Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2013
The relationship between neuraxial anesthesia and advanced ovarian cancer-related outcomes in the chilean population.
Mixed evidence has been published relating the use of regional anesthesia during oncologic surgery to a decrease in time to cancer recurrence and improvement in overall survival. We investigated whether the use of epidural anesthesia, in addition to general analgesia during and/or after surgical removal of advanced ovarian cancer, has an impact on time to recurrence and overall survival. ⋯ After PS matching and weighting, we found no benefit in overall survival or time to recurrence in patients with advanced stages (International Federation of Gynecologists and Obstetricians IIIC and IV) of ovarian cancer after the use of EA during and after tumor debulking surgery.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2013
Case cancellation rates measured by surgical service differ whether based on the number of cases or the number of minutes cancelled.
Surgical cancellation rates typically are reported as the number of cancelled cases divided by the number of scheduled cases. However, the total number of cancelled minutes also has financial impact on surgeons' productivity. Cancellation rates can instead be calculated based on the number of minutes of cancelled cases. Hospitals typically benchmark cancellation rates, since not all cancellations are preventable (e.g., those due to new onset of patient symptoms requiring further workup and treatment before surgery can safely proceed). If the mean estimated duration of cancelled cases were the same as that of scheduled cases, rates would be equivalent whether calculated using the number of cancellations or the minutes of cancellations. It is unknown whether there is a difference between these 2 methods. ⋯ Calculating cancellation rates using case counts can inaccurately represent their impact on surgeon's productivity compared with using minutes of cancelled cases. Comparing numeric cancellation rates between hospitals or services without checking for bias may lead to inappropriate conclusions. We recommend that hospitals evaluate their data for potential bias to determine whether cancellation rates need to be calculated using scheduled minutes of cases rather than numbers of cancellations.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2013
Stored platelet functionality is not decreased after warming with a fluid warmer.
Warming of IV-administered fluids and blood products is routinely performed in the operating room to help maintain normothermia. Current guidelines recommend against the warming of platelets (PLTs), although there is no evidence for this prohibition in the literature. Our goal in this pilot study was to determine whether the warming of stored PLTs had any effect on their function. ⋯ Although small in size, the results of this study do not support the prohibition against mechanical PLT warming. Studies of PLT activation after warming are also warranted.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2013
Case ReportsCase report: quetiapine and refractory hypotension during general anesthesia in the operating room.
Quetiapine is an atypical antipsychotic with known α-adrenergic antagonism. We present a case of refractory hypotension that occurred after induction of general anesthesia in a patient being treated with quetiapine. ⋯ We observed that the hypotension was most responsive to vasopressin. We recommend further investigation regarding the interaction of quetiapine and general anesthesia.