Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2009
Anesthesiologists with substance use disorders: a 5-year outcome study from 16 state physician health programs.
Anesthesiologists have a higher rate of substance use disorders than other physicians, and their prognoses and advisability to return to anesthesiology practice after treatment remain controversial. Over the past 25 yr, physician health programs (PHPs), created under authority of state medical regulatory boards, have become primary resources for management and monitoring of physicians with substance abuse and other mental health disorders. ⋯ Anesthesiologists in our sample treated and monitored for substance disorders under supervision of PHPs had excellent outcomes similar to other physicians, with no higher mortality, relapse rate, or disciplinary rate and no evidence in their records of patient harm. It is postulated that differences of study design account for contradictory conclusions from other reports.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2009
The practice of and documentation on withholding and withdrawing life support: a retrospective study in two Dutch intensive care units.
We determined how often life support was withheld or withdrawn in patients who died in the intensive care unit (ICU) or early after ICU discharge and evaluated documentation on decisions regarding these changes in life support orders. ⋯ ICU nonsurvivors and patients who die shortly after ICU discharge predominantly die with orders to withhold or withdraw life support. Documentation on the decisions to forgo full life support is poor.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2009
The effect on cerebral tissue oxygenation index of changes in the concentrations of inspired oxygen and end-tidal carbon dioxide in healthy adult volunteers.
A variety of near-infrared spectroscopy devices can be used to make noninvasive measurements of cerebral tissue oxygen saturation (ScO2). The ScO2 measured by the NIRO 300 spectrometer (Hamamatsu Photonics, Japan) is called the cerebral tissue oxygenation index (TOI) and is an assessment of the balance between cerebral oxygen delivery and utilization. We designed this study to investigate the effect of systemic and intracranial physiological changes on TOI. ⋯ TOI is an easy-to-monitor variable that provides real-time, multisite, and noninvasive assessment of the balance between cerebral oxygen delivery and utilization. However, TOI is a complex variable that is affected by SaO2 and ETCO2, and, to a lesser extent, by MBP and CBV. Clinicians need to be aware of the systemic and cerebral physiological changes that can affect TOI to interpret changes in this variable during clinical monitoring.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2009
An anatomical study of the transversus abdominis plane block: location of the lumbar triangle of Petit and adjacent nerves.
The transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block is a new technique for providing analgesia to the anterior abdominal wall. Most previous studies have used the lumbar triangle of Petit as a landmark for the block. In this cadaveric study, we determined the exact position and size of the lumbar triangle of Petit and identified the nerves affected by the TAP block. ⋯ The lumbar triangles of Petit found in the specimens in this study were more posterior than the literature suggests. The position of the lumbar triangle of Petit varies largely and the size is relatively small. The relevant nerves to be blocked had not entered the TAP in the specimens in this study at the point of the lumbar triangle of Petit. At the midaxillary line, however, all the nerves were in the TAP.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2009
Deep hypothermia attenuates microglial proliferation independent of neuronal death after prolonged cardiac arrest in rats.
Conventional resuscitation of exsanguination cardiac arrest (CA) victims is generally unsuccessful. Emergency preservation and resuscitation is a novel approach that uses an aortic flush to induce deep hypothermia during CA, followed by delayed resuscitation with cardiopulmonary bypass. Minocycline has been shown to be neuroprotective across a number of brain injury models via attenuating microglial activation. We hypothesized that deep hypothermia and minocycline would attenuate neuronal death and microglial activation and improve outcome after exsanguination CA in rats. ⋯ Deeper levels of hypothermia induced by the IC versus RT flush resulted in better neurological outcome in survivors. Surprisingly, deep hypothermia attenuated microglial activation but not hippocampal neuronal death. Minocycline had modest benefit on neurologic outcome in survivors but did not attenuate microglial activation in brain. Our findings suggest a novel effect of deep hypothermia on microglial proliferation during exsanguination CA.