Our results suggest that caudal clonidine 5 micrograms.kg-1 enhances and prolongs caudal blockade with bupivacaine (1.175% in children. It also blocks sympathoadrenergic responses during emergence from anaesthesia. Sedation and cardiovascular effects are observed up to 3 h into the postoperative period.

In patients undergoing cataract surgery under general anesthesia with tracheal intubation, anesthetic regimens with propofol as well as with sevoflurane, both combined with remifentanil, decrease IOP significantly. The decrease in IOP was significantly more pronounced in the propofol group than in the sevoflurane group.

Especially CDAD recurrence was associated with excessive costs, which were mostly attributable to a significantly longer overall length of stay. Innovative treatment strategies are warranted to reduce treatment costs and prevent recurrence of CDAD.

We conclude that propofol and remifentanil is more cost-effective than isoflurane/fentanyl due to its better recovery profile, reduced total direct costs and higher patient satisfaction.

Our results demonstrate excellent correlation, accuracy and precision between SCCO and ICO measurements in postoperative cardiac surgical ICU patients. We conclude that SCCO monitoring offers a reliable clinical method of cardiac output monitoring in ICU patients following cardiac surgery.