General anaesthetics depress swallowing and this is a reason to delay oral intake after general anaesthesia. The swallowing reflex was studied 2 h after general anaesthesia for patients undergoing colonoscopy. Forty-one patients were anaesthetized with midazolam 75 micrograms.kg-1 followed by a continuous infusion of propofol and 39 patients with propofol 1.5 mg.kg-1 bolus followed by an infusion. Swallowing reflex was measured by electromyography 2 h after induction of anaesthesia, before and 5 min after the administration of flumazenil (0.2 mg) or placebo. Two h after anaesthesia, the state of consciousness was almost normal in all patients and did not change after flumazenil. At two hours, the latency times for the swallowing reflex in patients treated with propofol alone were of 1.4 +/- 0.4 s and were significantly shorter (P < 0.05) than the value of 1.9 +/- 0.8 s observed in patients who received midazolam with propofol. In the latter group the latency time of the swallowing reflex was significantly reduced following the administration of flumazenil but not placebo. In patients who received propofol without midazolam, the administration of flumazenil or placebo was not associated with significant changes in the latency times. There were also no significant differences in the latency times in the subgroup that received midazolam followed by flumazenil and the propofol alone groups that did or did not receive flumazenil. These results suggest that midazolam still exerts a depressive effect on the swallowing reflex 2 h after its administration despite the recovery of normal consciousness.

Summary 51

Background Dilatation and curettage and fractional curettage are commonly performed gynecological procedures. Randomized-controlled trials have concluded that topical anesthesia effectively reduces pain in endometrial sampling and hysteroscopy. A major obstacle to the successful completion of outpatient gynecologic procedures is pain. Most patients can tolerate pain to complete necessary procedures, but studies show that pain scores are often high. Objective The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of intrauterine instillation of lidocaine, paracervical block, and a combination of both techniques to control pain during endometrial curettage in a randomized, double-blinded trial in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Patients and methods A total of 90 patients scheduled for endometrial curettage were allocated randomly to three groups: group L, group P, and group LP according to the type of anesthesia that was administered. Group L received lidocaine 2% injected into the uterine cavity (n=30). Group P received paracervical block (n=30). Group LP received combined intrauterine lidocaine and paracervical block (n=30). Women were observed for pulse rate and the mean arterial blood pressure was monitored continuously and recorded manually. The pain score assessed using 10 mm visual analog scale. Also, types and incidence of adverse events were reported. Results In terms of heart rate changes, there was a statistically significant increase in both groups L and P than group LP. The changes in the mean arterial blood pressure showed no statistical significance difference among the study groups. Statistically significant differences were found in the number of patients who received fentanyl and the total fentanyl required among the three groups; this was less in group LP than the other two groups. Also, the number of patients who received propofol was significantly lower in group LP compared with the other groups. In terms of the quality of intraoperative analgesia, there was statistically significant adequate analgesia in group LP compared with the other groups. Conclusion This study concluded that intrauterine lidocaine in combination with paracervical block significantly provides adequate intraoperative and postoperative analgesia, whereas intrauterine lidocaine alone or paracervical block alone provides intraoperative analgesia that requires the addition of intraoperative opioid analgesics and sometimes hypnotics and mostly requires immediate postoperative analgesia.

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Objectives: To determine the incidence of spontaneous pregnancy in women who were not undergoing therapy, while waiting for their inclusion in the AZHART program. Results; The mean age of women was 30.4 years ± 4.57. 75% were primary infertility and 25% secondary infertility. the mean duration of infertility was 8.5± 4.1. Causes of infertility were 37.5% male factor, 25% female factor and 37.5% unexplained. Seven couples (43.7%) have had experienced unsuccessful previous ART attempts. Conclusion; The rather rare possibility of spontaneous conception should not be excluded in patients with unexplained infertility and mild-moderate male and female factors infertility scheduled for ART program. The impact of psychological passionate counseling for stress relief of the infertile couple could be of value in achieving pregnancy in these patients.