospital with regional paediatric general surgical unit where parental presence during induction of anaesthesia is long established. PATIENTS: 151 Children aged 1-14 years who had not previously undergone surgery attending with parents for day stay general surgical procedures. INTERVENTION: Children were randomly allocated to receive no premedication (group 1), oral diazepam elixir (0.3 mg/kg) (group 2), or intramuscular papaveretum with hyoscine (0.3 mg/kg with 0.006 mg/kg) (group 3). No other modification to established day stay routine was made. RESULTS: No major problems were associated with the presence of parents during the induction of anaesthesia. Only 10 of the 141 parents who accompanied their child caused some difficulty, and five became distressed. Premedication with both diazepam and papaveretum resulted in sedation but did not ease induction of anaesthesia. Papaveretum greatly reduced pain and distress immediately after the operation, pain and discomfort being observed in only 15% of children (7/48) compared with 66% (27/41) in group 1 and 49% (22/45) in group 2. Papaveretum, however, must be given intramuscularly, and nurses observed that the children preferred being given premedication orally to intramuscularly. In addition, the incidences of nausea and vomiting were significantly higher in the postoperative ward and at home with papaveretum, although no patient who had been given the drug was nauseous or vomited in the recovery area. The incidences of nausea in group 3 were 62% (31/50) and 57% (27/47) in the postoperative ward and at home, respectively, v 21% (7/33) and 14% (4/29) in group 1 and 13% (5/38) and 14% (5/37) in group 2; the incidences of vomiting in group 3 were 60% and 43% in the postoperative ward and at home, respectively, v 18% and 7% in group 1 and 11% and 11% in group 2. Finally, neither the administration or otherwise of premedication nor the drug given affected the children's or parents' perception of day care surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Difficulties with parents in anaesthetic rooms were not common or severe. Premedication provides preoperative sedation and papaveretum improves the immediate postoperative course but the incidences of nausea and vomiting after operation are higher with its use than without.

Costs of replacement of anaesthetic equipment. Projected expenditure for clinical anaesthetic equipment in a teaching health district.

A study was made of all the anaesthetic equipment in clinical use to substantiate estimates of the cost of its replacement on four hospital sites. The years during which replacement was likely to become necessary were estimated from the list compiled and an existing full inventory, together with costs at 1986 prices. The predicted costs for each year until 2000 AD were derived. To these were added sums required to make good existing shortfalls and to introduce a moderate amount of equipment incorporating newer technology. The totals showed that the capital currently available in the health district is sufficient only for anaesthetic equipment and requires a substantial increase to replace medical apparatus belonging to all specialties already in routine clinical use. Health authorities must be given detailed projections of these costs.

Response of the lung airway to exercise testing in asthma and rhinitis.

The reactivity of the large and small airways of the lung in a group of ten atopic subjects with rhinitis was compared with that in ten non-atopic control subjects and in 17 with atopic asthma. Atopic state was assessed by skin prick testing with 22 common allergens and by measurement of total serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibody. The atopic state of the rhinitis and asthma patients was similar. Exercise provocation tests were performed on each subject and changes in airway function were measured by peak expiratory flow rate, forced expiratory volume in one second, vital capacity, maximal expiratory flow volume curves and closing volume. There were no statistically significant differences between the changes in lung function after exercise in the rhinitis patients compared with the controls. There were, however, statistically significant changes in all the measurements of respiratory function in those with asthma compared with the other two groups. The falls in forced expiratory flow rates in the asthmatic subjects were greater at lower lung volumes than near the total lung capacity, perhaps indicating that narrowing of small, as well as large, airways was occurring. No correlation was found between the magnitude of the airway response to exercise and either the total serum IgE antibody or the mean weal diameter of positive skin tests in each subject. Atopic subjects with rhinitis but not asthma showed no evidence of bronchial hyper-reactivity on exercise testing. It is therefore suggested that single exercise provocation test can discriminate subjects with atopic asthma from those with other atopic disorders.

Recurrent nocturnal asthma after exposure to grain dust.

Bronchial provocation tests performed on two seperate occasions in a farmer with dust from his own grain led to immediate and late respiratory reactions followed, without further exposure to grain dust, by severe respiratory reactions during subsequent nights. Studies of lung function, including measurements of closing volume, suggested that both large and small airways rather than lung parenchyma were primarily involved. Examination of the grain samples together with the results of skin and serologic tests suggested that the grain mite, Glycyphagus destructor, might be an important allergen. Serum concentrations of C3 and C4 did not alter during these recurrent nocturnal asthmatic reactions.

Does halothane anaesthesia decrease the metabolic and endocrine stress responses of newborn infants undergoing operation?

Concern about the side effects of various anaesthetic agents in newborn infants has led to the widespread use of anaesthesia with unsupplemented nitrous oxide and oxygen with muscle relaxants in such patients. To investigate the efficacy of such a regimen 36 neonates undergoing operations were randomised to two groups: one group received anaesthesia with nitrous oxide and curare alone and the other was additionally given halothane. Concentrations of metabolites and hormones were measured before and at the end of operation and at six, 12, and 24 hours after operation and the values compared between the two groups. Neonates given halothane anaesthesia showed decreased hormonal responses to operation, with significant differences between the two groups in the changes in adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol concentrations and the ratio of insulin to glucagon concentration. Changes in blood concentrations of glucose and total ketone bodies and plasma concentrations of non-esterified fatty acids were also decreased in neonates receiving halothane anaesthesia. Neonates given anaesthesia with unsupplemented nitrous oxide showed significantly greater increases in the urinary ratio of 3-methylhistidine to creatinine concentration and their clinical condition was also more unstable during and after operation. Unless specifically contraindicated potent anaesthesia with halothane or other anaesthetic agents should be given to all neonates undergoing surgical operations as it decreases their stress responses and improves their clinical stability during and after operation.