Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 1999
Which clinical anesthesia outcomes are important to avoid? The perspective of patients.
Healthcare quality can be improved by eliciting patient preferences and customizing care to meet the needs of the patient. The goal of this study was to quantify patients' preferences for postoperative anesthesia outcomes. One hundred one patients in the preoperative clinic completed a written survey. Patients were asked to rank (order) 10 possible postoperative outcomes from their most undesirable to their least undesirable outcome. Each outcome was described in simple language. Patients were also asked to distribute $100 among the 10 outcomes, proportionally more money being allocated to the more undesirable outcomes. The dollar allocations were used to determine the relative value of each outcome. Rankings and relative value scores correlated closely (r2 = 0.69). Patients rated from most undesirable to least undesirable (in order): vomiting, gagging on the tracheal tube, incisional pain, nausea, recall without pain, residual weakness, shivering, sore throat, and somnolence (F-test < 0.01). ⋯ Although there is variability in how patients rated postoperative outcomes, avoiding nausea/vomiting, incisional pain, and gagging on the endotracheal tube was a high priority for most patients. Whether clinicians can improve the quality of anesthesia by designing anesthesia regimens that most closely meet each individual patient's preferences for clinical outcomes deserves further study.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 1999
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialReduction of blood loss and transfusion requirement by aprotinin in posterior lumbar spine fusion.
Aprotinin reduces blood loss in many orthopedic procedures. In posterior lumbar spine fusion, blood loss results primarily from large vein bleeding and also occurs after the wound is closed. Seventy-two patients undergoing posterior lumbar spine fusion were randomly assigned to large-dose aprotinin therapy or placebo. All patients donated three units of packed red blood cells (RBCs) preoperatively. Postoperative blood loss was harvested from the surgical wound in patients undergoing two- and/or three-level fusion for reinfusion. The target hematocrit for RBC transfusion was 26% if tolerated. Total (intraoperative and 24 h postoperative) blood loss, transfusion requirements, and percentage of transfused patients per treatment group were significantly smaller in the aprotinin group than in the placebo group (1935 +/- 873 vs 2809 +/- 973 mL per patient [P = 0.007]; 42 vs 95 packed RBCs per group [P = 0.001]; 40% vs 81% per group [P = 0.02]). Hematological assessments showed an identically significant (a) intraoperative increase in both thrombin-antithrombin III complexes (TAT) and in activated factor XII (XIIa) and (b) decrease in activated factor VII (VIIa), indicating a similar significant effect on coagulation in patients of both groups (P = 0.9 for intergroup comparisons of postoperative VIIa, XIIa, and TAT). Intraoperative activation of fibrinolysis was significantly less pronounced in the aprotinin group than in the placebo group (P < 0.0001 for intergroup comparison of postoperative D-dimer levels). No adverse drug effects (circulatory disturbances, deep venous thrombosis, alteration of serum creatinine) were detected. Although administered intraoperatively, aprotinin treatment dramatically reduced intraoperative and 24-h postoperative blood loss and autologous transfusion requirements but did not change homologous transfusion in posterior lumbar spine fusion. ⋯ In our study, aprotinin therapy significantly decreased autologous, but not homologous, transfusion requirements in posterior lumbar spine fusion.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 1999
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialThe effectiveness of preemptive analgesia varies according to the type of surgery: a randomized, double-blind study.
The reliability of preemptive analgesia is controversial. Its effectiveness may vary among anatomical areas or surgical types. We evaluated preemptive analgesia by epidural morphine in six surgery types in a randomized, double-blind manner. Pain intensity was rated using a visual analog scale, a verbal report, and a measurement of postsurgical morphine consumption. Preemptive analgesia was effective in limb surgery and mastectomy, but ineffective for gastrectomy, hysterectomy, herniorrhaphy, and appendectomy. Relief of postsurgical pain in hemiorrhaphy was more rapid than that in the other surgery types. Preemptive analgesia was effective in limb surgery and mastectomy, but not in surgeries involving laparotomy, regardless of whether the surgery was major (gastrectomy and hysterectomy) or minor (herniorrhaphy and appendectomy). These results suggest that viscero-peritoneal nociception is involved in postsurgical pain. The abdominal viscera and peritoneum are innervated both heterosegmentally (in duplicate or triplicate by the vagus and/or phrenic nerves) and segmentally (by the spinal nerves). Therefore, supraspinal and/or cervical spinal neurons might be sensitized, despite the blockade of the segmental nerves with epidural morphine. The rapid retreat of the pain after hemiorrhaphy suggests that central sensitization remits soon after minor surgery, but that in appendicitis, it may be protracted by additional noxious stimuli, such as infection. ⋯ Epidural preemptive analgesia was reliably effective in limb and breast surgeries but ineffective in abdominal surgery, suggesting involvement of the brainstem and cervical spinal cord via the vagus and phlenic nerves.