Indira Kumari’s scientific contributions

Objective: To compare the effect of adding two different doses of dexmedetomidine to ropivacaine, on onset and duration of analgesia for supraclavicular brachial plexus block in patients scheduled for upper limb orthopedic surgery. Methodology: This prospective randomized double blind comparative study was conducted at our institution. After ethical committee approval and informed patient consents, 50 patients of ASA I, II and aged 21-60 years, who were scheduled for elective upper limb surgery and were enrolled in the study and randomly divided into two equal groups. They received either 30 ml of 0.75% ropivacaine plus dexmedetomidine (1 µg/kg) diluted with normal saline up to 5 ml (total volume = 35 ml) in Group 1 or 30 ml of 0.75% ropivacaine plus dexmedetomidine (2 µg/kg) diluted with normal saline up to 5 ml (total volume = 35 ml) in Group 2. The onset and duration of sensory and motor block, duration of analgesia, hemodynamic parameters, sedation score, VAS and side effects were recorded. Results: Onset time of sensory and motor block were earlier in Group 2 than in Group 1 (p < 0.001). Duration of sensory and motor block and duration of analgesia were longer in Group 2 than in Group 1 (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the incidence of hypotension and bradycardia between both the groups (p > 0.05). There was a statistically significant reduction in number of rescue analgesic doses and total dose consumption in 24 hours in Group 2 than in Group 1. Quantitative data are represented as arithmetic mean and standard deviation and analyzed using Student's t test or ANOVA as per need. Qualitative data are represented as number (proportion or percentage) and analyzed using Chi square test. The levels of significance and α-error were kept 95% and 5% respectively for all statistical analyses. P values < 0.05 were considered significant. © 2017, Faculty of Anaesthesia, Pain and Intensive Care, AFMS. All rights reserved.

One of the most prevalent parasitic infestation is ascariasis which poses a great challenge to both the person being infested with and the treating medical team. We present here a case of round worm (Ascaris lumbricoides) infestation. A 40-year-old male, weighing 60 kg, diagnosed as perforation peritonitis, was scheduled for emergency exploratory laparotomy. The round worm was crawling out from duodenal perforation vent during laparotomy confirming the infestation. Patient later developed bronchospasm in postextubation period and was managed accordingly. Surprisingly the patient expelled an adult worm in the next morning. This report highlights the importance of anticipating complications (i.e., airway obstruction, bronchospasm, etc.,) in an undiagnosed case of round worm infestation, especially if routine investigations were within normal limits.