Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Dec 2021
Statistics From A (Agreement) to Z (z Score): A Guide to Interpreting Common Measures of Association, Agreement, Diagnostic Accuracy, Effect Size, Heterogeneity, and Reliability in Medical Research.
Researchers reporting results of statistical analyses, as well as readers of manuscripts reporting original research, often seek guidance on how numeric results can be practically and meaningfully interpreted. With this article, we aim to provide benchmarks for cutoff or cut-point values and to suggest plain-language interpretations for a number of commonly used statistical measures of association, agreement, diagnostic accuracy, effect size, heterogeneity, and reliability in medical research. Specifically, we discuss correlation coefficients, Cronbach's alpha, I2, intraclass correlation (ICC), Cohen's and Fleiss' kappa statistics, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC, concordance statistic), standardized mean differences (Cohen's d, Hedge's g, Glass' delta), and z scores. ⋯ We discuss the well-known inherent limitations of using cutoff values to categorize continuous measures. We further emphasize that cutoff values may depend on the specific clinical or scientific context. Rule-of-the thumb approaches to the interpretation of statistical measures should therefore be used judiciously.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Dec 2021
Randomized Controlled TrialRapid Sequence Induction With a Standard Intubation Dose of Rocuronium After Magnesium Pretreatment Compared With Succinylcholine: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
Succinylcholine remains the muscle relaxant of choice for rapid sequence induction (RSI) but has many adverse effects. High-dose rocuronium bromide may be an alternative to succinylcholine for RSI but recovery times are nearly doubled compared with a standard intubating dose of rocuronium. Magnesium sulfate significantly shortens the onset time of a standard intubating dose of rocuronium. We set out to investigate whether intravenous (IV) pretreatment with MgSO4 followed by a standard intubating dose of rocuronium achieved superior intubation conditions compared with succinylcholine. ⋯ IV pretreatment with MgSO4 followed by a standard intubating dose of rocuronium did not provide superior intubation conditions to succinylcholine but had fewer adverse effects.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Dec 2021
Randomized Controlled TrialKetamine Alleviates Depressive Symptoms in Patients Undergoing Intracranial Tumor Resection: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Depressive symptoms occur in over 40% of neurosurgical patients during the perioperative period. However, no measure has been suggested to have a rapid effect on depressive surgical patients during increasingly shorter stays in the hospital. This study aimed to determine whether ketamine could improve depressive symptoms rapidly and safely during the hospital stay. ⋯ The trial indicates that the intraoperative administration of ketamine could alleviate moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms in neurosurgical patients without worsening safety.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Dec 2021
Observational StudyEfficiency Metrics at an Academic Freestanding Ambulatory Surgery Center: Analysis of the Impact on Scheduled End-Times.
Understanding the impact of key metrics on operating room (OR) efficiency is important to optimize utilization and reduce costs, particularly in freestanding ambulatory surgery centers. The aim of this study was to assess the association between commonly used efficiency metrics and scheduled end-time accuracy. ⋯ Standard efficiency metrics are similarly associated with scheduled end-time accuracy, and addressing problems in each is requisite to having an efficient ambulatory surgery center. Pursuing methods to narrow the gap between scheduled and actual case duration may result in a more productive enterprise.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Dec 2021
Randomized Controlled TrialImpact of Bilateral Subcostal Plus Lateral Transversus Abdominis Plane Block on Quality of Recovery After Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial.
Previous research has not evaluated the potential effect of transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block on quality of recovery following laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Therefore, we investigated whether addition of the bilateral subcostal and lateral TAP (bilateral dual TAP [BD-TAP]) blocks to multimodal analgesia would improve the quality of recovery as assessed with the Quality of Recovery-40 (QoR-40). ⋯ Our results indicate that the BD-TAP block does not improve the quality of recovery or analgesic outcomes following laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Our results do not support the routine use of the BD-TAP block for this surgery.