Anaesthesia
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Enhanced postoperative recovery programmes (ERAS) were developed about 20 years ago based on improved understanding of the pathophysiology of postoperative recovery within an integrated multidisciplinary approach. The results across surgical procedures have been extremely positive with a reduction in hospitalisation and medical complications, without increased re-admission rates. However, several challenges lie ahead including improved implementation of existing scientific evidence, increased focus on post-discharge recovery problems and a need for improved design of future ERAS studies. ⋯ These efforts should focus on: the inflammatory and neurohumoral surgical stress responses; fluid management; pain management; blood management; mechanisms of orthostatic intolerance; postoperative cognitive dysfunction; risk factors for thrombo-embolic complications; and mechanisms and prevention of postoperative ileus. Finally, more focus should be made on the different barriers to post-discharge functional recovery and the choice of (pre- and postoperative) rehabilitation. These efforts should be made on a procedure-specific as well as on a patient-specific basis.
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Observational Study
The association between genome-wide polymorphisms and chronic postoperative pain: a prospective observational study.
Chronic postoperative pain is common and can have a negative impact on quality of life. Recent studies show that genetic risk factors are likely to play a role, although only gene-targeted analysis has been used to date. This is the first genome-wide association study to identify single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with the development of chronic postoperative pain based on two independent cohorts. ⋯ A single-nucleotide polymorphism in NAV3 was significantly replicated with chronic postoperative pain in the replication cohort (p = 0.009). Meta-analysis revealed that two loci (IQGAP1 and CRTC3) were significantly associated with chronic postoperative pain at 3 months (IQGAP1 p = 3.93 × 10-6 β = 2.3863, CRTC3 p = 2.26 × 10-6 , β = 2.4209). The present genome-wide association study provides initial evidence for genetic risk factors of chronic postoperative pain and supports follow-up studies.
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Shared decision-making is central to the pre-operative consent process and accurate communication of risk is dependent on a clear understanding of numerical information by both the patient and clinician. The risk of an adverse event or complication is often described using verbal probability expressions but how these are interpreted by clinicians and patients in the pre-operative setting has not been studied. We asked patients and clinicians to assign a numerical translation (as a percentage) for seven verbal probability expressions in relation to the probability of a major peri-operative complication occurring. ⋯ Patients assigned a wider range of percentage values to each of the verbal probability expressions and these were all significantly higher than those assigned by clinicians: median (IQR [range]) negligible risk 5% (1-15 [0-100]) vs. 0% (0-0 [0-5]); minimal risk 5% (2-10) [0-100]) vs. 1% (0-1 [0-10]); low risk 10% (3-10 [0-100]) vs. 1% (0-2) [0-10]); standard risk 20% (10-40) [0-100]) vs. 1% (1-5) [0-30]); moderate risk 33% (20-50) [0-100]) vs. 5% (3-10) [0-80]); high risk 70% (30-90 [0-100]) vs. 15% (10-40) [1-75]); and very high risk 90% (50-95 [0-100]) vs. 40% (20-50 [5-100]), respectively (p < 0.005 for all comparisons). There is considerable variation in the numerical translation of verbal probability expressions by both patients and clinicians. This suggests that verbal probability expressions should not be used in isolation as part of doctor-patient discussions regarding peri-operative risk.
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Editorial Comment
Trial sequential analysis: adding a new dimension to meta-analysis.