Introduction: Spinal anesthesia induced hypotension frequently complicates Cesarean delivery. This is usually due to sudden sympatholysis causing decreased venous return which can be aggravated by physiological changes of pregnancy leading to change in baseline peripheral vascular tone. Strategies to prevent hypotensive episodes should be the primary aim of anesthetic management. A simple noninvasive measurement of perfusion index derived from pulse oximeter predicting hypotension during the routine intraoperative course could provide a new dynamism to the management and improving the safe execution of anesthesia. Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to compare incidence of hypotension following SAB for LSCS in patients with baseline PI ≤ 3.5 to those with PI > 3.5. The secondary objectives were to compare PI, HR, SBP, MAP at various time intervals and also to study the side effects between the two groups. Methodology: This prospective observational study was conducted at Nobel Medical College Teaching Hospital from to July 2019 to October 2019. 73 Term parturients presenting for elective cesarean delivery were included for the study. Upon arrival in the operation room, standard monitors were attached and baseline HR, SBP, DBP, MAP, PI and SPO2 were recorded in supine position. The patients with baseline PI ≤ 3.5 were enrolled into Group I and those with a PI > 3.5 were enrolled into Group II. Spinal Anesthesia with 10mg of 0.5% heavy Bupivacaine and 20mcg Fentanyl ( total 2.4ml) was given at L3-L4 interspace in sitting position using midline approach. Patient was then returned to supine position with left lateral tilt of 15 degrees to facilitate left uterine displacement. Upper sensory level was checked at 5 minutes using alcohol swab. Once T-6 level was reached, surgery was started. Maternal SBP, DBP, MAP, HR and PI were recorded at 1 minute intervals between spinal injection and delivery and then 3 minutes until end of surgery. Clinically relevant hypotension was defined as the decrease in MAP by 20% or more from baseline value. Results: The incidence of hypotension in Group I was 18.8% (6/30) compared to 81.3% (26/38). This was clinically and statistically highly significant (P = 0.000, odds ratio 0.11). On Spearman’s rank correlation we found highly significant correlation between baseline PI >3.5 and number of episodes of hypotension (rs 0.482, P = 0.000). The sensitivity and specificity of baseline PI with cut-off 3.5 for predicting hypotension were 81.3% and 66.7% respectively. The ROC curve analysis showed 3.53 as appropriate cut‑off for our findings. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.734 [Figure 6](Lower bound 0.608 and upper bound 0.861, P=0.001).  Conclusion : This study demonstrates that baseline PI of > 3.5 correlates with incidence of hypotension after spinal anesthesia for cesarean delivery in healthy parturients compared to a baseline PI of < 3.5.

Introduction: Pulse oximetry is widely used in Neonatal intensive care setting. Both wrist and ankle are widely used as substitute sites for probe placement in place of more commonly used sites such as palm and sole. However, little is known about the accuracy and response time of pulse oximetry when the probe is placed at wrist or ankle of neonates. Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to compare the values of SpO2 reading at wrist with palm and ankle with sole in terms of correlation and accuracy. The secondary objective was to compare the response time to get a valid SpO2 reading at wrist with palm and ankle with sole. Methodology: This was a prospective observational study conducted at Neonatal intensive care unit of Biratnagar Hospital from October 2020 to January 2021. After approval from institutional review committee, a total of 152 consecutive neonates admitted in NICU of either gender both term and preterm were enrolled for the study. Recording of SpO2, heart rate and response time was done by two pulse oximeters simultaneously. The SpO2 measurements at right palm and right wrist were recorded at 0, 30 seconds and 1 minute then simultaneous recording was done for the left palm and left wrist, right sole and ankle and left sole and ankle. Response time was also recorded for each of the readings. Results: The results of our study show good correlation using regression analysis and good agreement using Bland- Altman plots between the values of SpO2 reading of paired measurements. The response times of the paired measurements were not significantly different. There was good correlation between the SpO2 of paired measurements. The correlation for right palm and wrist was 0.927 (P-value = 0.01) and that of left palm and wrist was 0.85 (P-value = 0.01). Similarly the correlation between right sole and ankle and left sole and ankle were 0.937 (P-value = 0.01) and 0.875 (Pvalue = 0.01) respectively. The bias (average difference) and precision (standard deviation of differences) were calculated. The bias and precision of the right palm and wrist, left palm and wrist, right ankle and sole; and left ankle and sole were (-0.00289, 0.76105), (-0.17982, 0.95049), (-0.03509, 0.786342) and (-0.14474, 0.859241) respectively. Conclusion: Wrist and ankle can be used as substitute sites for pulse oximter placement in neonatal intensive care setting.

Background and aims: Central venous catheterization is a widely used technique in the management of critically ill patients. Ultrasound-guided central venous catheterization has been shown to reduce complications and improve success rates. The internal jugular vein and subclavian vein are common access sites for central venous cannulation. In this study, we aim to compare these approaches in ultrasound-guided central venous catheterization. Methods: A prospective comparative study was conducted at a teaching hospital between August 2022 and January 2023. The study included adult patients requiring central venous catheterization for various indications. Participants were randomly allocated to one of three groups: internal jugular, supraclavicular, or infraclavicular approach. Puncture time, catheter insertion time, guidewire insertion time, success rates, number of attempts, guidewire misplacement, and complications were recorded. Results: The study comprised 143 patients, and there were no significant differences observed between the groups in terms of demographic characteristics. Mean puncture time and catheter insertion time were significantly shorter in the internal jugular group than in the other two groups. There were no significant differences in guidewire insertion time and success rates between the three groups. There were also no significant differences in complications or guidewire misplacement rates between the groups. Conclusion: In ultrasound-guided central venous catheterization, the internal jugular approach had a shorter puncture time and catheter insertion time than the supraclavicular and infraclavicular approaches, with no significant differences in guidewire insertion time, success rates, complications, or guidewire misplacement rates. Internal jugular approach may be the preferred approach for ultrasound-guided central venous catheterization.

An infant with metabolic disorder can have vague presentations like repeated chest infections, feeding intolerance and failure to thrive. This may lead to a diagnostic dilemma.  Detailed clinical history together with biochemical investigations are must to reach a diagnosis. Galactokinase Deficiency (GKD) has a varied presentation with some features like microcephaly, juvenile cataracts and failure to thrive. We encountered a case of GKD in an infant in which there was an absence of cataracts. Raised Immunoreactive Trypsinogen (IRT) in Newborn Screening was strongly suggestive of  Cystic Fibrosis (CF), however Genetic Analysis revealed a heterozygous missense variation in EXON4 of the GALK1 GENE, confirming the diagnosis of GKD. Hence, this case highlights the importance of considering different metabolic disorders as differential diagnoses of one another even in absence of a typical feature of a particular disorder.