Allowing the viewing of animated cartoons by pediatric surgical patients is a very effective method to alleviate preoperative anxiety. Our study suggests that this intervention is an inexpensive, easy to administer, and comprehensive method for anxiety reduction in the pediatric surgical population.

BackgroundThe Quality of Recovery-40 (QoR-40) is a widely-used, self-rated, and self-completed questionnaire for postoperative patients. The questionnaire is intended to elicit information from each patient regarding the quality of recovery during the postoperative period. It is noteworthy, however, that an official Korean version of the QoR-40 (QoR-40K) has not been established. The purpose of this study was to develop the QoR-40K by translation and cultural adaptation process and to evaluate the validity and reliability of the QoR-40K.MethodsAfter pre-authorization from the original author of the QoR-40, the translation procedure was established and carried out based upon Beaton’s recommendation to create a QoR-40K model comparable to the original English QoR-40. Two hundred surgical patients were enrolled, and each completed the questionnaire during the preoperative period, on the third day, and 1 month after surgery. The QoR-40K was compared with the visual analogue scale (VAS) and another health-related questionnaire, the Short-form Health Survery-36 (SF-36). The method of validation for QoR-40K included test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and level of responsiveness.ResultsSpearman’s correlation coefficient for test-retest reliability was 0.895 (P < 0.001), and Cronbach’s alpha of the global QoR-40K on the third day after surgery was 0.956. A positive correlation was obtained between the QoR-40K and the mental component summary of SF-36 (ρ = 0.474, P < 0.001), and a negative correlation was observed between QoR-40K and VAS (ρ = −0.341, P < 0.001). The standardized responsive mean of the total QoR-40K was 0.71.ConclusionsThe QoR-40K was found to be as acceptable and reliable as the original English QoR-40 for Korean patients after surgery, despite the apparent differences in the respective patients’ cultural backgrounds.

Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is an uncommon, life-threatening pharmacogenetic disorder of the skeletal muscle. It presents as a hypermetabolic response in susceptible individuals to potent volatile anesthetics with/without depolarizing muscle relaxants; in rare cases, to stress from exertion or heat stress. Susceptibility to malignant hyperthermia (MHS) is inherited as an autosomally dominant trait with variable expression and incomplete penetrance. It is known that the pathophysiology of MH is related to an uncontrolled rise of myoplasmic calcium, which activates biochemical processes resulting in hypermetabolism of the skeletal muscle. In most cases, defects in the ryanodine receptor are responsible for the functional changes of calcium regulation in MH, and more than 300 mutations have been identified in the RYR1 gene, located on chromosome 19q13.1. The classic signs of MH include increase of end-tidal carbon dioxide, tachycardia, skeletal muscle rigidity, tachycardia, hyperthermia and acidosis. Up to now, muscle contracture test is regarded as the gold standard for the diagnosis of MHS though molecular genetic test is used, on a limited basis so far to diagnose MHS. The mortality of MH is dramatically decreased from 70-80% to less than 5%, due to an introduction of dantrolene sodium for treatment of MH, early detection of MH episode using capnography, and the introduction of diagnostic testing for MHS. This review summarizes the clinically essential and important knowledge of MH, and presents new developments in the field.

Background: The qulity of recovery-40 questionnaire (QoR-40) has been widely used to assess quality of recovery after surgery, but it is too lengthy for clinical use. The short form of QoR-40, QoR-15, has been validated in many languages; however, an official Korean version of the QoR-15 (QoR-15K) has not yet been established. This study aimed to develop and validate QoR-15K.Methods: Based on the previously-validated Korean QoR-40, we selected 15 items; the QoR-15K was patterned on the original QoR-15. We analyzed 210 subjects who had been scheduled for elective surgery under general anesthesia. The patients completed the questionnaire before surgery and on postoperative days one and two. The validity, reliability, and responsiveness of the QoR-15K were evaluated. Results: We obtained excellent convergent validity on visual analog scale for recovery (VAS) (ρ = 0.88, P < 0.001). The duration of anesthesia, post-anesthesia care unit, and overall hospital stay with the QoR-15K showed a significant negative correlation (ρ = -0.183, -0.151, and -0.185, respectively). Cronbach’s α was 0.909. Cohen’s effect size and standardized response mean were 0.819 and 0.721. The recruitment and completion rate were 92.9% and 100%, respectively. We based the above calculations on the results obtained on the first day following surgery.Conclusions: The validity and reliability of the QoR-15K are comparable to those of the English version. The QoR-15K would be a good instrument to assess the quality of recovery in Korean patients after surgery.

BackgroundAlthough the positive effects of preoperative oral carbohydrate administration on clinical outcomes followingmajor surgery have been reported continuously, there are few investigations of them in minor surgical patients. Thepresent study was designed to examine the effects of preoperative oral carbohydrate administration on patient well-beingand satisfaction in patients undergoing thyroidectomy.MethodsFifty adults aged 20–65 years and scheduled for elective thyroidectomy in first schedule in the morning wereallocated to one of two groups. The Control group (n = 25) was requested to obey traditional preoperative fasting aftermidnight prior to the day of surgery. The Carbohydrate group (n = 25) also fasted overnight but drank 400 ml of carbohydrate-richdrink 2 hours before induction of anesthesia. Patient well-being (thirst, hunger, mouth dryness, nauseaand vomiting, fatigue, anxiety and sleep quality) and satisfaction were assessed just before the operating room admission(preoperative) and 6 hours following surgery (postoperative). Other secondary outcomes including oral Schirmer’s testand plasma glucose concentrations were also evaluated.ResultsThe two groups were homogenous in patient characteristics. Seven parameters representing patient well-beingevaluated on NRS (0–10) and patient satisfaction scored on a 5-point scale were not statistically different between thetwo groups preoperatively and postoperatively. There were no statistically significant differences in secondary outcomes.ConclusionsPreoperative oral carbohydrate administration does not appear to improve patient well-being and satisfactioncompared with midnight fasting in patients undergoing thyroidectomy in first schedule in the morning.