British journal of anaesthesia
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Clinical Trial
Pharmacodynamic mechanism-based interaction model for the haemodynamic effects of remifentanil and propofol in healthy volunteers.
Propofol and remifentanil are frequently combined for the induction and maintenance of general anaesthesia. Both propofol and remifentanil cause vasodilation and potentially reduce arterial BP. We aimed to develop a mechanism-based model that characterises the haemodynamic interactions between remifentanil and propofol. ⋯ NCT02043938; NCT03143972.
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Editorial Comment
Depth of anaesthesia monitoring: time to reject the index?
Depth of anaesthesia monitors can fail to detect consciousness under anaesthesia, primarily because they rely on the frontal EEG, which does not arise from a neural correlate of consciousness. A study published in a previous issue of the British Journal of Anaesthesia showed that indices produced by the different commercial monitors can give highly discordant results when analysing changes in the frontal EEG. Anaesthetists could benefit from routinely assessing the raw EEG and its spectrogram, rather than relying solely on an index produced by a depth of anaesthesia monitor.
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Editorial Comment
Amyloid beta and postoperative delirium: partners in crime or strangers in the dark?
Postoperative delirium is a particularly debilitating complication of surgery and perioperative care. Although the aetiology of postoperative delirium is not entirely understood, recent evidence suggests that Alzheimer's disease and related dementias pathology plays an important role in the development of postoperative delirium. A recent study evaluating postoperative changes in plasma beta amyloid (Aβ) levels found increased Aβ across the postoperative period, but the association with postoperative delirium incidence and severity was variable. These findings support the idea that Alzheimer's disease and related dementias pathology in combination with blood-brain barrier dysfunction and neuroinflammation may impart risk for postoperative delirium.
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Comment Letter Randomized Controlled Trial
Serratus anterior and pectoralis plane blocks for robotically assisted mitral valve repair: a randomised clinical trial. Comment on Br J Anaesth 2023; 130: 786-794.