Anesthesia machine is an important equipment of clinical surgery. This paper introduces several abnormal conditions of the anesthesia machine, especially the judgment and the common fault check of the tidal volume for reference.
Anesthesia ; methods ; Anesthesiology ; instrumentation ; Humans ; Tidal Volume

From a view point of an anesthesiologist, the article points out some design issues of modern monitors and anesthesia machines. User interface problems such as auto-adjusted amplitude display, excessively complicated menus, unreasonable switch arrangement, unsuitable alarm settings or identical cylinder connectors, may affect patient safety and increase anesthesiologists' workload or mental burden.
Anesthesiology ; instrumentation ; Equipment Design ; Monitoring, Intraoperative ; instrumentation ; Safety

OBJECTIVETo develop a portable field anesthesia machine system suitable for the medical first-aid on the spot.

METHODSThe three-dimensional structure of PFAM was designed with modeling software of Pro/E and manufactured according to the GB9706.29 and other national standards.

RESULTDue to its small footprint and very light weight, PFAM is completely portable and convenient on different occasions within or outside a hospital environment. It can support breathing of patients and delivery anesthetic gas, fitted for both adult and children patients. All of the safety alarm systems required are employed on board.

CONCLUSIONPFAM may play an important role in the first-aid in the field or outside the hospital.

Anesthesiology ; instrumentation ; Equipment Design ; Military Medicine ; instrumentation ; Monitoring, Ambulatory ; instrumentation ; Software

Anesthesiology ; methods ; Catheterization ; Equipment Failure ; Humans ; Infusions, Intravenous ; instrumentation ; Injections, Spinal ; instrumentation ; Needles ; Plastics

Based on Client/Server architecture, a software of automated anesthesia record system running under Windows operation system and networks has been developed and programmed with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0, Visual Basic 6.0 and SQL Server. The system can deal with patient's information throughout the anesthesia. It can collect and integrate the data from several kinds of medical equipment such as monitor, infusion pump and anesthesia machine automatically and real-time. After that, the system presents the anesthesia sheets automatically. The record system makes the anesthesia record more accurate and integral and can raise the anesthesiologist's working efficiency.
Anesthesia ; Anesthesiology ; instrumentation ; Humans ; Medical Records Systems, Computerized ; Monitoring, Intraoperative ; methods ; Operating Room Information Systems

We have designed a mobile operating room information management system. The system is composed of a client and a server. A client, consisting of a PC, medical equipments, PLC and sensors, provides the acquisition and processing of anesthesia and micro-environment data. A server is a powerful computer that stores the data of the system. The client gathers the medical device data by using the C/S mode, and analyzes the obtained HL7 messages through the class library call. The client collects the micro-environment information with PLC, and finishes the data reading with the OPC technology. Experiment results showed that the designed system could manage the patient anesthesia and micro-environment information well, and improve the efficiency of the doctors' works and the digital level of the mobile operating room.
Anesthesia ; Anesthesiology ; instrumentation ; Humans ; Medical Records Systems, Computerized ; Mobile Health Units ; Monitoring, Intraoperative ; methods ; Operating Room Information Systems ; Operating Rooms

A new gastric-tube for anesthesia has been manufactured by adding a bursa of the stomach bottom and a bursa for locking the stomach to the conventional gastric-tube. The clinical applications on trial show that vomiting, returning of the gastric juice, misinhalation can be prevented efficiently in the patients during the operation, thus greatly increasing the safety of operational anesthesia.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Anesthesia ; Anesthesiology ; instrumentation ; Emergencies ; Equipment Design ; Female ; Gastroesophageal Reflux ; prevention & control ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Stomach Diseases ; surgery ; Vomiting ; prevention & control

INTRODUCTIONIndirect laryngoscopes offer improved laryngeal view and higher success rates of intubation, particularly for difficult airways. We hypothesised that: (a) the time required for intubation, overall success rates and ease of intubation with indirect laryngoscopes would be better than with the Macintosh laryngoscope; and (b) novices may achieve higher success rates and intubate faster using indirect laryngoscopes.

METHODSIn a cross-sectional observational study, 13 novices and 13 skilled anaesthetists were recruited. Participants were compared when intubating a manikin simulating normal and difficult airway scenarios using the Macintosh laryngoscope, Pentax Airway Scope® (AWS), C-MAC[TM] and Bonfils intubation fibrescope.

RESULTSThere was no significant difference in intubation success rates between the groups. Skilled anaesthetists intubated faster than novices with Pentax AWS in the difficult airway scenario (22 s vs. 33 s, p = 0.047). The mean intubation times for C-MAC and Pentax AWS were shorter than for the Macintosh laryngoscope and Bonfils intubation fibrescope in both difficult (C-MAC: 24 s, Pentax AWS: 28 s, Macintosh: 80 s, Bonfils: 61 s; p < 0.001) and normal (C-MAC: 17 s, Pentax AWS: 19 s, Macintosh: 39 s, Bonfils: 38 s; p = 0.002) airway scenarios.

CONCLUSIONWe found that intubation success was more than 85% with all indirect laryngoscopes compared to 69% for the Macintosh laryngoscope. Both C-MAC and Pentax AWS achieved faster intubation times compared to the Macintosh laryngoscope and Bonfils intubation fibroscope for both airway scenarios. Skilled anaesthetists were 33% faster than novices when intubating a difficult airway using Pentax AWS.

Adult ; Anesthesia ; methods ; Anesthesiology ; education ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Equipment Design ; Female ; Humans ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; instrumentation ; methods ; Laryngoscopes ; Male ; Manikins ; Middle Aged ; Observer Variation ; Time Factors ; Treatment Outcome

PURPOSE: A charcoal filter attached within the anesthetic circuit has been shown to efficiently adsorb halothane or isoflurane, thus hastening anesthetic recovery in low or minimal flow system. This study was intended to demonstrate whether the charcoal filter enhances the recovery time from sevoflurane anesthesia using a semi-closed circuit system. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty healthy patients scheduled for elective surgery under sevoflurane anesthesia were randomly assigned to the charcoal filter or control group. Upon completion of surgery, the end-tidal concentration of sevoflurane was maintained at 2.0 vol%. A charcoal filter was attached to the expiratory limb of the breathing circuit of charcoal filter group subjects. After sevoflurane was discontinued, ventilation was controlled with the same minute volume as the intra-operative period at a fresh gas flow rate of 5 L.min(-1) with 100% O2. The elimination kinetics of sevoflurane from end-tidal concentration, Bispectral index and times of eye opening and extubation were obtained. RESULTS: The exponential time constant (tau) of alveolar sevoflurane concentration in the charcoal filter group was significantly shorter than that in the control group (1.7+/-0.5 vs. 2.5+/-1.1 min, p=0.008). The charcoal filter hastened rapid eye opening (11.1+/-3.8 vs. 14.8+/-3.0 min, p=0.007) and extubation (11.9+/-3.9 vs. 15.3+/-3.2 min, p=0.014), compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: A charcoal filter enhances the recovery from sevoflurane anesthesia with a semi-closed rebreathing circuit.
Adult ; Anesthesia/methods ; *Anesthesia Recovery Period ; Anesthesiology/instrumentation ; Anesthetics, Inhalation/chemistry/*pharmacology ; Charcoal/*chemistry ; Filtration/*methods ; Humans ; Methyl Ethers/chemistry/*pharmacology ; Middle Aged ; Time Factors

INTRODUCTIONAirway management during anaesthesia has potential difficulties and risks. We aimed to investigate the utility of routine airway assessment for predicting difficult tracheal intubation, review the prevailing practice of videolaryngoscope use amongst anaesthetists in a teaching hospital and determine the incidence of intraoperative and postoperative airway-related complications.

METHODSA prospective observational study of 1,654 patients undergoing general anaesthesia with endotracheal intubation over a seven-month period was performed. Data regarding airway and anaesthetic management was collected and analysed.

RESULTSVideolaryngoscopes were used as the first-choice equipment in 60.5% of the cohort. The incidence of difficult intubation was 2.1%, of which 45.7% of cases were unanticipated. The sensitivity of airway assessment was 54.3%, with a positive predictive value of 8.1%. When difficult intubation was anticipated, more videolaryngoscopes were used as the first equipment of choice compared to the Macintosh laryngoscope (p < 0.001). In the Macintosh group, more patients required a change of airway equipment (p = 0.015), but the number of intubation attempts was similar (p = 0.293). The incidence of intraoperative (p = 0.920) and postoperative complications (p = 0.380) were similar in both groups.

CONCLUSIONUsing the current predictors of difficult intubation, half of the difficult airways we encountered were unanticipated. Videolaryngoscopes were preferred when difficulty was anticipated and were also used in routine tracheal intubation.

Adult ; Aged ; Airway Management ; Anesthesia, General ; Anesthesiology ; education ; Humans ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; instrumentation ; Laryngoscopes ; Laryngoscopy ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Trachea ; Video Recording