Anesthesiology
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Liposomal bupivacaine is reported to prolong the duration of analgesia when used for abdominal fascial plane blocks compared to plain local anesthetics; however, evidence from randomized trials is mixed. This meta-analysis aims to compare the analgesic effectiveness of liposomal bupivacaine to plain local anesthetics in adults receiving abdominal fascial plane blocks. ⋯ This systematic review and meta-analysis suggests similar analgesic effectiveness between liposomal bupivacaine and plain local anesthetics when used for fascial plane block of the abdominal wall. The authors' analysis does not support an evidence-based preference for liposomal bupivacaine compared to plain local anesthetics for abdominal fascial plane blocks.
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Thermodilution is unreliable in veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO). Systemic oxygenation depends on recirculation fractions and ratios of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) flow to cardiac output. In a prospective in vitro simulation, this study assessed the diagnostic accuracy of a modified thermodilution technique for recirculation and cardiac output. The hypothesis was that this method provided clinically acceptable precision and accuracy for cardiac output and recirculation. ⋯ Adapted thermodilution for VV-ECMO allows simultaneous measurement of recirculation fraction and cardiac output and may help optimize patient management with severe respiratory failure.
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Identifying the state-related "neural correlates of consciousness" for anesthetics-induced unconsciousness is challenging. Spatiotemporal complexity is a promising tool for investigating consciousness. The authors hypothesized that spatiotemporal complexity may serve as a state-related but not drug-related electroencephalography (EEG) indicator during an unconscious state induced by different anesthetic drugs (e.g., propofol and esketamine). ⋯ Both type I and type II EEG microstate complexities are drug independent. Thus, the EEG microstate complexity measures that the authors proposed are promising tools for building state-related neural correlates of consciousness to quantify anesthetic-induced unconsciousness.