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Subcutaneous emphysema is an iatrogenic complication by which air is introduced into the tissues either during or immediately after surgery. A case is presented that demonstrates the complication, following the removal of third molars, believed to be due to violation of the maxillary sinus, an underinflated cuff of a nasotracheal tube, and coughing on extubation.
Two patients had ipsilateral optic neuropathy and one patient had an ipsilateral abduction deficit and a dilated, poorly reactive pupil immediately after anesthesia of upper alveolar teeth. In one patient with optic neuropathy, the optic disc was not swollen, brain and orbit computed tomography (CT) was negative, and vision recovered completely within 2 weeks. In the other patient with optic neuropathy, the optic disc was swollen, brain and orbit CT were negative, and vision did not recover. In the patient with ductional and pupil deficits, recovery was complete within 24 hours. Since 1960, 39 cases of ophthalmic complications have been reported in the English literature. A majority have followed anesthesia of upper alveolar teeth. In all but three cases, the deficits were temporary. Diffusion, inadvertent needle penetration into the orbit, venous injection, or retrograde arterial injection is postulated as the mechanism by which the anesthetic agent reaches the cavernous sinus or orbit to cause the deficits.
We studied eight cases of apparent subarachnoid injection of local anesthetic through the optic nerve sheath and subsequent spread to the parabrainstem cisterns and the contralateral optic nerve sheath. The patients all experienced bilateral decrease in vision and ophthalmoplegia, and variable degrees of central nervous system symptoms and respiratory depression. The complications occurred with a variety of local anesthetic agents and with sharp disposable needles in six of the eight cases. These cases demonstrated the spectrum of signs and symptoms that may follow optic nerve sheath injection of local anesthetic agents.
Postoperative cerebral dysfunction is usually assumed to be a consequence of anaesthesia. Temporary postoperative confusion is quite common. This review points out that the anaesthetic technique is clinically relevant for mental dysfunction only in the few hours immediately following operation. Of primary importance are the preoperative state of the patient, the drugs used in the perioperative period, the type and duration of the operation, the technique of postoperative analgesia and sedation and the postoperative clinical course of the patient. Cerebral infarction is a very severe but rather rare complication which occurs mainly after the operation. The incidence of perioperative cerebral infarction is about 1% in 65-year-old patients and increases with higher age. An asymptomatic preoperative carotid bruit is not a risk factor; therefore, invasive investigations are not warranted. The most frequent cause for cerebral insults are emboli. Intraoperative hypotensive periods are very rarely responsible for cerebral insults. Peripheral and central nervous lesions due to positioning of the patient for the operation occur not frequently and are certainly an avoidable neurologic complication. Hypoxic cerebral damages are usually the consequence of anaesthetic mismanagement. Today they are very rare, due to modern monitoring techniques.
The authors treated a local complication after axillary block, probably after intraneural injection of lidocaine. At the operation severe epineural fibrosis was found and released. The result was good after some months. After this the authors realized a study with 14 hand surgeons, and only few cases like the first case were found. This technique axillary block, is very reliable technique, but very few local complications can occur, and it's necessary to know them. It's possible to avoid this local problem with a serious technique to realize axillary block. Never intraneural injection and never many punctures to research paresthesia from the nerves of the brachial plexus.
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We describe the unintentional injection of a small amount of local anesthetic with steroids into the subdural space during an attempted lumbar epidural injection for low back pain. When small volumes of local anesthetic are injected into the subdural space, a patchy and unilateral block of greater magnitude than expected will result. When larger volumes of local anesthetic are injected, a massive motor and sensory block can occur due to the small confines of this space. Accidental subdural injection must be recognized early and treated appropriately to avoid serious complications, especially in an outpatient setting.
Epidural anesthesia is practiced in virtually every clinical setting. Its safety and versatility have supported increasing use for more and varied therapies. In a healthy patient in whom near-complete left hemiparesis developed following a routine continuous epidural anesthetic for labor, subdural deposit of the local anesthetic was suspected. The following case and discussion may help illustrate the mechanism behind this complication and how it can be detected, treated, and, possibly, avoided.
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BACKGROUND: Serious complications related to regional anesthesia have previously been described primarily in case reports and retrospective surveys. The authors prospectively evaluated a multicenter series of regional anesthetics, using preplanned criteria to measure the incidence and characteristics of associated serious complications. METHODS: Requests were sent to 4,927 French anesthesiologists in advance of a subsequent 5-month study period. Participating anesthesiologists were asked for detailed reports of serious complications occurring during or after regional anesthetics performed by them during the study interval. Details regarding each complication then were obtained via a second questionnaire. RESULTS: The number of responding anesthesiolgists was 736. The number of regional anesthetics performed was 103,730, corresponding to 40,640 spinal anesthetics, 30,413 epidural anesthetics, 21,278 peripheral nerve blocks, and 11,229 intravenous regional anesthetics. Reports of 98 severe complications were received, with follow-up information being obtained for 97. In 89 cases, complications were attributed fully or partially to regional anesthesia. Thirty-two cardiac arrests, seven of which were fatal, occurred during the study. Of these, 26 occurred during spinal anesthesia, with 6 being fatal, 3 occurred during epidural anesthesia, and 3 more occurred during peripheral blocks. The higher incidence of cardiac arrest during spinal anesthesia (6.4 +/- 1.2 per 10,000 patients) compared with all other regional anesthesia (1.0 +/- 0.4 per 10,000 patients) was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Of 34 neurologic complications (radiculopathy, cauda equina syndrome, paraplegia), 21 were associated either with paresthesia during puncture (n = 19) or with pain during injection (n = 2), suggesting nerve trauma or intraneural injection. Twelve patients who had neurologic complications after spinal anesthetics had no paresthesia during needle placement and no pain on injection. Of these 12 patients (7 with radiculopathy and 5 with cauda equina syndrome), 9 received intrathecal hyperbaric lidocaine, 5%. The incidence of neurologic injury was significantly greater after spinal anesthesia (6 +/- 1 per 10,000 cases; P < 0.05) than after each of the other types of regional procedures (1.6 +/- 0.5 per 10,000 cases for the weighted average). Seizures attributed to elevated serum levels of local anesthetics occurred in 23 patients, but none suffered a cardiac arrest. CONCLUSIONS: (1) The incidence of cardiac arrest and neurologic injury related to regional anesthesia were very low, but both were more than three SDs greater after spinal anesthesia than after other regional procedures. (2) Two thirds of the patients with neurologic deficits had either a paresthesia during needle placement or pain on injection. (3) Seventy-five percent of the neurologic deficits after nontraumatic spinal anesthesia occurred in patients who had received hyperbaric lidocaine, 5%.
The widespread use of local anesthetic agents in connection with minor office and emergency surgery prompted the authors to look into various aspects of this practice. Doubtless, these drugs are extremely handy and constitute a valuable aid in many situations; still, possible complications and contraindications must be clearly assessed. The authors conclude their discussion with an outline of essential things to do in the event of unexpected clinical mishaps.
INTRODUCTION: Ninety percent of oro-facial infections arise from a dental origin. The remaining 10% are the consequence of oro-pharyngeal, cutaneous or iatrogenic problems, such as in the present case. CASE REPORT: A 24-year-old patient consulted the emergency room because of a left mandibular swelling, accompagnied by trismus. Four days earlier, extraction of the 38 was performed under inferior alveolar nerve block anesthesia. A first drainage by vestibular approach was performed under general anesthesia. Because of the absence of improvement, a CT-scan was performed and an abscess localized at the base of the condyle, surrounding the posterior margin of the mandible, very high above the lingula. Outcome was favourable after a second surgery. DISCUSSION: Formation of an abscess very high above the lingula, around the condylar neck is rarely reported in the literature. In this patient it was certainly a complication resulting from the injection of local anesthesic with a vasoconstrictor. CT-scan should be performed to guide diagnosis in the event of an unusual course after the first surgical procedure and an adequate antibiotic regimen.
This study was designed to asses in a prospective survey the intra and post-operative adverse outcome of paediatric patients in Italy. The data was carried out in representative samples of anaesthetics performed in different Italian Institutions, which were chosen by the National Study Group for Paediatric Anaesthesia, and included: paediatric, general, specialistic hospitals and departments. A total of 9289 anaesthetics were collected and studied. The mean age of the patients was 62.5 months. In the 320 cases (3.4%) 299 minor (3.2%) and 21 major (0.2%) complications occurred during or within 24 hours of surgery and anaesthesia. Seven of the major complications resulted in the exitus of the patients (0.07%). Fifty percent of the accidents regarded respiratory and twenty percent cardiovascular systems. The major incidence (risk factors) of the minor complications was present in patients less than 6 months, ASA group 2-3-4, emergency surgery, patients with associated pathology, long duration of anaesthesia and high risk operations. The incidence of the major complications appears closely related to: patients age and clinical assessment, weight, ASA group, kind of the operation, indications and durations of the surgery, while in the exitus group the major risk factor is the preoperative pathology, surgical procedures, and then: age, weight, ASA and finally surgery.
A series of 14 cases of ophthalmologic complications after intraoral anesthesia of the posterior superior alveolar nerve is presented. The most commonly encountered symptoms were diplopia, mydriasis, palpebral ptosis, and abduction difficulties of the affected eye. In all cases, these effects occurred a few minutes after injection of the anesthetic, followed by complete resolution without sequelae on cessation of the anesthetic effect. The pathogenic mechanism underlying such ophthalmologic disorders is discussed in terms of a possible diffusion of the anesthetic solution toward the orbital region.
Postoperative neurological sequelae in patients that have received epidural anaesthesia are not necessarily caused by the epidural anaesthetic technique. As a whole, adverse neurological outcomes following epidural anaesthesia may be subdivided into 3 different ethiological categories. A first category involves events that are not at all caused by the epidural, but merely due to the interference of anaesthesia and/or surgery with a preexisting medical condition. A second category includes mishaps such as backache, arachnoiditis, and post-dural puncture headache that are solely due to the epidural anaesthesia. Finally, epidural anaesthesia may be a contributory factor in the development of post-anaesthetic complications attributable to a pre-existing medical condition that are triggered by anaesthesia, surgery or childbirth. These complications include some of the most dramatic sequelae of major neuraxial blockade, such as spinal epidural abscess, spinal infarction, and spinal hematoma. Although extremely rare, the latter complications often result in permanent major neurological deficits. The present manuscript is a review of the most recent, literature addressing post-anaesthetic sequelae, and will discuss their incidence, pathophysiology, clinical course, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The use of regional anesthesia, either alone or as an adjunct to general anesthesia, is at an all-time high. Demonstrated benefits include reduced side effects, more efficient use of facilities and enhanced patient satisfaction with the improved postoperative pain relief. New advances in equipment, techniques and medications have been incorporated over the past 10 years, and especially over the last 2 years. As the number of practitioners and procedures increase, the number of complications may rise as well. RECENT FINDINGS: The specific issues of nerve damage, treatment of local anesthetic toxicity with lipid solutions and prevention of wrong-sided procedures are examined with special reference to recent publications. SUMMARY: Specific needle shapes, appropriate pharmacologic resuscitation from intravascular injection of local anesthetics and institutional procedures to positively identify patients and the correct block location are all part of a strategy to minimize the occurrence of adverse outcomes and to mitigate the consequences of those adverse events when they do occur. More importantly, these are changes that can be instituted immediately with minimal expense to the institution and great benefit to the patient.