Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 2023
ReviewNitrous Oxide Use in Australian Health Care: Strategies to Reduce the Climate Impact.
Nitrous oxide is a useful inhaled analgesic. Due to its high global warming potential and ozone-depleting properties, the nitrous oxide emissions related to health care are being increasingly scrutinized. In this narrative review, we will discuss the clinical uses of nitrous oxide relevant to anesthetists, in addition to its contribution as a greenhouse gas. ⋯ These include destruction of captured nitrous oxide, minimizing nitrous oxide waste and reducing clinical use. Anesthesia clinicians are well placed to raise awareness with colleagues and consumers regarding the environmental impact of nitrous oxide and to promote cleaner alternatives. Reducing use is likely to be the most promising reduction strategy without large-scale changes to infrastructure and subsequent delay in action.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 2023
ReviewMachine Vision and Image Analysis in Anesthesia: Narrative Review and Future Prospects.
Machine vision describes the use of artificial intelligence to interpret, analyze, and derive predictions from image or video data. Machine vision-based techniques are already in clinical use in radiology, ophthalmology, and dermatology, where some applications currently equal or exceed the performance of specialty physicians in areas of image interpretation. While machine vision in anesthesia has many potential applications, its development remains in its infancy in our specialty. ⋯ The performance and potential uses of machine vision for anesthesia will only grow with the advancement of underlying machine vision algorithm technical performance developed outside of medicine, such as convolutional neural networks and transfer learning. This article summarizes recently published works of interest, provides a brief overview of techniques used to create machine vision applications, explains frequently used terms, and discusses challenges the specialty will encounter as we embrace the advantages that this technology may bring to future clinical practice and patient care. As machine vision emerges onto the clinical stage, it is critically important that anesthesiologists are prepared to confidently assess which of these devices are safe, appropriate, and bring added value to patient care.