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Introduction For open-heart surgery, we have found advantages of hypothermia with intrathoracic rewarming technique, through animal experiments, which assured safety even for the operation of the animal with myocardial damages. 2 It should be reasonable to keep the temperature of the thoracic region higher than that of the body surface under hypothermia, because, when the heart is cooled, the contracting force of the heart muscle becomes weakened with decreased cardiac output. If the temperature of the thoracic cavity is much lower than that of the body surface, it may be difficult to maintain proper circulation to the peripheral tissue at higher temperature. This is a difficult problem at the time of rewarming but can be protected by intrathoracic rewarming. This communication is to present the technique and clinical results of intrathoracic rewarming for open heart surgery. Technique Hypothermia was carried out with either immersion technique or blanket cooling. Ether was

Effects of a high subarachnoid block and high epidural block, with and without epinephrine in the anesthetic solution, were studied in the same patients. High subarachnoid block produces hypotension, decreased stroke volume, decreased cardiac output, and a slight decrease in peripheral resistance. High epidural block with epinephrine in the anesthetic solution produces the same degree of hypotension, but an increase in heart rate, stroke volume, and cardiac output and a marked drop in peripheral resistance. High epidural block without epinephrine produces changes similar to, but not as profound as, subarachnoid anesthesia. Unmedicated patients blocked by high subarachnoid anesthesia are able to hyperventilate and maintain normal blood gas tensions.