Hans-Henning Eckstein (Technical University of Munich TUM, Munich, Germany)and Martin Storck (Klinikum Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany) show Vascular News the rubber duck that they give patients undergoing vascular and endovascular procedures under local anaesthetic. The patient holds the duck, which gives out a squeaking noise when squeezed, thus alerting the physician during the procedure in an effort to help reduce complications such as clamping ischaemia and stroke when performing carotid procedures.
“In our hospital, we really prefer the regional anaesthesia”, Storck said at Controversies & Updates in Vascular Surgery (CACVS; 7–9 February, Paris, France), “and if you do carotid surgery under general anaesthesia there is some monitoring necessary.” Storck highlighted the need for neuromonitoring to detect stroke or clamping ischaemia in patients undergoing carotid surgery—vascular or endovascular—under general anaesthetic, and then pointed to a different monitoring approach when working under local anaesthetic.
“This rubber duck costs approximately €1, and is an easy thing for a patient to hold in their contralateral hand during procedure,” Storck explained. He noted, however, that the system should be used in combination with other monitoring methods.
