Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · May 2013
Altered arterial compliance in hypertensive pregnant women is associated with preeclampsia.
Vascular alterations are present in pregnant women affected by preeclampsia. In this study, we assessed arterial compliance in women affected by hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. We hypothesized that arterial compliance is reduced in women affected by preeclampsia. ⋯ The noninvasive assessment of arterial elasticity may contribute toward characterization of the nature of the pathophysiology in pregnancy-induced hypertensive disorders. The vascular alterations of the small arteries, as assessed by C2, may reflect the extent of vascular alterations present with preeclampsia.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · May 2013
Decreased erythrocyte deformability after transfusion and the effects of erythrocyte storage duration.
Erythrocyte cell membranes undergo morphologic changes during storage, but it is unclear whether these changes are reversible. We assessed erythrocyte cell membrane deformability in patients before and after transfusion to determine the effects of storage duration and whether changes in deformability are reversible after transfusion. ⋯ The findings demonstrate that increased duration of erythrocyte storage is associated with decreased cell membrane deformability and that these changes are not readily reversible after transfusion.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · May 2013
The impact of postoperative nausea and vomiting prophylaxis with dexamethasone on postoperative wound complications in patients undergoing laparotomy for endometrial cancer.
Dexamethasone is widely used for postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) prophylaxis. However, there are limited data on the risk of wound complications associated with single-dose dexamethasone use for this purpose. We performed this retrospective study to determine whether intraoperative dexamethasone for PONV prevention increases the risk or severity of postoperative wound complications. ⋯ Intraoperative dexamethasone for PONV prophylaxis does not seem to increase the rate or severity of postoperative wound complications in women undergoing laparotomy for endometrial cancer. BMI and smoking were significant predictors of wound complications in this patient population.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · May 2013
Editorial CommentComparing apples to oranges: just say no to N2O?
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Anesthesia and analgesia · May 2013
The impact of hypothermia on emergence from isoflurane anesthesia in orexin neuron-ablated mice.
Orexin neurons regulate the sleep/wake cycle and are proposed to influence general anesthesia. In animal experiments, orexin neurons have been shown to drive emergence from general anesthesia. In human studies, however, the role of orexin neurons remains controversial, owing at least, in part, to the fact that orexin neurons are multifunctional. Orexin neurons regulate not only the sleep/wake cycle, but also body temperature. We hypothesized that orexin neurons do not directly regulate emergence from anesthesia, but instead affect emergence indirectly through thermoregulation because anesthesia-induced hypothermia can greatly influence emergence time. To test our hypothesis, we used simultaneous measurement of body temperature and locomotor activity. ⋯ The effect of orexin deficiency to impair thermoregulation during general anesthesia is of sufficient magnitude that body temperature must be appropriately controlled when studying the role of orexin neurons in emergence from anesthesia.