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Canadian Journal of Anesthesia 51:193-194 (2004)
© Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society, 2004

Correspondence

Use of the OxyArmTM in a patient suffering from trigeminal neuralgia

Takashi Noguchi, MD, Yousuke Shiga, MD and Kazunori Koga, MD

Fukuoka, Japan

To the Editor:

A 67-yr-old woman, suffering from trigeminal neuralgia (V2) for 14 years, was scheduled for laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anesthesia. At the preoperative visit, she asked us not to use a conventional mask for postoperative oxygen therapy, because her neuralgia was easily evoked by touching the left side of her nostril. We therefore decided to use the OxyArmTM (Southmedic Inc., Barrie, ON, Canada) for postoperative oxygen therapy.

The OxyArmTM is a new minimal contact oxygen delivery device that is molded after the headsets used for hands-free telecommunication devices.1 Contrary to a conventional oxygen mask and a nasal cannula, the OxyArmTM can deliver oxygen without any contact with a patient’s face.

Immediately after tracheal extubation, we positioned the OxyArmTM on the patient’s head and administered oxygen at 3 L•min-1 for four hours. During the postoperative period, the patient was comfortable without any neuralgia attack nor any desaturation.

The average patient with trigeminal neuralgia describes a specific triggering stimulus, touching the face or chewing, talking or swallowing.2 The cutaneous trigger is always a non-noxious stimulus and is usually located in the anterior face.2 In this case, both a conventional face mask and a nasal cannula could be a triggering stimulus of trigeminal neuralgia.

In summary, the OxyArmTM was a useful device for supplying oxygen to this patient with trigeminal neuralgia.

References

1 Paul J, Ling E, Hajgato J, McDonald L. Both the OxyArmTM and capnoxygen mask provide clinically useful capnographic monitoring capability in volunteers. Can J Anesth 2003; 50: 137–42.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

2 Loeser JD. Cranial neuralgia. In: Loeser JD (Ed.). Bonica’s Management of Pain, 3rd ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2001: 855–66.




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