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A case of delayed respiratory depression caused by accidental subcutaneous opioid infusion

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Abstract

We report a case of delayed respiratory depression due to accidental subcutaneous opioid infusion. A healthy 33-year-old woman underwent orthopedic surgery under general anesthesia. Before the end of the operation, it was noticed that a part of the opioid infusion had been administered subcutaneously. About 15 min after tracheal extubation, the patient developed respiratory depression and loss of consciousness. The patient recovered with the use of jaw lift together with bag-valve-mask ventilation. We believe that accidental subcutaneous opioid accumulation may have caused the respiratory depression.

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Acknowledgments

There are no conflicts of interest associated with this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Anesthesiology, Department of Surgery Related, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, 7-5-2 Kusunoki-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe City, 650-0017, Japan

    Takuya Okada, Moritoki Egi, Hitoaki Sato, Yuki Nomura, Masako Okada, Shinichiro Izuta & Satoshi Mizobuchi

Authors
  1. Takuya Okada
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  2. Moritoki Egi
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  3. Hitoaki Sato
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  4. Yuki Nomura
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  5. Masako Okada
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  6. Shinichiro Izuta
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  7. Satoshi Mizobuchi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Moritoki Egi.

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Okada, T., Egi, M., Sato, H. et al. A case of delayed respiratory depression caused by accidental subcutaneous opioid infusion. J Anesth 30, 489–492 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00540-015-2137-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00540-015-2137-2

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