Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Feb 2019
ReviewElectroencephalography and Brain Oxygenation Monitoring in the Perioperative Period.
Maintaining brain function and integrity is a pivotal part of anesthesiological practice. The present overview aims to describe the current role of the 2 most frequently used monitoring methods for evaluation brain function in the perioperative period, ie, electroencephalography (EEG) and brain oxygenation monitoring. Available evidence suggests that EEG-derived parameters give additional information about depth of anesthesia for optimizing anesthetic titration. ⋯ The latter method has increasingly been accepted clinically due to its ease of use and increasing evidence that near-infrared spectroscopy-derived cerebral oxygen saturation levels are associated with neurological and/or general perioperative complications and increased mortality. Furthermore, a goal-directed strategy aiming to avoid cerebral desaturations might help to reduce these complications. Recent evidence points out that this technology may additionally be used to assess autoregulation of cerebral blood flow and thereby help to titrate arterial blood pressure to the individual needs and for bedside diagnosis of disturbed autoregulation.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Feb 2019
Emergency Department Airway Management Responsibilities in the United States.
In the 1990s, emergency medicine (EM) physicians were responsible for intubating about half of the patients requiring airway management in emergency rooms. Since then, no studies have characterized the airway management responsibilities in the emergency room. ⋯ The majority of institutions have EM physicians managing their airways in both emergency rooms and trauma bays. This may support the observations of an increased percentage of airway management in the emergency room and trauma bay setting by EM physicians compared to 20 years ago.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Feb 2019
Opioid Oversupply After Joint and Spine Surgery: A Prospective Cohort Study.
Many patients receive prescription opioids at hospital discharge after surgery, yet little is known regarding how often these opioids go unused. We estimated the prevalence of unused opioids, use of nonopioid analgesics, and storage and disposal practices after same-day and inpatient surgery. ⋯ After joint and spine surgery, many patients reported unused opioids, infrequent use of analgesic alternatives, and lack of knowledge regarding safe opioid storage and disposal. Interventions are needed to better tailor postoperative analgesia and improve the safe storage and disposal of prescription opioids.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Feb 2019
Relationship Between Preoperative Antidepressant and Antianxiety Medications and Postoperative Hospital Length of Stay.
Patients on antidepressant or antianxiety medications often have complex perioperative courses due to difficult pain management, altered coping mechanisms, or medication-related issues. This study examined the relationship between preoperative antidepressants and antianxiety medications on postoperative hospital length of stay while controlling for confounding variables. ⋯ The association between antidepressants or antianxiety medications and increased postoperative length of stay suggests that these patients may require greater attention in the perioperative period to hasten recovery, which may involve integrating preoperative counseling, postoperative psychiatric consults, or holistic recovery approaches into enhanced recovery protocols.