Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jun 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialBotulinum toxin type a injections for cervical and shoulder girdle myofascial pain using an enriched protocol design.
Myofascial pain syndrome is a regional condition of muscle pain and stiffness and is classically characterized by the presence of trigger points in affected musculature. Botulinum toxin type A (BoNT-A) has been shown to have antinociceptive properties and elicit sustained muscle relaxation, thereby possibly affording even greater relief than traditional strategies. Our goal was to determine whether direct injection of BoNT-A into painful muscle groups is effective for cervical and shoulder girdle myofascial pain. ⋯ BoNT-A injected directly into painful muscle groups improves average pain scores and certain aspects of quality of life in patients experiencing severe cervical and shoulder girdle myofascial pain.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jun 2014
Improving pulse oximetry pitch perception with multisensory perceptual training.
The pulse oximeter is a critical monitor in anesthesia practice designed to improve patient safety. Here, we present an approach to improve the ability of anesthesiologists to monitor arterial oxygen saturation via pulse oximetry through an audiovisual training process. ⋯ Training resulted in a 9% (95% confidence interval, 4%-14%, P = 0.0004, t(166) = 3.60) increase in detection accuracy, and a 72-millisecond (95% confidence interval, 40-103 milliseconds, P < 0.0001, t(166) = -4.52) speeding of response times in attentionally demanding and noisy conditions that were designed to simulate an operating room. This study illustrates the benefits of multisensory training and sets the stage for further work to better define the role of perceptual training in clinical anesthesiology.