A&A practice
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Anesthesiology residents spend most of their training in operating rooms, but intraoperative teaching is often unstructured. Needs assessment indicated a need to incorporate a more evidence-based approach to education and improvement of our methods of introducing residents to primary anesthesiology literature. Kern's 6-step approach to curriculum development was used to create a robust and innovative curriculum to increase both the evidence-based component of our curriculum and the amount of educational intraoperative discussion among trainees and faculty. Our curriculum uses a structured topic outline, an e-journal club, and other relevant resources to facilitate discussion of the topics.
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Accidental subdural placement of spinal cord stimulator electrodes is a rare event believed to produce unreliable results, necessitating immediate removal. We report a case of a 59-year-old man with failed back surgery syndrome previously controlled with a spinal cord stimulator, who underwent spinal cord stimulator revision during which 1 lead was inadvertently advanced into the subdural space. Modified stimulation parameters achieved excellent, persistent pain relief, representing the first case of successful long-term subdural spinal cord stimulation.
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Vagus nerve injury may complicate carotid endarterectomy (CEA). The recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) branches from the vagus nerve, innervating the ipsilateral vocal cord. Vagus nerve injury can cause vocal cord dysfunction. ⋯ A patient with distorted neck anatomy from radiotherapy to treat oropharyngeal cancer and resultant right vocal cord paralysis required left CEA. Anticipating difficult neck dissection risking vagus nerve damage with associate RLN malfunction, we added vocal cord electromyography (EMG) to routine CEA electroencephalography (EEG). We recommend vocal cord EMG in anatomically complex CEA to avoid vagus nerve injury.