Journal of clinical anesthesia
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Anesthesia management with ultrasound-guided thoracic paravertebral block for donor nephrectomy: A prospective randomized study.
To determine the efficacy of ultrasound-guided thoracic paravertebral block intraoperatively and 24 hours postoperatively in patients undergoing donor nephrectomy. ⋯ Continuous thoracic paravertebral block provides good intraoperative stability with a low anesthetic requirement and reduces postoperative morphine consumption for up to 24 hours. Ultrasound guided technique enhanced the safety of TPVB and provides analgesia without major complications.
-
To determine whether having preoperative airway photographs will change the preanesthetic airway plan. ⋯ Our findings suggest that the addition of dynamic airway photographs to preoperative airway reports affects airway management plans among a variety of anesthesia care providers. In general, dynamic airway photographs can aid preoperative airway management planning.
-
Case Reports
A patient with postpolio syndrome developed cauda equina syndrome after neuraxial anesthesia: A case report.
Combined spinal anesthesia and postoperative epidural analgesia is widely used in orthopedic surgery. Uncommon but serious neurologic complications of neuraxial anesthesia (NA) include direct trauma during needle or catheter insertion, central nervous system infections, and neurotoxicity of local anesthetics. Cauda equina syndrome (CES) is a rare complication after NA but can result in severe neurologic deterioration that may require surgical intervention. ⋯ Perioperative observations and follow-up examinations, including magnetic resonance imaging, revealed no evidence of direct needle- or catheter-induced trauma, spinal hematoma, spinal ischemia, intraneural anesthetic injection, or infection. We speculate that CES symptoms were observed because of enhanced sensitivity to a combination of regional anesthetic technique-related microtrauma and neurotoxicity of bupivacaine and ropivacaine. Thus, practitioners should be aware that patients with preexisting neurologic diseases may be at increased risk for CES after NA.
-
Comparative Study
Perioperative opioid administration in children with and without developmental delay undergoing outpatient dental surgery.
Prior research has indicated that children with developmental delay (DD) experience qualitative and quantitative differences in health care (Boulet et al., 2009). In the perioperative setting, there is concern that children with DD may be more likely to experience postoperative complications including agitation and nausea/vomiting than typically developing patients (TDP). Differences in the administration and dosage of perioperative opioids may contribute to this, however, empirical investigations are lacking. The purpose of this research was to compare the experience of postoperative nausea/vomiting and agitation, as well as to examine perioperative opioid administration, among children with DD as compared to TDP. ⋯ Children with DD experience similar rates of postoperative complications including nausea/vomiting and agitation as TDP. DD children were less likely to receive both intra and postoperative opioids than TDP. Importantly, while the dosage of intraoperative opioids was predictive of administration of postoperative opioids in the TDP group, this was not the case for the DD group. Clinical implications are discussed.
-
Comparative Study
Relative costs of anesthesiologist prepared, hospital pharmacy prepared and outsourced anesthesia drugs.
Anesthesia drugs can be prepared by anesthesia providers, hospital pharmacies or outsourcing facilities. The decision whether to outsource all or some anesthesia drugs is challenging since the costs associated with different anesthesia drug preparation methods remain poorly described. ⋯ A combination of anesthesiologist and hospital pharmacy prepared drugs resulted in the lowest annual cost in the budget impact analysis. However, the cost of drugs prepared by an outsourcing facility maybe lower if the capital investment needed for the establishment and maintenance of the US Pharmacopeial Convention Chapter <797> compliant facility is included in the budget impact analysis.