Anesthesiology
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Women emerge from general anesthesia with propofol/alfentanil/nitrous oxide faster than men.
Recovery from general anesthesia is governed by pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic factors. Gender has not previously been recognized as a factor influencing the time to emergence from general anesthesia. ⋯ Gender appears to be an important variable in recovery from general anesthesia. These findings may explain the increased reported incidence of awareness in women (three times more frequent) and support the need to include gender as a variable in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies of anesthetic drugs.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Epidural clonidine or bupivacaine as the sole analgesic agent during and after abdominal surgery: a comparative study.
The rationale of this study was to compare high-dose epidural clonidine with a more commonly used agent, such as bupivacaine. This was performed to give a more objective idea of the relative analgesic potency of epidural clonidine. ⋯ Our results show that high doses of epidural clonidine potentiate general anesthetics and provide more efficient postoperative analgesia than the two bupivacaine dosage regimens investigated.
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Determinants of myocardial blood flow distribution include metabolic, myogenic, endothelial, and neurohumoral control mechanisms. The authors studied the effect of sevoflurane and desflurane on the myogenic and endothelial mechanisms. ⋯ Sevoflurane maintains myogenic and endothelial determinants of myocardial blood flow distribution. Conversely, desflurane attenuates endothelium-dependent flow-induced dilation while mildly enhancing myogenic constriction.
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Cholecystokinin-B receptor activation has been reported to reduce morphine analgesia. Neuropathic pain is thought to be relatively refractory to opioids. One possible mechanisms for a reduced effect of morphine on neuropathic pain is the induction of cholecystokinin in the spinal cord by nerve injury. The authors evaluated the role of the spinal cholecystokinin-B receptor on morphine analgesia in two rat neuropathic pain models: chronic constriction injury and partial sciatic nerve injury. ⋯ The effectiveness of morphine for thermal hyperalgesia after nerve injury depends on the type of nerve injury. The role of the cholecystokinin-B receptor in morphine analgesia in thermal hyperalgesia after nerve injury also depends on the type of nerve injury.