Anesthesiology
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
The effects of isoflurane and desflurane on intracranial pressure, cerebral perfusion pressure, and cerebral arteriovenous oxygen content difference in normocapnic patients with supratentorial brain tumors.
Desflurane is a volatile anesthetic agent with low solubility whose use in neurosurgery has been debated because of its effect on intracranial pressure and cerebral blood flow. The purpose of this study was to determine the variations on intracranial pressure (ICP) and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) as well as on cerebral arteriovenous oxygen content difference (AVDo(2)) in normocapnic patients scheduled to undergo removal of supratentorial brain tumors with no evidence of mass effect during anesthesia with isoflurane or desflurane. ⋯ The results of this study indicate that there are no variations on ICP in normocapnic patients undergoing removal of supratentorial brain tumors without midline shift, as they were anesthetized with isoflurane or desflurane. CPP and cerebral AVDo(2) decreased with both agents.
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Comparative Study
Peri-MAC depression of a nociceptive withdrawal reflex is accompanied by reduced dorsal horn activity with halothane but not isoflurane.
Anesthetics act in the spinal cord to suppress movement evoked by a noxious stimulus, although the exact site is unknown. ⋯ Halothane reduces noxious-evoked movement at least partly via depression of dorsal horn neurons, whereas isoflurane suppresses movement by an action at more ventral sites in the spinal cord.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Does the suggested lightwand bent length fit every patient? The relation between bent length and patient's thyroid prominence-to-mandibular angle distance.
To date, no study has explored the effect of bent length on lightwand intubation. For successful intubation in daily practice, the authors found that bent length should be approximated to the patient's thyroid prominence-to-mandibular angle distance (TMD), but some patients have a TMD much shorter than the suggested bent length range. The purposes of this study were to understand TMD distribution in adults and to test the influence of bent length on lightwand intubation. ⋯ The suggested range was suitable for patients in group B (TMD > 5.5 cm). However, in group A (
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Comparative Study
Spinal adrenergic and cholinergic receptor interactions activated by clonidine in postincisional pain.
Previous pharmacologic and molecular studies suggest that the alpha(2)-adrenoceptor subtype A is the target for spinally administered alpha(2)-adrenergic agonists, i.e., clonidine, for pain relief. However, intrathecally administered alpha(2) C antisense oligodeoxynucleotide was recently reported to decrease antinociception induced by clonidine in the rat, suggesting non-A sites may be important as well. The current study sought to determine the subtype of alpha(2) adrenoceptors activated by clonidine in a rodent model for human postoperative pain, and to examine its interaction with spinal cholinergic receptors. ⋯ Both alpha(2) A and alpha(2) non-A adrenoceptors, as well as spinal cholinergic activation, are important to the antihypersensitivity effect of clonidine after surgery. ST91 is more efficacious in this model than clonidine and relies entirely on alpha(2) non-A adrenoceptors.
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Many surgical suites allocate operating room (OR) block time to individual surgeons. If block time is allocated to services/groups and yet the same surgeon invariably operates on the same weekday, for all practical purposes block time is being allocated to individual surgeons. Organizational conflict occurs when a surgeon with a relatively low OR utilization has his or her allocated block time reduced. The authors studied potential limitations affecting whether a facility can accurately estimate the average block time utilizations of individual surgeons performing low volumes of cases. ⋯ Average OR utilization probably cannot be estimated precisely for low-volume surgeons based on 3 months or 1 yr of historical OR utilization data. The authors recommend that at surgical suites trying to allocate OR time to individual low-volume surgeons, OR allocations be based on criteria other than only OR utilization (e.g., based on OR efficiency).