The Veterinary clinics of North America. Small animal practice
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Vet. Clin. North Am. Small Anim. Pract. · Nov 2008
ReviewAnalgesia for the critically ill dog or cat: an update.
Acute pain reliably accompanies severe illness and injury, and when sufficiently severe, it can complicate the recovery of critically ill patients. Because acute pain is closely tied to the neurologic process of nociception, pharmacologic therapy is often essential and effective. This update focuses on two methods of treatment of acute pain-local anesthetic infusion and continuous intravenous infusion of multimodal agents-that can be layered on top of standard care with other drugs.
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Vet. Clin. North Am. Small Anim. Pract. · Nov 2008
ReviewParavertebral blockade of the brachial plexus in dogs.
Local anesthetic techniques have the unique ability to block peripheral nociceptive input associated with surgical trauma and inflammation and to prevent sensitization of central nociceptive pathways and the development of pathologic pain. Complete neural blockade of the canine brachial plexus is difficult to achieve using the traditional axillary technique. ⋯ Both techniques are relatively easy to perform and produce complete blockade of the forelimb, including the shoulder. A review of relevant clinical anatomy and guidelines for using electrical nerve locators are also included.
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Vet. Clin. North Am. Small Anim. Pract. · Nov 2008
ReviewMultimodal pain management in veterinary medicine: the physiologic basis of pharmacologic therapies.
Multimodal analgesia refers to the practice of combining multiple analgesic drug classes or techniques to target different points along the pain pathway in an effort to improve analgesia. This strategy requires an understanding of pain physiology and pathophysiology so pharmacologic interventions can be tailored to meet the needs of the patient. This article reviews the physiologic basis of pain as it relates to analgesic treatments and also introduces new developments in molecular biology that may guide analgesic drug development in the future.
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Vet. Clin. North Am. Small Anim. Pract. · Nov 2008
ReviewEpidural analgesia and anesthesia in dogs and cats.
Current knowledge of drugs administered epidurally has allowed an effective way of providing analgesia for a wide variety of conditions in veterinary patients. Proper selection of drugs and dosages can result in analgesia of specific segments of the spinal cord with minimal side effects. Epidural anesthesia is an alternative to general anesthesia with inhalation anesthetics, although the combination of both techniques is more common and allows for reduced doses of drugs used with each technique. Epidural anesthesia and intravenous anesthetics can also be used without inhalation anesthetics in surgical procedures caudal to the diaphragm.