Changes in Blood Flow following Sympathectomy

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EFFECT OF SYMPATHECTOMY ON BLOOD FLOW IN THE HUMAN LIMB
Stein et al. Am J Physiol.1948; 152: 499-504

Blood diverted from muscle to skin after sympathectomy

However, the clinical results of both surgical and neurolityc sympathectomy are uncertain. Indeed these procedures lead to a redistribution of the blood flow in the lower limbs from the muscle to the skin, with a concomitant fall of the regional resistance, mainly in undamaged vessels. The blood flow will be diverted into this part of the vascular tree, so that a

"stealing" of the blood flow may occur.

Vito A. Peduto, Giancarlo Boero, Antonio Marchi, Riccardo Tani

Bilateral extensive skin necrosis of the lower limbs following prolonged epidural blockade

Anaesthesia 1976; 31: 1068-75.

Medical Errors Action Group in Australia

Australia has the highest rate of medical error in the world according to the World Health Organisation's 2002 Report released late last year .

16% of our hospitalised patients will suffer a significant adverse event which is totally unrelated to their original medical condition . This translates as 1 patient in 6 , which is four times the reported occurrence of medical error incidents in the United States , and a full 6% higher than Britain's 10% error rate .

18 , 000 Australian patients die each year as a direct result of avoidable injuries and complications inflicted from withn our health system environments .

Another 50 , 000 Australian patients per year are left with permanent disabilities , and hundreds of thousands more are avoidably injured to some greater or lesser degree .

80 , 000 Australian patients per year are hospitalised due to medication errors , syphoning a massive $350m from the Federal Health Budget annually .

And these figures do not take into account the recognised errors which take place in other clinical outpatient settings such as GP surgeries , radiology suites , and other outpatient clinics where the error rate has been found to be at 23% in one Sydney study .