British journal of anaesthesia
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Editorial Comment
'Where there's smoke': longitudinal cognitive disintegration after postoperative delirium?
Postoperative delirium is an important complication of surgery and is associated with poor long-term cognitive outcomes, although the neural basis underlying this relationship is poorly understood. Neuroimaging studies and network-based approaches play an important role in our understanding of the mechanism by which delirium relates to longitudinal cognitive decline. A recent resting state functional MRI study is reviewed, which shows reduced global connectivity up to 3 months after delirium, supporting recent models of delirium and opening the door for applying this approach to understanding the complex inter-relationship between delirium and dementia.
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Editorial Comment
Preventing difficult facemask ventilation in children: all is well that starts well.
Difficult facemask ventilation at induction of general anaesthesia can trigger hypoxaemia and inadequate ventilation if not immediately identified and adequately treated. For this reason, identification of predisposing conditions before induction of anaesthesia and causes of poor facemask ventilation are critical to avoid the subsequent complications. In a recently published secondary analysis of the Paediatric Difficult Intubation (PeDI) registry, the incidence and risk factors for difficult facemask ventilation in children with difficult tracheal intubation was described, as highlighted in the editorial.
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Little is known about the opportunities for shared decision-making when older high-risk patients are offered major surgery. This study examines how, when, and why clinicians and patients can share decision-making about major surgery. ⋯ Decisions about major surgery were not always shared between patients and doctors. The nature of the presenting problem, comorbidities, clinical pathways, and patient trajectories all informed the type of consultation and opportunities for sharing decision-making. Our findings have implications for clinicians, with shared decision-making about major surgery most feasible when the focus is on life-enhancing treatment.
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Editorial Comment
Benefits versus harm of intraoperative glucocorticoid for postoperative nausea and vomiting prophylaxis.
Intraoperative use of glucocorticoids is effective for postoperative nausea and vomiting prophylaxis and can also provide early postoperative analgesic effects, but the consequences for chronic post-surgical pain are debatable. In a secondary analysis of the large pragmatic Perioperative Administration of Dexamethasone and Infection trial (n=8478), the primary outcome of pain at the surgical wound at 6 months after surgery was increased in subjects receiving dexamethasone 8 mg i.v. for postoperative nausea and vomiting prophylaxis, a dose not associated with the detrimental effect of surgical site infection in the original study. In contrast, a more detailed assessment of chronic post-surgical pain after exclusion of patients with preoperative pain at the surgical site showed no differences with or without intraoperative dexamethasone regarding chronic post-surgical pain characteristics (intensity and neuropathic features). Because of several confounding factors especially regarding surgical details, these unexpected findings call for more well-designed studies about the potential risk of intraoperative treatments, such as glucocorticoids, on late post-surgical pain.
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Observational Study
Intraoperative hydromorphone decreases postoperative pain: an instrumental variable analysis.
Intraoperative administration of short-acting opioids might lead to increased postoperative pain and opioid requirements. There are few data describing the effects of intermediate-duration opioids such as hydromorphone on these outcomes. We have previously shown that a switch from a 2 mg to a 1 mg vial of hydromorphone was associated with decreased intraoperative dose administration. As presentation dose affected intraoperative hydromorphone administration and was unrelated to other policy changes, it could serve as an instrumental variable, assuming significant secular trends were not present during the study period. ⋯ This study suggests that intraoperative administration of intermediate-duration opioids does not cause the same effects as short-acting opioids with respect to postoperative pain. Instrumental variables can be used to estimate causal effects using observation data when unmeasured confounding is present.