Background: Pediatric patients with congenital heart diseases may have pathological airway abnormality and delayed development. To predict the appropriate size of endotracheal tube (ETT), a formula between diameter and age has been widely used for Western normal children. However, it is unclear whether this age-based (AB) formula is applicable to Thai pediatric cardiac patients. Objective: Evaluate the effectiveness of uncuffed ETT size by AB formula for pediatric cardiac patients. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted using 320 cases of non-cardiac and cardiac patients aged 2-7 years old who were orally intubated with a regular uncuffed ETT at Siriraj Hospital, Thailand. The exclusion criteria were history of tracheostomy, upper airway obstruction, and expected difficult intubation. Demographic data and final ETT used were recorded. Results: The tube-size predicted by the AB formula could be applied to 54.4% of non-cardiac and 48.1% of cardiac patients (p= 0.314), whereas three sizes of tubes (one above and one below the predicted size) covered 96.9% and 94.4% of non-cardiac and cardiac patients, respectively (p = 0.413). The ETT with 0.5 mm in ID larger than the predicted size were more often used in 35.0% of cardiac patients compared with 22.5% of non-cardiac patients (p= 0.019). There were no significant differences between methods using age (actual, round-up, and truncated) to calculate the AB formula. The Pearson's correlation between the ID of the ETT with height in non-cardiac and cardiac patients were 0.430 and 0.683, respectively (p <0.001), whereas correlations with weight were 0.622 and 0.561 (p <0.001), respectively. Conclusion: The AB formula was applicable to non-cardiac and cardiac children aged 2-7 years old. For Thai pediatric cardiac patients, we recommend to use a one-size larger ETT than non-cardiac patients.

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Study Design A retrospective case-control study. Purpose To evaluate the effect of nitrous oxide and anesthetic and operative factors associated with severe pain in the early postoperative period after thoracolumbar spine surgery. Overview of Literature Thoracolumbar spine surgery is the most common procedure in spine surgery, and up to 50% of the patients suffer from moderate to severe pain. Nitrous oxide has analgesic, anxiolytic, and anesthetic effects; nevertheless, its benefits for early postoperative pain control and opioid consumption remain to be established. Methods The medical records of eligible participants who underwent thoracolumbar spine surgery between July 2016 and February 2017 were reviewed. Enrolment was performed consecutively until reaching 90 patients for the case (severe pain) group (patients with a pain score of >7 out of 10 at least once during the post-anesthesia care unit [PACU] admission), and 90 patients for the control (mild-to-moderate pain) group (patients with a pain score of <7 in every PACU assessment). The data collected comprised patient factors, anesthetic factors, surgical factors, PACU pain score, and PACU pain management. Results A total of 197 patients underwent thoracolumbar spine surgery with an incidence of early postoperative severe pain of 53.3%. The case-control study revealed no differences in the factors related to pain intensity. A subgroup analysis was performed for failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS), spinal stenosis, and spondylolisthesis. After multivariate analyses, only the age group of 19–65 years and the baseline Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) were found to be significant risk factors for early postoperative severe pain in the PACU (odds ratio [OR], 2.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.32–6.25; OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.01–1.05, respectively). Conclusions Nitrous oxide, anesthetic agents, and surgical techniques did not affect the early postoperative pain severity. Age under 66 years and the baseline ODI were the significant risk factors for pain intensity during the early postoperative period of the FBSS, spinal stenosis, and spondylolisthesis subgroups.