Wooden chest syndrome

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Wooden chest syndrome is a rigidity of the chest following the administration of high doses of opioids during anaesthesia. [1]

Wooden chest syndrome describes marked muscle rigidity — especially involving the thoracic and abdominal muscles — that is an occasional adverse effect associated with the intravenous administration of lipophilic synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. It can make ventilation difficult, and seems to be reversed by naloxone. [2] Hypoxemia, hypertension, pulmonary hypertension, respiratory acidosis and increased intracranial pressure may supervene. [3]

One recent study hypothesized that chest wall rigidity might be at least partially responsible for some deaths related to intravenous injection of fentanyl, which increasingly is appearing in samples of heroin. [2]

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Fentanyl Opioid medication

Fentanyl, also spelled fentanil, is an opioid used as a pain medication and together with other medications for anesthesia. It is also used as a recreational drug, often mixed with heroin or cocaine. It has a rapid onset and its effects generally last under two hours. Medically, it is used by injection, nasal spray, skin patch, or absorbed through the cheek (transmucosal) as a lozenge or tablet.

Shortness of breath Feeling of difficulty breathing

Shortness of breath (SOB), also known as dyspnea is a feeling of not being able to breathe well enough. The American Thoracic Society defines it as "a subjective experience of breathing discomfort that consists of qualitatively distinct sensations that vary in intensity", and recommends evaluating dyspnea by assessing the intensity of the distinct sensations, the degree of distress involved, and its burden or impact on activities of daily living. Distinct sensations include effort/work, chest tightness, and air hunger.

General anaesthesia

General anaesthesia or general anesthesia is a medically induced coma with loss of protective reflexes, resulting from the administration of one or more general anaesthetic agents. It is carried out to allow medical procedures that would otherwise be intolerably painful for the patient; or where the nature of the procedure itself precludes the patient being awake.

Pethidine

Pethidine, also known as meperidine and sold under the brand name Demerol among others, is a synthetic opioid pain medication of the phenylpiperidine class. Synthesized in 1938 as a potential anticholinergic agent by the German chemist Otto Eisleb, its analgesic properties were first recognized by Otto Schaumann while working for IG Farben, Germany. Pethidine is the prototype of a large family of analgesics including the pethidine 4-phenylpiperidines, the prodines, bemidones and others more distant, including diphenoxylate and analogues.

Midazolam

Midazolam, marketed under the trade name Versed, among others, is a benzodiazepine medication used for anesthesia, procedural sedation, trouble sleeping, and severe agitation. It works by inducing sleepiness, decreasing anxiety, and causing a loss of ability to create new memories. It is also useful for the treatment of seizures. Midazolam can be given by mouth, intravenously, or injection into a muscle, by spraying into the nose, or through the cheek. When given intravenously, it typically begins working within five minutes; when injected into a muscle, it can take fifteen minutes to begin working. Effects last for between one and six hours.

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Irukandji syndrome

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Sufentanil Chemical compound

Sufentanil, sold under the brand names Dsuvia and Sufenta, is a synthetic opioid analgesic drug approximately 5 to 10 times as potent as its parent drug, fentanyl, and 500 times as potent as morphine. Structurally, sufentanil differs from fentanyl through the addition of a methoxymethyl group on the piperidine ring, and the replacement of the phenyl ring by thiophene. Sufentanil first was synthesized at Janssen Pharmaceutica in 1974.

Alfentanil

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Remifentanil

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Irukandji jellyfish

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Dexmedetomidine

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Piritramide

Piritramide is a synthetic opioid analgesic that is marketed in certain European countries including: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany and the Netherlands. It comes in free form, is about 0.75x times as potent as morphine and is given parenterally for the treatment of severe pain. Nausea, vomiting, respiratory depression and constipation are believed to be less frequent with piritramide than with morphine, and it produces more rapid-onset analgesia when compared to morphine and pethidine. After intravenous administration the onset of analgesia is as little as 1–2 minutes, which may be related to its great lipophilicity. The analgesic and sedative effects of piritramide are believed to be potentiated with phenothiazines and its emetic (nausea/vomiting-inducing) effects are suppressed. The volume of distribution is 0.7-1 L/kg after a single dose, 4.7-6 L/kg after steady-state concentrations are achieved and up to 11.1 L/kg after prolonged dosing.

Mephentermine Formerly used in Wyamine nasal decongestant inhalers and before that as a stimulant in psychiatry.

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Persistent fetal circulation is a condition caused by a failure in the systemic circulation and pulmonary circulation to convert from the antenatal circulation pattern to the "normal" pattern. Infants experience a high mean arterial pulmonary artery pressure and a high afterload at the right ventricle. This means that the heart is working against higher pressures, which makes it more difficult for the heart to pump blood.

Acetylfentanyl

Acetylfentanyl is an opioid analgesic drug that is an analog of fentanyl. Studies have estimated acetylfentanyl to be fifteen times more potent than morphine. It has never been licensed for medical use and instead has only been sold as a designer drug. Acetylfentanyl was discovered at the same time as fentanyl itself and had only rarely been encountered on the illicit market in the late 1980s. However, in 2013, Canadian police seized 3 kilograms of acetylfentanyl. As a μ-opioid receptor agonist, acetylfentanyl may serve as a direct substitute for heroin or other opioids. Common side effects of fentanyl analogs are similar to those of fentanyl itself, which include itching, nausea and potentially serious respiratory depression, which can be life-threatening. Fentanyl analogs have killed hundreds of people throughout Europe and the former Soviet republics since the most recent resurgence in use began in Estonia in the early 2000s, and novel derivatives continue to appear.

Coinduction (anesthetics)

Coinduction in anesthesia is a pharmacological tool whereby a combination of sedative drugs may be used to greater effect than a single agent, achieving a smoother onset of general anesthesia. The use of coinduction allows lower doses of the same anesthetic agents to be used which provides enhanced safety, faster recovery, fewer side-effects, and more predictable pharmacodynamics. Coinduction is used in human medicine and veterinary medicine as standard practice to provide optimum anesthetic induction. The onset or induction phase of anesthesia is a critical period involving the loss of consciousness and reactivity in the patient, and is arguably the most dangerous period of a general anesthetic. A great variety of coinduction combinations are in use and selection is dependent on the patient's age and health, the specific situation, and the indication for anesthesia. As with all forms of anesthesia the resources available in the environment are a key factor.

Thiafentanil

Thiafentanil is a highly potent opioid analgesic that is an analog of fentanyl, and was invented in 1986. It is similar to carfentanil though with a faster onset of effects, shorter duration of action and a slightly lesser tendency to produce respiratory depression. It is used in veterinary medicine to anesthetise large animals such as impala, usually in combination with other anesthetics such as ketamine, xylazine or medetomidine to reduce the prevalence of side effects such as muscle rigidity.

References

  1. Chambers, David; Huang, Christopher; Matthews, Gareth (2014). "Anaesthesia and the Lung". Basic Physiology for Anaesthetists (illustrated ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 107. ISBN   9781107637825 . Retrieved 2015-01-31.
  2. 1 2 Gussow, Leon (March 25, 2016). "Is possible chest wall rigidity after illicit intravenous fentanyl administration clinically significant?". The Poison Review. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  3. Tanus-Santos, Jose Eduardo (30 November 1998). "Fentanyl is not best anaesthetic induction agent in rapid sequence intubation". The BMJ. Retrieved 2018-04-01.