Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 2016
ReviewImplementation of Programmed Intermittent Epidural Bolus for the Maintenance of Labor Analgesia.
Programmed intermittent epidural bolus (PIEB) is an exciting new technology that has the potential to improve the maintenance of epidural labor analgesia. PIEB compared with a continuous epidural infusion (CEI) has the potential advantage of greater spread within the epidural space and therefore better sensory blockade. Studies have demonstrated a local anesthetic-sparing effect, fewer instrumental vaginal deliveries, less motor blockade, and improvements in maternal satisfaction with PIEB compared with CEI. ⋯ The PIEB bolus size and interval, PIEB start time delay period, and patient-controlled epidural analgesia bolus size and lockout time can influence the efficacy of PIEB used for epidural labor analgesia. Educating all members of the health care team is critical to the success of the technique. This review summarizes the role of PIEB for the maintenance of labor analgesia, outlines implementation strategies, suggests optimal settings, and presents potential limitations of the technique.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 2016
ReviewPublication Bias and Nonreporting Found in Majority of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses in Anesthesiology Journals.
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are used by clinicians to derive treatment guidelines and make resource allocation decisions in anesthesiology. One cause for concern with such reviews is the possibility that results from unpublished trials are not represented in the review findings or data synthesis. This problem, known as publication bias, results when studies reporting statistically nonsignificant findings are left unpublished and, therefore, not included in meta-analyses when estimating a pooled treatment effect. In turn, publication bias may lead to skewed results with overestimated effect sizes. The primary objective of this study is to determine the extent to which evaluations for publication bias are conducted by systematic reviewers in highly ranked anesthesiology journals and which practices reviewers use to mitigate publication bias. The secondary objective of this study is to conduct publication bias analyses on the meta-analyses that did not perform these assessments and examine the adjusted pooled effect estimates after accounting for publication bias. ⋯ Many of these reviews reported following published guidelines such as PRISMA or MOOSE, yet only half appropriately addressed publication bias in their reviews. Compared with previous research, our study found fewer reviews assessing publication bias and greater likelihood of publication bias among reviews not performing these evaluations.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 2016
Observational StudyThe Association Between Mild Intraoperative Hypotension and Stroke in General Surgery Patients.
Intraoperative hypotension may contribute to perioperative strokes. We therefore tested the hypothesis that intraoperative hypotension is associated with perioperative stroke. ⋯ In our propensity score-matched case-control study, we did not find an association between intraoperative hypotension, defined as MAP < 70 mm Hg, and postoperative stroke.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 2016
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialEffect of Total Dose of Lidocaine on Duration of Adductor Canal Block, Assessed by Different Test Methods: A Report of Two Blinded, Randomized, Crossover Studies in Healthy Volunteers.
The binary aims of this study were to investigate the effect of total dose of lidocaine on duration of an adductor canal block (ACB) and to validate different methods used to assess nerve blocks. ⋯ We did not find evidence that increasing the total dose of lidocaine may prolong duration of an ACB. The temperature discrimination test was the only test with scores >90% for both specificity and sensitivity.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 2016
Synergistic Modulation of γ-Aminobutyric Acid Type A Receptor-Mediated Synaptic Inhibition in Cortical Networks by Allopregnanolone and Propofol.
The neuroactive steroid allopregnanolone (ALLO) is an endogenous allosteric modulator of γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptors. There is evidence that ALLO, at physiologically relevant concentrations, modulates GABAA receptor function in the cerebral cortex. The widely used anesthetic agent propofol and ALLO share a similar mode of molecular action. Here, we ask how GABAA receptor-mediated synaptic inhibition and action potential firing of neurons in cultured cortical slices are altered by either ALLO or propofol or by coapplying both agents. ⋯ In cortical neurons, GABAA receptor-mediated synaptic transmission is potentiated by ALLO and propofol in a synergistic manner, whereas the effects on spontaneous action potential activity appear additive. A coapplication of neurosteroids and propofol in general anesthesia and intensive care medicine may open new ways to reduce anesthetic dose requirements and, thus, avoid undesired anesthetic-induced side effects.