Small doses of intrathecal nalbuphine produce fewer adverse effects, such as pruritus and postoperative nausea and vomiting, compared with intrathecal morphine. This may allow earlier discharge of patients from the recovery room.

There is a short-term benefit during the first few postoperative hours in using a single shot "3-in-1" femoral nerve block to complement general anaesthesia for elective hip surgery.

The antiemetic dose response of droperidol when it is added to patient-controlled analgesia with morphine is not well known. We randomly allocated adults who received postoperative morphine patient-controlled analgesia (1-mg bolus, 5-min lockout) to one of four regimens: no droperidol (control) or 5, 15, or 50 micro g of droperidol per milligram of morphine. Efficacy and adverse effects were recorded during 24 h and were analyzed with number needed to treat (NNT) and number needed to harm with 95% confidence intervals. Data from 82 controls, 82 patients receiving droperidol 5 micro g, 82 receiving droperidol 15 micro g, and 83 receiving droperidol 50 micro g were analyzed. Average consumption of droperidol per 24 h was 0.2 mg with the 5- micro g regimen, 0.61 mg with the 15- micro g regimen, and 2.04 mg with the 50- micro g regimen. In controls, the incidence of nausea was 48.8%; with droperidol 5 micro g, it was 42.7% (NNT compared with control, 16 [95% confidence interval, 4.7 to -11]); with 15 micro g, it was 32.9% (NNT, 6.3 [3.3-100]); and with 50 micro g, it was 21.7% (NNT, 3.7 [2.4 to 7.6]). In controls, the incidence of vomiting was 24.4%; with droperidol 5 micro g, it was 23.2% (NNT compared with control, 82 [7 to -8.5]); with 15 micro g, it was 22.0% (NNT, 41 [6.5 to -9.6]); and with 50 micro g, it was 12% (NNT, 8.1 [4.2-142]). In controls, the incidence of pruritus was 12.2%; with droperidol 5 micro g, it was 6.1% (NNT compared with control, 16 [6.7 to -37]); and with 15 and 50 micro g, it was 2.4% (NNT, 10 [5.7-52]). In controls, the incidence of sedation was 2.4%; with droperidol 5 micro g, it was 8.5% (number needed to harm (NNH) compared with control, 16 [7.7 to -123]); with 15 micro g, it was 6.1% (NNH, 27 [10 to -40]); and with 50 micro g, it was 18.1% (NNH, 6.4 [4.1-15]). There were no extrapyramidal symptoms and no cardiac adverse events. There was no difference in patient satisfaction. The optimal antiemetic dose of droperidol is 15-50 micro g/mg of morphine. Larger doses may have more antivomiting efficacy but are likely to be unacceptably sedating.

No abstract

The case of a healthy 59-yr-old Introduced more than 20 yr ago for gynaecological procedures, laparoscopic surgery has now been extended to upper and lower abdominal surgery, and more laparoseopic operations are performed. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a widely accepted procedure and other laparoscopic cperations are gaining acceptance, such as exploration of the common bile duct, repair for inguinal hernia, appendicectomy, bowel resection and fundoplication. t This development has given anaesthetists opportunities to face new challenges, to manage the physiopathological changes during laparoseopy and specific complications, such as pneumothorax, subcutaneous emphysema, pneumomediastinum, or gas embolism. 2-6 Recently, an extraperitoneal, preperitoneal, laparoscopic approach of the inguinal hernia repair has been described. 7,8 CAN J ANAESTH 1995 / 42:6 / pp 523-5