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Biomedical subjects

R Vijayan

Publications and source records attributed to R Vijayan.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Spinal cord stimulation for treatment of failed back surgery syndrome--two case reports.

Severe, persistent back pain following back surgery is often referred to as Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (FBSS). Conservative measures such as physiotherapy, back strengthening exercises, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and epidural steroids may be inadequate to alleviate pain. Spinal Cord Stimulators were implanted into two patients suffering from FBSS. Both patients responded successfully to spinal cord stimulation with reduction of pain and disability.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Continuous spinal anaesthesia--early experience in University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur.

Continuous spinal anaesthesia using the incremental technique was used in nineteen high risk patients with multiple medical problems, seventeen of whom were elderly, for lower limb orthopaedic and pelvic surgery. An intrathecal catheter (18G/28G) was inserted under local anaesthesia via the lumbar interspinous space. Spinal anaesthesia was induced with small incremental doses of 0.5% bupivacaine hydrochloride through the intrathecal catheter to achieve the level of analgesia required for surgery. The duration of surgery ranged from 45 to 300 minutes (mean + S.D 100 + 37 min). The initial volume of 0.5% bupivacaine required for surgery ranged from 0.8 ml-2.0 ml (1.2 + 0.7 ml) and the total volume ranged from 0.9 ml to 3.1 ml (mean + S.D 1.4 + 0.7 ml). Haemodynamic stability was well maintained perioperatively. Only two patients required 6 mg of ephedrine and 1 mg of aramine respectively for a greater than 25% reduction in systolic blood pressure with induction of spinal anaesthesia. Intrathecal morphine 0.1-0.3 mg was administered to 15 patients at the end of surgery for postoperative pain relief with good effect. One patient developed late respiratory depression from an inadvertent overdose of intrathecal morphine. No neurological sequelae were noted and no patient developed a postdural puncture headache. The use of the microcatheter was discontinued in the U.S.A and Australia following four case reports of cauda equina syndrome with this technique. Current opinion, however, is that the reported cauda equina syndrome was due to the neurotoxic effects of lignocaine 5% that was used and not due to the microcatheter per se. Continuous spinal anaesthesia is now used widely in Europe when cardiovascular stability is desired in poor risk patients undergoing lower limb and lower abdominal surgery.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

First year's experience with an acute pain service--University Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

An Acute Pain Service (APS) was started in University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur by the Department of Anaesthesiology in October 1992 for more effective control of postoperative pain. The main modalities of treatment included patient controlled analgesia (PCA) using morphine or pethidine with PCA devises, epidural opiate analgesia (EOA) using tramadol or fentanyl/bupivacaine mixture and subcutaneous administration of morphine or pethidine. Five hundred and fifty-one patients were managed in the first year, with an overall patient satisfaction score of 83%. The majority (98.5%) of them were after abdominal or major orthopaedic surgery. Eighty per cent of patients scored < 3 on the verbal numeric pain scale, where 0 is no pain and 10 is the worst imaginable pain, on the first postoperative day. Nausea and vomiting was an unpleasant side effect in 20% of patients.

Analgesia, Epidural↗
PubMed1994

Survey of postoperative pain in University Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

One hundred and eighty-three patients undergoing surgery were interviewed twenty-four hours following surgery to assess the quality of pain relief they received in the immediate postoperative period. Interviews were conducted using a standard questionnaire for all patients. They were asked to (1) rate the quality of pain relief they obtained on a Visual Pain Analogue Scale (VPAS-0 being no pain and 10 being the worst imaginable pain); (2) state whether they were happy and satisfied with the pain relief they received; (3) if dissatisfied, they were asked to give their reasons. 37.7% (69 patients) had moderate to severe pain--pain score greater than 6 on the VPAS. Most of these patients had undergone abdominal or major orthopaedic surgery. 32.7% (60 patients) were unhappy with their postoperative pain control. The main reasons for complaint from the patients were that analgesic injections were either not given promptly or were not given at all. The survey also highlighted the inadequate under-administration of narcotic injections in the postoperative period despite orders being written up. It showed there is an urgent need for setting up an Acute Pain Service for better postoperative pain control. An anaesthesiology based Acute Pain Service was started in October 1992.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Epidural tramadol for postoperative pain relief.

The efficacy of epidurally administered tramadol hydrochloride, a weak centrally acting analgesic, was studied for the relief of postoperative pain. Sixty patients undergoing abdominal surgery were randomly allocated to three treatment groups to be given the following agents by the epidural route: group 1 tramadol 50 mg; group 2 tramadol 100 mg; group 3 10 ml of bupivacaine 0.25%. The drugs were administered at the patients' request with each patient being allowed four doses in the first 24 h following surgery. Blood pressure, pulse rate, respiratory rate, arterial blood gas analyses, pain scores, the interval between doses and the occurrence of any side effects were recorded. Pain scores (assessed using a visual analogue scale) were significantly less (p < 0.05) at 3, 12, and 24 h in patients receiving tramadol 100 mg than in those receiving tramadol 50 mg or bupivacaine. The mean interval between doses for groups 1, 2 and 3 was 7.40 h, 9.36 h and 5.98 h respectively. The mean interval in group 2 was significantly longer than in group 3 (p < 0.05). The incidence of nausea and vomiting in group 2 was significantly higher than in group 3 (p < 0.05).

Abdomen↗