Leonard Bachman

Median Effective Doses (ed50) of Halothane in Adults and Children

Median effective doses of halothane (ED50), determined in 73 pediatric subjects and 31 adults grouped according to age, were: 1.20 per cent at 0 to 6 months; 1.16 per cent at 6 to 24 months; 1.07 per cent at 24 to 48 months; and 0.9 per cent in adults. The dose-response curves for all groups did not deviate significantly from parallelism. Halothane was 1.28 and 1.12 times more potent in producing anesthesia in adults than in the 0-to-6-months and 6-to-24-months group. Potency in the 24-to-48-months group did not differ significantly from potency in adults or in younger children. In contrast, taking hypotension as a measure of circulatory effect, halothane is a less potent cardiovascular depressant in adults than in young children.

Organization and Function of an Intensive Care Unit in a Children??s Hospital

URING the last two decades, physicians D have been redefining the concept of death. Until recently death had been defined as the moment the patient stopped breathing. However, as the fundamental knowledge of the respiratory system increased, patients were kept alive for prolonged periods after the cessation of breathing. Now it has also become possible to keep patients alive after the cessation of the heart and circulatory system. Even the functional failure of the nervous system no longer serves as a definition of death.

Neuromuscular blockade by succinylcholine in children.

Electromyography was utilized to study the effects of succinylcholine in children. The effects of 0.3 mg./kg. intravenously were inversely related to the age of the patient. During continuous infusion of succinylcholine, the dose required to decrease the compound action potential to 50 per cent of the control was inversely related to the age of the patient. No age relation was observed if 0.5 mg./ kg. was injected intravenously. The results indicated that the younger children were more resistant to the neuromuscular blockade produced by succinylcholine.