American journal of therapeutics
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Labor analgesia researchers have pursued better and safer ways to provide pain relief in labor. Although some pharmacologic investigations have focused on alternative mechanisms to target and medications to employ, a large part of the recent obstetric anesthesiology literature has contributed toward the safety and efficacy of techniques dependent on traditional therapeutics, specifically local anesthetics given through a neuraxial anesthetic technique. Investigators have worked to demonstrate and remove doubts that neuraxial anesthesia can be a safe method of labor analgesia. ⋯ To avoid excessive dosages, clinical up-down sequential allocation experiments identified the minimum amounts of local analgesia needed. Modifications to the administration of drug allowed total doses to be further reduced. This historical overview highlights some of these important advances in the present and recent past of neuraxial labor analgesia, and it traces how desired outcomes are being achieved with less and less total drug.
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Zolpidem is a nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic with a favorable adverse effect profile. There are single reports of respiratory decompensation associated with zolpidem overdose. ⋯ Supportive management led to a complete recovery of neurologic function. Acute zolpidem overdose should be considered in the differential diagnosis of coma with absent brainstem reflexes.
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Fibromyalgia is a complex condition that is characterized by chronic widespread pain and multiple other symptoms, including fatigue, sleep disturbances, cognitive dysfunction, stiffness, and depressive episodes. Fibromyalgia may coexist and/or overlap with other conditions that may involve central sensitivity, including chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, irritable bladder syndrome or interstitial cystitis, and temporomandibular disorder. The pathophysiology of fibromyalgia remains uncertain but is believed to be partly the result of central systems affecting afferent processing as well as impaired endogenous pain-inhibitory systems. ⋯ Fibromyalgia remains a clinical diagnosis. There has been a recent paradigm shift away from requiring 11 or more out of 18 tender points and instead focusing on the presence of chronic widespread pain as well as symptoms of fatigue, unrefreshed sleep, and other somatic complaints. Although there is no known cure for fibromyalgia, multidisciplinary team efforts using combined treatment approaches, including patient education, aerobic exercise, cognitive behavioral therapy, and pharmacologic therapies (serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors [eg, duloxetine, milnacipran] and alpha 2-delta receptor ligands [eg, pregabalin]) may improve symptoms as well as function of patients with fibromyalgia.
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We report the case of an elderly patient with diastolic heart failure and renal insufficiency admitted to hospital as he complained of having a history of hypogastric pain and dysuria without fever due to renal lithiasis and urinary infection. Because the pain was persistence, and considering the presence of renal dysfunction, it was administered a single low dose of paracetamol/codein (500/30 mg). After about 1 hour of the administration, he suddenly complained of the onset of a lancinating epigastric pain radiating to the whole abdomen and retrosternum accompanied by nausea. ⋯ The likely underlying pathophysiological mechanism is the codein-induced spasm of the sphincter of Oddi combined with dysfunction of the same sphincter and reduced bile storage capacity related to a previous cholecystectomy. When a similar event does not regress, it may lead to more severe conditions such as acute pancreatitis. Since codein is a widely used drug, this report may suggest cholecystectomy as a contraindication during administration for the risk of occurrence of these complications.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Does HBOC-201 (Hemopure) affect platelet function in orthopedic surgery: a single-site analysis from a multicenter study.
HBOC-201, Hemoglobin glutamer-250 (bovine), (Biopure Corp., Cambridge, MA) has been studied in an international, multicenter, pivotal Phase III trial. A subset analysis of use of blood products indicated that the HBOC-201 group required no more than the packed red blood cell (PRBC) group and was limited to less than 6% in both treatment groups. In a subset analysis from one site, platelet function using PFA-100 was assessed before and after transfusion, and compared those receiving HBOC-201 versus PRBC. ⋯ Our study shows that HBOC-201 causes mild platelet dysfunction. Although there were significant changes after HBOC infusion and cEPI and cADP mean values were above the upper normal limit, they did not reach the non-closure time. Further controlled studies are needed to establish definitively the effects that HBOC-201 has on platelet function in patients.