Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2018
Meta AnalysisDexamethasone as an Adjuvant for Caudal Blockade in Pediatric Surgical Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Caudal block is commonly used to provide postoperative analgesia after pediatric surgery in the lower abdomen. Typically administered as a single-shot technique, 1 limitation of this block is the short duration of analgesia. To overcome this, dexamethasone has been used as an adjuvant to prolong block duration. However, there are concerns about steroid-related morbidity and the optimal route of dexamethasone administration (eg, caudal or intravenous) is unknown. ⋯ Caudal and intravenous dexamethasone are similarly effective for prolonging the duration of analgesia from caudal blockade, resulting in a doubled to tripled duration. Given the off-label status of caudal dexamethasone, intravenous administration is recommended-although only high intravenous doses (0.5 mg/kg up to 10 mg) have been studied.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2018
Randomized Controlled TrialA Randomized Trial of Continuous Noninvasive Blood Pressure Monitoring During Noncardiac Surgery.
Intraoperative hypotension is associated with postoperative mortality. Early detection of hypotension by continuous hemodynamic monitoring might prompt timely therapy, thereby reducing intraoperative hypotension. We tested the hypothesis that continuous noninvasive blood pressure monitoring reduces intraoperative hypotension. ⋯ Continuous noninvasive hemodynamic monitoring nearly halved the amount of intraoperative hypotension. Hypotension reduction with continuous monitoring, while statistically significant, is currently of uncertain clinical importance.