STUDY DESIGN: Randomised controlled trial.

SETTING: Tertiary level hospital in Malaysia.

PATIENTS: 77 patients undergoing elective Caesarean delivery.

INTERVENTION: Differing speeds of spinal injection.

MEASUREMENTS: Systolic blood pressure was assessed every minute for the first 10min and incidence of hypotension (reduction in blood pressure of >30% of baseline) was recorded. The use of vasopressor and occurrence of nausea/vomiting were also recorded.

MAIN RESULTS: 36 patients in SLOW group and 41 patients in FAST group were recruited into the study. There was no significant difference in blood pressure drop of >30% (p=0.497) between the two groups. There was no difference in the amount of vasopressor used and incidence of nausea/vomiting in both groups.

CONCLUSION: In our study population, there was no difference in incidence of hypotension and nausea/vomiting when spinal injection time is prolonged beyond 15s to 60s.

METHODS: Two hundred and ninety-two surgical patients requiring intubation were recruited into this prospective, double-blind, randomised controlled study. Group A patients had their ETTc initially inflated, checked by a cuff pressure gauge, recorded and then set to 25 cmH2O. Group B patients had their ETTc inflated using the pilot balloon palpation method. Patients were then followed up for post-operative sore throat, hoarseness and cough.

RESULTS: The overall incidence of post-operative sore throat was 39.0% versus 75.3% (P < 0.001), hoarseness 6.2% versus 15.1% (P < 0.05) and cough 7.5% versus 21.9% (P < 0.05) in Group A and B, respectively. Group A patients experienced a significant reduction in the incidence and severity of sore throat up to 24 h post-operatively (P < 0.001), hoarseness at the first hour (P = 0.004) and cough at first and 12 h post-operatively (P = 0.002).