Fauquier ENT Blog

Showing posts with label anesthesia. Show all posts

December 16, 2016

FDA Warning For Sedation in Kids Under 3 Years and Pregnant Women

On 12/14/16, the FDA published a warning that prolonged or repeated sedation in kids under 3 years old and women who are pregnant during their third trimester may adversely affect childhood brain development. However, a single short exposure to a general anesthetic and sedation drugs in infants or toddlers is UNLIKELY to have any negative effects on the brain. Such short time exposure with minimal risk would apply to ear tube placements as well as tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy . This r…

12/16/2016 0

September 10, 2014

Joan Rivers Underwent Unplanned Vocal Cord Biopsy Without Consent

Image by David Shankbone of Wikipedia When it was first reported 8/28/14 that comedian Joan Rivers suffered some type of respiratory arrest during some type of sedated endoscopic procedure, it was unclear exactly what was done and what happened. According to initial reports, the endoscopy was done to "check her vocal cords." Media reports have emerged citing an anonymous source that state an unplanned, un-consented vocal cord biopsy was done during the planned endoscopy pr…

9/10/2014 1

April 12, 2014

Esophagoscopy without Sedation [VIDEO]

Here is a video demonstrating how esophagoscopy can be performed in the office without any sedation. The esophagus is the tube that connects the mouth to the stomach. The exam, called trans-nasal esophagoscopy (TNE), can be performed in any patient as long as the nose is large enough to accommodate the endoscope and lack a severe gag reflex. A very thin disposable sheath (like a condom) is used to protect endoscope and maintain sterility between patient use.

4/12/2014 0

January 10, 2014

Risk of Death From... Is...

Image courtesy of noomh / FreeDigitalPhotos.net When it comes to risk of death from surgical procedures, it is illustrative to compare it to more common experiences. Patients often become unduly concerned with certain risks including death without any true understanding of how rare the risk may be. Unfortunately, such rare risks may be THE reason why a patient may refuse a needed procedure in the erroneous belief that something rare has an unacceptably high chance of occurring to them. …

1/10/2014 0

October 05, 2013

Ear Tube Placement in Kids WITHOUT Sedation (Starting at 12 Months of Age)

A recent report describes how using a relatively old technology, ear tube placement can now be performed in children starting at 12 months of age with chronic ear infections or hearing loss due to fluid buildup without the need for sedation of any kind nor aggressive restraints (ie papoose). Historically, ear tube placement in the office without sedation is typically performed starting at around 12 years of age using standard local anesthesia techniques. Any younger, a child could not …

10/05/2013 0

November 17, 2012

Problem with Medical Protocols (and Lawsuits Because of Them)

Over the past decade working in hospitals, I've seen the proliferation of "established procedures and protocols" for literally everything under the sun... • Chest Pain Protocol • Discharge Protocol • Pneumonia Protocol • Stroke Protocol etc, etc, etc Protocols are essentially standing orders that are supposed to be implemented whenever a given medical situation occurs. It is supposed to follow best evidence-based practices and make it easy for healthcare personnel know w…

11/17/2012 0

June 11, 2012

12 Years Old Girl Dies After Tonsillectomy

Tampa Bay Times reported on June 10, 2012 a 12 years old girl died after a tonsillectomy performed on Aug 13, 2010 for chronic tonsillitis. From the details provided from the news report , it seems that several independent issues all contributed together that lead to this child's unfortunate and tragic death. This case was also complicated by subsequent non-medically related actions taken by medical personnel which will not be discussed here. Strictly medically speaking... Loca…

6/11/2012 0

May 30, 2012

Waking Up to NOT Just Major Colonoscopy Bills...

The New York Times published an article on May 28, 2012 regarding the high anesthesia charges associated with colonoscopy. What people need to realize is that anesthesia charges apply not just to colonoscopy, but ANY procedure that requires general anesthesia... tonsillectomy , appendectomy, gallbladder surgery, ear tube placement in kids, etc. With any procedure requiring general anesthesia, a patient is going to receive THREE bills... not just one which is what most reasonable peopl…

5/30/2012 0

December 02, 2011

In-Office Sinus Surgery Without General Anesthesia

There has been tremendous advances in sinus surgery over the past decade. From the elimination of nasal packing after most routine sinus surgery to the more recent use of balloons to open the sinus cavities, patient comfort has improved greatly after this particular operation. What used to be a several week recovery may now only be a few days. Balloon sinuplasty in particular has been revolutionary in the surgical treatment of chronic sinusitis . Though sinus surgery normally is performe…

12/02/2011 1

October 25, 2011

Tonsillectomy Circa 1940s [video]

I encountered this interesting video of tonsillectomy being performed in a child with sedation (but NO intubation) performed circa 1940s. Of course, nowadays, tonsillectomy is performed under general anesthesia with intubation for airway protection. Below is a video of the way it is now done. That is, unless, you practice in other parts of the world where modern medicine is not up to United States standards. In those nations, tonsillectomy is STILL being performed WITHOUT general ane…

10/25/2011 0

October 04, 2011

Sedated Anesthesia for Kids Under 2 Years May Cause Learning Disability

There is mounting evidence in animals and in humans that general anesthesia might damage developing young brains. Researchers at Mayo Clinic compared the learning skills of 350 kids who underwent 1 or more general anesthesia before age 2 to 700 kids who have never been under sedated (general) anesthesia. What they found was that before the age of 19 (after statistical normalization): No significant difference in learning disability between kids who have been under anesthesia once (23 out…

10/04/2011 0

April 14, 2011

New Video on Endoscopic Vocal Cord Mass Injection & Bronchoscopy Without Sedation

We have produced a new video demonstrating how vocal cord masses can be injected with medications (like steroids) under endoscopic guidance without the need for any sedation. This video also includes bronchoscopy that was performed at the same time (also without any sedation). Check out the video here !

4/14/2011 0

March 14, 2011

Tonsillectomy WITHOUT Anesthesia in a Child [GRAPHIC]

WARNING!!! This video contains a VERY GRAPHIC video of a child having his tonsils removed without anesthesia or sedation. This video is EXTREMELY disturbing. DO NOT watch it if you are easily shocked, offended, or have a weak stomach. A colleague forwarded this video to me and though I regularly perform tonsillectomy, I myself felt quite disturbed by it. Many readers have also informed me that the video is actually an adenoidectomy rather than tonsillectomy, but hard to say which …

3/14/2011 3

February 02, 2011

Non-Sedated ABR & OAE Now Offered at Fauquier ENT

What is ABR/OAE? ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response) as well as OAE (Oto-Acoustic Emission) are specialized hearing tests that can evaluate whether a child/infant/newborn can hear without requiring them to respond. These tests are completely non-invasive. Just like an EKG measures a heart's electrical activity using little stickers, ABR/OAE testing checks out the electrical activity from the ear to the brain. Special stickers on the head enable us to "see" whether the brain &…

2/02/2011 0

January 03, 2011

Surgery Costs for Self-Pay Patients

Surgery is expensive... there are no doubts about that. However, there are a few things a patient without insurance who desires surgery can do to minimize the costs as much as possible. Before going into cost-cutting measures, you first need to understand where the costs come from. In rank order, the costs of surgery come from (highest to lowest): • Hospital Charges (MOST expensive charges) a) Use of OR Room b) Paying the Circulating Nurse c) Paying the Scrub Nurse d) …

1/03/2011 0

January 02, 2011

Anesthesia Sleep is Actually a Coma and Implications for Snoring Evaluations

On December 30, 2010, the New England Journal of Medicine published a paper titled "General anesthesia, sleep, and coma ". The article goes on to describe normal sleep as well as sleep induced by anesthesia at time of surgery. What researchers have found is that anesthesia-induced sleep actually is more like a deeply unconscious coma patient than someone sleeping. This actually makes sense to me... When a person sleeps, they can be aroused if noxious stimuli is introduced causing …

1/02/2011 0

July 27, 2010

RANDOM: Orthopedics versus Anesthesia (Humor) [video]

A friend forwarded this video to me... Though it is about ortho vs anesthesia, this type of conversation (or at least small elements of it) unfortunately happens all too often.

7/27/2010 0

April 24, 2010

We Now Offer Sterile Ear Piercing Using Lab-Tested, Hypoallergenic, Packaged & Sealed Earring Studs

Our office offers ear piercing by a doctor to patients in a manner superior to that obtained in most commerical locations. The ear piercings we provide are: • Performed in a sterile manner (numbing offered as well) • Ear studs placed are hypoallergenic • Ear piercing system used has been laboratory tested, packaged, and sealed • Hypoallergenic studs and clasps are individually sealed with disposable earpiercer - avoiding any concern of cross contamination Better yet, we can perform th…

4/24/2010 0

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