Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Nov 2008
Resistive polymer versus forced-air warming: comparable heat transfer and core rewarming rates in volunteers.
Mild perioperative hypothermia increases the risk of several severe complications. Perioperative patient warming to preserve normothermia has thus become routine, with forced-air warming being used most often. In previous studies, various resistive warming systems have shown mixed results in comparison with forced-air. Recently, a polymer-based resistive patient warming system has been developed. We compared the efficacy of a standard forced-air warming system with the resistive polymer system in volunteers. ⋯ Heating efficacy and core rewarming rates were similar with full-body forced-air and full-body resistive polymer heating in healthy volunteers.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Nov 2008
Low-dose systemic bupivacaine prevents the development of allodynia after thoracotomy in rats.
Chronic pain after thoracotomy has been recently reproduced in a rat model that allows investigation of the effect of drugs that might reduce the incidence of allodynia after thoracotomy. Previous studies suggest that intrathecal or systemic morphine, clonidine, neostigmine, and gabapentin reduce the incidence of allodynia in the rat postthoracotomy pain model. Our purpose was to test whether intercostal and systemic injection of bupivacaine prevented the development of allodynia in an animal model of chronic intercostal neuropathic pain. ⋯ Previous studies suggest that allodynia after rib retraction can be prevented by opioids, alpha2-adrenergic agonists, neostigmine, and gabapentin. The current results suggest that bupivacaine is effective in preventing mechanical allodynia, whether given by intercostal injection before or after surgery, or systemically before surgery.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Nov 2008
Dexmedetomidine: a novel drug for the treatment of atrial and junctional tachyarrhythmias during the perioperative period for congenital cardiac surgery: a preliminary study.
Atrial and junctional tachyarrhythmias occur frequently during the perioperative period for congenital cardiac surgery and can be a cause of increased morbidity and mortality. These rhythm disturbances that may be well tolerated in a normal heart can cause significant hemodynamic instability in patients with congenital heart defects, particularly during the postcardiopulmonary bypass period. Management of these arrhythmias presents more of a challenge, since currently available antiarrhythmic drugs can be ineffective and poorly tolerated. In this study, we examined the possible effect of dexmedetomidine, a primarily sedative drug, on atrial and junctional tachyarrhythmias. Though some animal data have shown that it can prevent certain types of ventricular tachycardia, its therapeutic role during these types of arrhythmias has not been studied. ⋯ This preliminary, observational report suggests that dexmedetomidine may have a potential therapeutic role in the acute phase of perioperative atrial and junctional tachyarrhythmias for either HR control or conversion to NSR.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Nov 2008
Increased oxygen administration improves cerebral oxygenation in patients undergoing awake carotid surgery.
During regional anesthesia for carotid endarterectomy (CEA), 10% to 15% of patients develop signs of cerebral hypoxia after cross-clamping, manifested as changes in speech, cerebration or contralateral motor power. Reversal of such neurological deficits using administration of 100% O2 has been described. We used near-infrared cerebral oximetry to assess whether 100% O2 reliably improves regional cerebral oxygenation (rSO2) during carotid cross-clamping. ⋯ With the carotid cross-clamped, ipsilateral rSO2 was reliably increased by the administration of 100% O(2) compared with 28% O2. The etiology of this increase is unclear, but may relate to the associated increase in O2 content of the blood or to an improvement in cerebral blood flow. Thus administration of 100% O2 during carotid cross-clamping may be beneficial for all patients undergoing CEA.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Nov 2008
The influence of age on the dynamic relationship between end-tidal sevoflurane concentrations and bispectral index.
Age is an important determinant of the pharmacokinetic profile of inhaled anesthetics. The influence of age on the dynamic profile of sevoflurane's effect has not been well described. We performed this study to characterize the influence of age and other covariates on the dynamic relationship between sevoflurane end-tidal concentration (C(ET)) and its effect measured by bispectral index (BIS). ⋯ Age significantly affects the dynamic relationship between sevoflurane C(ET) and its effect measured with BIS.