A&A practice
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Hepatopancreaticobiliary (HPB) surgery is major upper abdominal surgery with considerable risk of pulmonary complications related to postoperative pain. While epidural analgesia remains an effective analgesic technique for upper abdominal surgery, HPB surgery poses challenges to its use due to coagulopathy. ⋯ Injection of local anesthetic deep to the erector spinae muscle plane and placement of a catheter for prolonged effect provide both somatic and visceral analgesia for both thoracic and abdominal surgery. We describe a series of 3 cases that illustrate the efficacy of ESP blocks after major HPB surgery.
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Case Reports
Continuous Intravenous Lidocaine as an Effective Pain Adjunct for Opioid-Induced Bowel Dysfunction: A Case Report.
This case study describes a patient with suspected opioid-induced bowel dysfunction who had improved pain control when treated with intravenous (IV) lidocaine. An 80-year-old man with failed back surgery syndrome managed with an intrathecal (IT) pump presented with protracted abdominal pain. ⋯ Eventually, a successful transitional regimen was achieved with methylnaltrexone and transdermal lidocaine patches. Lidocaine infusions may be an effective and underutilized multimodal adjunct for nonsurgical pain conditions.
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A patient with neurofibromatosis type 1 presented to the pain clinic with neuropathic pain. Thoracolumbar magnetic resonance imagining revealed meningocele T12-L2 with cauda equina distortion. After becoming pregnant, the patient interrupted opioid treatment, refusing pharmacological treatment until the pain became unbearable. ⋯ The patient used this treatment from the first trimester until month 6 postpartum, achieving good analgesia without any adverse effects for the mother or child. TENS may be a viable treatment for neuropathic pain (NP) during pregnancy. However, more data are needed due to the difficulty of conducting clinical trials in this population.
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Temporary hypotension after severe trauma might help achieve hemostasis and increase the chances of survival. However, excessive hypotension can lead to adverse neurological sequelae or be fatal. The relationship between the degree of hypotension and neurological prognosis after trauma is not fully understood. Our report describes a patient with severe trauma who survived with a favorable neurological outcome despite extreme and prolonged treatment-resistant hypotension.
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The main purported benefit of suture-style catheters is the ability to secure the catheter at 2 sites, thereby decreasing the likelihood of catheter dislodgement. An additional benefit is the ability to precisely control the placement of the orifice to infuse local anesthetic. ⋯ Despite multiple attempts, the catheter repeatedly advanced beyond the nerve. Placement of a suture catheter was then attempted, and the catheter was successfully placed on the first attempt.