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Article: Anaesthesia for neurosurgery in sitting position/Reply
- Article from:
- Anaesthesia and Intensive Care
- Article date:
- June 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Australian Society of Anaesthetists Jun 2006. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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We read with interest the article, Anaesthesia for neurosugery in sitting position: A practical approach1. We would like to express our opinion on the following points.
We disagree with the author's statement that venous air embolism (VAE) deteeted by capnography is always significant. Although end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO^sub 2^) monitoring can detect all the clinically significant emboli, VAE detected by ETCO^sub 2^ is not always associated with haemodynamic changes like tachycardia and hypotension. In a large prospective study of 430 patients with ETCO^sub 2^ monitoring, we observed that VAE was associated with tachycardia and hypotension only in 39.5% and 35.9% patients respectively2.