Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2011
Reduction of spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion injury with simvastatin in rats.
Surgery of the thoracic or thoracoabdominal aorta may cause spinal cord ischemia and subsequent paraplegia. However, conventional strategies for preventing paraplegia due to spinal cord ischemia provide insufficient protection and cause additional side effects. We hypothesized that simvastatin, a drug recently shown to be neuroprotective against brain ischemia/reperfusion, would be neuroprotective in a rat spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion model. ⋯ Simvastatin treatment can attenuate hindlimb motor dysfunction and histopathological changes in spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2011
Early thoracic sympathetic block improves the treatment effect for upper extremity neuropathic pain.
The sympathetic nervous system has important roles in mediating many neuropathic pain conditions. A thoracic sympathetic block (TSB) is a useful therapeutic procedure for neuropathic pain in the upper extremities and thorax. However, no studies have examined the factors related to an improved therapeutic effect of TSB. In this study, we evaluated the influence of potential prognostic factors for a better TSB effect and identified clinically important prognostic factors. ⋯ The results showed that an earlier TSB produced a better outcome for patients with chronic pain syndrome. Thus, early TSB should be performed in patients with chronic pain in the upper extremities.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2011
The median effective dose of ketamine and gabapentin in opioid-induced hyperalgesia in rats: an isobolographic analysis of their interaction.
Ketamine and gabapentin have been shown to prevent the delayed hyperalgesia induced by short-term use of systemic opioids. The mechanism of this action is believed to be likely at the spinal level, through an antagonism of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors for ketamine, and through a specific binding site for gabapentin. In this study, we sought to determine the nature of the interaction of these 2 mechanistically distinct antihyperalgesic drugs in a model of opioid-induced hyperalgesia in rats. The median effective antihyperalgesic doses of each drug and of their combination were first defined, to assess the nature of the interaction using an isobolographic analysis. ⋯ The isobolographic analysis demonstrated that the combination of the 2 drugs produces effective antihyperalgesia with a supraadditive (synergistic) action.