Journal of neurosurgery
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Journal of neurosurgery · Mar 1993
The perioperative use of corticosteroids and bupivacaine in the management of lumbar disc disease.
The introduction of microdiscectomy to lumbar spine surgery has resulted in a significant decrease in postoperative pain and length of hospital stay. Intraoperative application of long-acting local anesthetic agents has been used for many general and neurosurgical procedures for the management of postoperative pain. In addition, many surgeons routinely use intraoperative corticosteroids during lumbar discectomy to reduce traumatic nerve root inflammation. ⋯ Finally, a larger percentage of patients in Group 1 reported complete relief of back and radicular pain on postoperative Day 1 compared to other groups. Postoperative complications and functional outcome were not different between the groups. These results indicate that the combination of long-acting anesthetic agents and corticosteroids can reduce postoperative discomfort and subsequently the length of postoperative hospital stay.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Mar 1993
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialImproving the outcome of severe head injury with the oxygen radical scavenger polyethylene glycol-conjugated superoxide dismutase: a phase II trial.
Formation of the oxygen radical superoxide anion is one of the final events of several metabolic pathways in the cascade that leads to delayed neuronal death after traumatic or ischemic brain injury. In the laboratory, scavenging of the superoxide anion with native superoxide dismutase (SOD) or polyethylene glycol (PEG)-conjugated SOD (PEG-SOD) has been shown to be beneficial in several types of traumatic and ischemic injury. Accordingly, PEG-SOD was utilized in a randomized controlled Phase II trial to evaluate its safety and efficacy in severely head-injured patients with a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 8 or less. ⋯ Differences in outcome between the placebo group and either of the other two dosage groups were not statistically significant. It is concluded that PEG-SOD was generally well tolerated and appears promising in improving outcome after severe head injury. A larger, multicenter, Phase III trial, using a higher dose (20,000 U/kg) compared to placebo and to 10,000 U/kg of PEG-SOD is planned.