A&A practice
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The use of spinal cord stimulator (SCS) treatment has been particularly effective as an adjunct in treating mixed neuropathic, nociceptive, and radicular pain conditions. There are no published studies on the use of SCS for chronic pain syndrome after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. We successfully used an SCS on a 31-year-old woman with a 4-year history of intractable right-sided subcostal pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. This case provides strong evidence that SCS should be considered as a treatment option for chronic postsurgical pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy not amenable to standard therapies.
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Not everything that shakes is an epileptic seizure. We present a patient who repeatedly exhibited severe shaking at emergence from general anesthesia. ⋯ Over the course of 6 procedures, we found that levetiracetam, a first-line antiepileptic drug, effectively suppressed her myoclonus. The episodic nature of perioperative anesthesia care presents a challenge for differentiating myoclonus from seizure while balancing the concerns raised by different surgical procedures, rare comorbidities, and the subjective patient experience.
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High dose rate interstitial brachytherapy is a commonly performed procedure for carcinoma of the lower lip. Placement of the brachytherapy catheters can be painful and may require monitored anesthesia care or general anesthesia. We present the use of bilateral mental nerve blocks with minimal sedation to facilitate placement of brachytherapy catheters.
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A patient with end-stage amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) presented for Baclofen pump replacement. She underwent a left transversus abdominis plane block to anesthetize the left lower quadrant of the abdomen. ⋯ It is prudent to consider anesthetic plans that avoid complications associated with general or neuraxial anesthesia in patients with ALS. This case report demonstrates successful placement of a transversus abdominis plane block in a patient with ALS and offers a safe anesthetic technique that can be performed in other high-risk patients.
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Intracardiac thrombus occurs in 1.2%-6.3% of patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplant and is associated with a high mortality rate. The pathophysiology and risk factors for development of this complication are not well understood. ⋯ We present the timely and successful use of a Poole tip surgical suction device advanced into the right atrium through a cavotomy created in the inferior vena cava to remove a large right atrial thrombus during liver transplant. The thrombus was identified with transesophageal echocardiography and was causing cardiovascular collapse.