Anesthesia and analgesia
-
Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2019
Comparative StudyRetrospective Comparison of 2 Management Strategies for Perioperative Malaria Episodes in Pediatric Patients in a Limited-Resource Setting.
Malaria is a common problem throughout the world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where 90% of all deaths in the world from malaria occur. While many studies on malaria are available in the medical literature, few publications have addressed the problems of managing malaria during surgery and anesthesia. At a newly opened hospital in Niger, we initiated further studies to evaluate our process of managing malaria when we had a number of problems in our first group of pediatric patients having elective cleft lip and palate repairs. Many patients had fevers during and soon after surgery and were found to have clinical malaria, despite recent treatment. ⋯ Pediatric patients in many areas of the world often present with a high risk for malaria in the perioperative time frame. Treatment with artemisinin-based therapy 3-7 days before elective surgeries may be an effective method to reduce the risks of febrile episodes and clinical malaria during and after surgery in areas of high transmission. However, these results may be limited by (1) the presence of nonfalciparum malarias, some of which may require prolonged treatment for hepatic cryptogenic malaria; (2) the potential for complications related to counterfeit medications; and (3) international efforts at malaria eradication, especially when considering the use of malaria medications that have the potential to develop drug resistance.
-
We describe a modified technique for percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy using a 15F tube exchanger or Eschmann catheter. A retrospective review of 1180 procedures using this modified technique demonstrated it to be effective with a failure rate of only 0.25% (3 patients). ⋯ This technique needs no additional special devices or equipment (eg, a bronchoscope). However, a prospective study is needed to better define its complication rate.
-
Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2019
Observational StudyEvaluation of Almitrine Infusion During Veno-Venous Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome in Adults.
This single-center case series investigated the effect of almitrine infusion on PaO2/fraction of inspired oxygen (FIO2) in 25 patients on veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. A positive trial was defined as an increase of PaO2/FIO2 ratio ≥20%. ⋯ A focal acute respiratory distress syndrome and inhaled nitric oxide therapy were more frequent in patients with a positive response to almitrine. We observed no complications of almitrine use.
-
Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2019
Spinal Activation of Tropomyosin Receptor Kinase-B Recovers the Impaired Endogenous Analgesia in Neuropathic Pain Rats.
Although endogenous analgesia plays an important role in controlling pain states, chronic pain patients exhibit decreased endogenous analgesia compared to healthy individuals. In rats, noxious stimulus-induced analgesia (NSIA), which is an indicator of endogenous analgesia, diminished 6 weeks after spinal nerve ligation (SNL6W). A recent study in rats with deleted noradrenergic fibers demonstrated that the noradrenergic fibers were essential to NSIA. It has also been reported that brain-derived neurotrophic factor increased spinal noradrenergic fibers. Therefore, this study examined the effect of TrkB activation, which is the receptor for brain-derived neurotrophic factor, on impaired NSIA in SNL6W rats. In addition, we also examined the effect of endogenous analgesia on acute incisional pain. ⋯ Spinal activation of TrkB may recover the attenuated endogenous analgesia by improving the adrenergic plasticity, thereby leading to prevention of pain prolongation after surgery.