At the doses used, buprenorphine produced greater sedation but more post-operative complications than morphine. However, Type I or Type II errors cannot be excluded and larger studies are required to confirm these findings.
This study supports previous data on prevalence of hypothermia during surgery. The combination of active and passive warming methods used in this study prevented the development of severe hypothermia, but there were no differences between treatment groups.
Summary
A horse was presented for soft palate thermocautery and surgical advancement of the larynx under general anaesthesia, following a history of respiratory noise and poor athletic performance. Physical examination prior to surgery was unremarkable. The horse was anaesthetised and a 20 mm cuffed endotracheal tube (ETT) used to intubate the trachea via the right nostril. The cuff was deflated at the end of the procedure and the tube secured in place around the head of the horse for the recovery. The horse was assisted to standing and during this process the end of the nasotracheal tube broke and was observed hanging from the head collar. The remainder of the tube was aspirated into the trachea of the horse. The remaining length of endotracheal tube was removed using a modified endoscopic technique. The horse recovered with no further problems. An unusual complication of a nasotracheal tube left in situ for recovery in a horse is reported and possible reasons for this complication are discussed.
A 14-year-old female neutered domestic short hair cat was referred for assessment of uncontrolled hyperthyroidism. The owners were advised that a bilateral thyroidectomy was required due to the presence of comorbidities that rendered radioiodine therapy inappropriate. During the procedure the cat exhibited unexpected extreme tachycardia, hypertension, hypercapnia, severe respiratory and metabolic acidosis and ventricular arrhythmias, which all resolved after removal of the thyroid glands. Recovery was complicated by the development of congestive heart failure and hypertension which were successfully managed and the cat was discharged five weeks after presentation. Thyroid storm was considered a possible explanation for the events that occurred during anaesthesia as well as the subsequent congestive heart failure and hypertension. Thyroid storm during anaesthesia has not been reported in animals. The similarities between the reported case and thyroid storm events in humans are discussed.
Six dogs were presented to the University College Dublin Veterinary Hospital for either left or right lateral thoracotomy. After opioid premedication and induction of general anaesthesia, ultrasound-guided erector spinae plane (ESP) block with bupivacaine 0.5% (0.5 mL/kg) or bupivacaine 0.25% (1 mL/kg) was performed in all cases before the surgical procedure along with morphine (0.2 mg/kg) administered epidurally. This combination of local techniques was a successful adjunct to systemic analgesia in these six dogs undergoing lateral thoracotomy, reducing considerably the need for systemic opioids intra-and post-operatively. Ultrasound-guided ESP block with bupivacaine and epidurally administered morphine provided good multimodal intra-operative analgesia for dogs undergoing lateral thoracotomy.
BACKGROUNDLateral thoracotomy is one of the most painful but commonly performed surgical procedure to manage diseases within the thoracic cavity in small animals. 1,2 In humans it is known that adequate intra-and post-operative analgesia is essential to allow for early mobilization and discharge and also to reduce the incidence of chronic neuropathic pain development. [3][4][5][6] In human and veterinary medicine, both systemic administration of opioids and locoregional anaesthesia have been used to manage intra-and post-operative pain after lateral thoracotomy. 3,7,8 The use of locoregional anaesthesia reduces systemic opioid requirement and provides analgesia without central respiratory depression or sedation, thus improving ventilation and allowing a more accurate clinical assessment of the patient. 9,10 Thoracic epidural catheter is the "gold standard" analgesic technique in humans, 11 and its effectiveness in providing analgesia in lateral thoracotomies has also been reported in veterinary medicine. 12,13 However, the technique itself and the epidural administration of local anaesthetics may have certain complications and contraindications. 12,14,15 In dogs, these can include mechanical or chemical injury of the spinal cord, motor function impairment, and sympathetic blockade leading to hypotension. 12 Vomiting has also beenThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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