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Biomedical subjects

R Hodgkinson

Publications and source records attributed to R Hodgkinson.

31 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Neonatal neurobehabioral tests following vaginal delivery under ketamine, thiopental, and extradural anesthesia.

Scanlon's neurobehavioral tests were administered to 274 neonates on the 1st and 2nd days of life. Ketamine-N2O anesthesia had been given to 45 mothers, thiopental-N2O to 52, and lumbar extradural anesthesia with chloroprocaine to 177. All babies delivered from mothers receiving meperidine within 5 hours of delivery were excluded. All babies tested were over 2500 grams in weight, apparently normal, and with Apgar scores of at least 8 at 1 minute and 10 at 5 minutes. All were delivered from healthy women aged 18 to 35 years following a normal labor. Lumbar extradural anesthesia was associated with the greatest percentage of high scores on both the 1st and 2nd days for overall assessment, tone, rooting, sucking, Moro's response, placing, alertness, and habituation to pinprick. The scores were lowest after thiopental and intermediate following ketamine. No relationship was found between neurobehavior and low-forceps extraction, oxytocin augmentation, parity, or duration of labor.

Anesthesia, Epidural↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Neonatal gastric pH.

The pH of gastric juice, obtained 3 to 4 minutes after birth in 158 unselected neonates, varied between 7.5 and 8.5 in 8 meconium-containing specimens and ranged from 1.4 to 7.8 in 150 meconium-free samples. In mature infants of the latter group, pH was (1) significantly lower after vaginal delivery than after cesarean section; (2) tended to be lower after section preceded by labor than after elective section; and (3) was lowest after precipitate delivery. In premature infants, pH was above 7 regardless of mode of delivery. Three was no correlation between neonatal gastric pH and pH of simultaneously obtained maternal gastric juice, pH of amniotic fluid, pH of cord blood duration of rupture of membranes, birth weight, or Apgar score. It was concluded that the mature human fetus produces gastric acidity in response to stresses associated with labor and vaginal delivery. The possibility of a low gastric pH and the resultant pulmonary damage if aspirated must be considered in the initial care of thew newborn with poor muscle tone or reflex activity as well as in the anesthetic management of neonates undergoing emergency surgery.

Amniotic Fluid↗