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Lost objects and equipment malfunctions during robotic and laparoscopic cases can lead to an increase in operating time and potential risk to the patient. The literature on the management of foreign bodies during pediatric robotic-assisted surgery is limited. The purpose of the video is to review proper instrument handling to prevent loss of an object and to propose our technique for retrieving lost objects through two pediatric case examples. The first case is a robotic-assisted laparoscopic left pyeloplasty in a 6-week-old male with congenital uteropelvic junction obstruction during which a needle was lost. In the video, we describe our techniques for safe needle passage, proper suturing technique, and recovering a lost needle. The second case is a robotic-assisted right upper pole heminephrectomy in a 14-month-old female with a duplicated renal collecting system and hydroureteronephrosis. We present the management of a rare case during which a harmonic scalpel jaw malfunctioned leading to a lost foreign body. We describe our technique for retrieving the lost fragment. All objects were safely removed, and patients were discharged post-op day one without complication. Our video presents two case examples of foreign bodies lost during pediatric robotic surgeries and approaches to manage each of these incidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A case is presented of retained guide wire fragment after percutaneous stone removal with probable mechanism of breakage.Nephrostomy access was obtained using Seldinger technique and the wire passed through a stenotic ureter with difficulty. After removal of the stone, the wire fragmented on removal and the upper and lower fragments were removed from above and below, respectively.Years later, recurrent stone in the kidney contained an unsuspected wire fragment. Guide wire fracture may result in multiple fragments within the urinary tract. An understanding of mechanisms of wire failure may prevent unsuspected retained foreign bodies.

Background: Anesthesia equipment problems may contribute to anesthesia mortality and morbidity. The Royal College of Anesthesiologists of Thailand initiated a multicentered incident reporting study namely the Perioperative and Anesthetic Adverse Events in Thailand (PAAd Thai) Study to investigate perioperative complications including equipment malfunction or failure. Materials and Methods: The present report was a descriptive prospective study. After the Institutional Ethical approval with informed consent was waived, the case record form comprising structured and narrative information parts was requested to be filled within 24 hours of occurrence of anesthesia equipment malfunction or failure in 22 large government hospitals across Thailand between January and December 2015. Three senior anesthesiologists reviewed the incident reports. Any discrepancy was discussed to achieve a consensus. Descriptive statistics were used for analysis. Results: Out of 2,206 incident reports, there were 47 (2.1%) equipment malfunction or failure involving anesthetic machine (36.0%), anesthetic circuit (27.6%), laryngoscope (17.0%) and monitoring (12.7%) in operating theatre (97.8%), pediatric anesthesia (19.1%), and emergency condition (21.2%). Diagnoses of incidents was either clinical detection (82.9%) or detection by monitoring equipment (48.9%). Outcomes of incidents were trivial with full recovery. The incidents were considered as results from human factor (38.3%), preventable (46.8%), and might be prevented with surgical safety checklists (34.0%). Conclusion: Equipment malfunction or failure incidents were unusual and did not lead to serious consequence. Common contributing factors were ineffective equipment, non-adherence to surgical checklists, haste, and inexperience of performers. Factors to minimize the incidents were equipment checking, having experience, and comply to surgical checklists. Quality assurance activity, standard and regular equipment maintenance, adherence to surgical checklists, and additional training were suggested as corrective measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this retrospective study was to review the results of a 4-year audit performed on anesthetic machines and vaporizers used in veterinary clinics in Spain and Portugal. Data was collected between July 2016 and April 2020. Inspections were carried out by a team of seven veterinarians, using a human-modified system of checks that was adapted to a veterinary practice. The evaluation of each item was noted as “correct” or “incorrect”. The vaporizers' performance was evaluated using a self-calibrating gas analyzer. The vaporizer was classified as “correct” or “incorrect” when the vaporization error was less than or equal to, or more than 20%, respectively. The anesthetic machine was classified as “conforming” if all its components were noted as “correct” and no leaks were detected, or as “non-conforming” if any of the components was noted as “incorrect” or if a leak was detected. If the inspector was able to repair on-site the item malfunctions detected and the machine was fit for use, they issued a final report as “conforming.” On the contrary, if such malfunctions persisted, the final report was “non-conforming,” and a recommendation to remove the machine from service until its final repair was provided. To perform statistical analysis, each inspected item was used as predictor, classification and regression trees were built, and a random forest analysis was performed. A total of 2,001 anesthetic machines and 2,309 vaporizers were studied. After inspection, 42.7 and 26.4% of the machines were non-conforming and conforming, respectively, whereas 30.9% could be repaired in situ. A total of 27.1% of the isoflurane vaporizers and 35.9% of the sevoflurane vaporizers were incorrect. Machine learning techniques showed that the most important variables in the classification of the anesthetic machines as conforming or non-conforming were mostly the scavenger system and the canister, followed some way behind by the APL valve, source of oxygen, reservoir bag, vaporizer, and connections.

Introduction: Electrocardiographic (EKG) artifacts can lead to unnecessary treatment and costly diagnostic workup. Two previous studies reported a ventricular tachycardia artifact as a result of microdebrider malfunction. In this study, we report the first case of EKG artifacts that mimick asystole from microdebrider use during functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS). Case: A healthy 19-year-old woman presented with chronic rhinosinusitis, nasal polyposis, and a deviated nasal septum. She was scheduled for a bilateral FESS and septoplasty. During surgery, the microdebrider was changed after 1 hour. While using the second microdebrider, the EKG monitor showed three distinct asystolic events, all lasted approximately 3 seconds. The EKG tracing returned to normal sinus rhythm every time the microdebrider was stopped. The patient's oxygen saturation remained at 100%, and blood pressure remained stable during the episodes. The procedure was aborted, and an extensive cardiology workup was performed, which returned negative results. Biomedical engineering investigated the microdebrider and found a far greater than expected chassis leak, which likely caused electrical interference. Six months later, the patient underwent a right-sided FESS and revision left frontal FESS. There were no EKG abnormalities during the second surgery. Discussion: Although other EKG artifacts have been reported in the literature, this is the first case report of an artifact that mimicked asystole that stemmed from microdebrider use. Improved awareness of this potential EKG artifact for both the surgeon and the anesthesiologist may prevent an unnecessary costly workup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The operating room monitors that are currently available use digital signal processing techniques to acquire and display electrocardiograms (ECGs). As a result, pacemaker impulses are interpreted as noise and thus filtered from the final display. For these signals to be displayed, the monitor must be manually reconfigured away from the default state. However, the displaying of the pacemaker impulse remains a digital process, and the monitor “paints” this signal (and other noise) back into the displayed ECG as a pacemaker impulse. Two surgical cases are reported that demonstrate monitor malfunction in systems with digitally processed ECGs during application of nerve stimulator signals to the patient. In one case, application of a 100-Hz tetany signal completely abolished the displayed pacemaker pulses. In the second case, application of a 50-Hz tetany signal abolished appropriate display but caused the monitor to display artifactual pacemaker pulses. Knowledge of undesirable monitor behavior can reduce inappropriate therapy in the operating room. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The objective of this retrospective study was to review the results of a 4-year audit performed on anesthetic machines and vaporizers used in veterinary clinics in Spain and Portugal. Data was collected between July 2016 and April 2020. Inspections were carried out by a team of seven veterinarians, using a human-modified system of checks that was adapted to a veterinary practice. The evaluation of each item was noted as "correct" or "incorrect". The vaporizers' performance was evaluated using a self-calibrating gas analyzer. The vaporizer was classified as "correct" or "incorrect" when the vaporization error was less than or equal to, or more than 20%, respectively. The anesthetic machine was classified as "conforming" if all its components were noted as "correct" and no leaks were detected, or as "non-conforming" if any of the components was noted as "incorrect" or if a leak was detected. If the inspector was able to repair on-site the item malfunctions detected and the machine was fit for use, they issued a final report as "conforming." On the contrary, if such malfunctions persisted, the final report was "non-conforming," and a recommendation to remove the machine from service until its final repair was provided. To perform statistical analysis, each inspected item was used as predictor, classification and regression trees were built, and a random forest analysis was performed. A total of 2,001 anesthetic machines and 2,309 vaporizers were studied. After inspection, 42.7 and 26.4% of the machines were non-conforming and conforming, respectively, whereas 30.9% could be repaired in situ . A total of 27.1% of the isoflurane vaporizers and 35.9% of the sevoflurane vaporizers were incorrect. Machine learning techniques showed that the most important variables in the classification of the anesthetic machines as conforming or non-conforming were mostly the scavenger system and the canister, followed some way behind by the APL valve, source of oxygen, reservoir bag, vaporizer, and connections., Competing Interests: The authors declare that this study received funding from Ecuphar Veterinaria SLU and Belphar Lda. The funders were not involved in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of this article or the decision to submit it for publication. The handling editor declared a past co-authorship with one of the authors JR., (Copyright © 2020 Redondo, Domenech, Mateu, Bañeres, Martínez and Lopes.)