Background: Pre-existing poor respiratory function is a significant challenge for women to successfully continue pregnancy and accomplish delivery. Case: Pregnancy and delivery were successfully managed without any maternal or neonatal complications, in a 26year-old woman with severely impaired respiratory function, due to a unilateral hypoplastic lung, accompanying Scimitar syndrome-like circulation. Hyperventilation, normally observed even at the first trimester, was absent by the end of the second trimester. This would indicate her ventilation must have reached utmost capacity. Premature delivery by the mode of elective cesarean section delivery was, therefore, the most reasonable option. General anesthesia, combined with a continuous epidural infusion of low-concentrate local anesthetics, containing opioid, was sufficient to avoid the need for unexpected mechanical ventilation in intra-and early postoperative periods and to provide excellent post-partum analgesia. Conclusion: This combination can be a potent alternative in tailoring anesthesia for cesarean section in women with extremely impaired pulmonary reserve.

Endotracheal Intubation (ETI) is a common airway procedure used to connect the larynx and the lungs through a windpipe in patients under emergency situations. The process is carried out by a laryngoscope inserted into the mouth, used to help doctors in visualizing the glottis and inserting the tube. Currently, very few studies on objective evaluation of the biomechanics of the doctors during the procedure have been done. Additionally, these studies have been concentrated only on the overall performance analysis, without any segmentation, with a consequent loss of important information. In this paper, the authors present a preliminary study on a methodology to objectively evaluate and segment the biomechanical performance of doctors during the ETI, using surface electromyography and inertial measurement units. In particular, the validation has been performed by comparing three kinds of laryngoscopes involving an expert doctor. Finally, results are presented and commented.

Herein, we report a novel case of emergency surgical mitral valve replacement for severe mitral valve regurgitation (MR) following MitraClip implantation (Abbott Laboratories, Chicago, IL, USA). Recurrent MR was caused because of the migration of the clip due to the destruction of the mitral valve leaflets with Staphylococcus aureus infective endocarditis. Intra‐operative transesophageal echocardiography revealed that the clip was stuck to the left ventricular apex. Although the device could not be removed surgically, surgical repair of the valve enabled the patient to recover without any further complications.

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