Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2001
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialClonidine versus ketamine to prevent tourniquet pain during intravenous regional anesthesia with lidocaine.
Both clonidine and ketamine have been found to prolong the action of local anesthetics through a peripheral mechanism. Our study compares the efficacy of a low dose of clonidine or ketamine separately added to intravenous regional anesthesia (IVRA) with lidocaine to prevent tourniquet pain. ⋯ The addition of clonidine 1 microg/kg or ketamine 0.1 mg/kg to lidocaine for IVRA delays the onset of unbearable tourniquet pain and decreases analgesic consumption for tourniquet pain relief, although ketamine has a more potent effect.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2001
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialEffects of intrathecal sufentanil on plasma oxytocin and cortisol concentrations in women during the first stage of labor.
Intrathecal sufentanil provides analgesia comparable to epidural bupivacaine for the first stage of labor. Both epidural local anesthetics and intrathecal opioid reduce some parameters of the neuroendocrine response to labor pain and the reflex release of oxytocin in animals. In humans, epidural local anesthetics only reduce the spurt release of oxytocin. This study compared the effect of intrathecal sufentanil and epidural bupivacaine administration on the plasma concentration of oxytocin and cortisol in women with labor pain during the first stage of labor. ⋯ Intrathecal sufentanil analgesia decreases plasma concentrations of oxytocin and cortisol in women with labor pain during the first stage of labor, but epidural bupivacaine only reduced the cortisol concentration.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2001
Case ReportsPercutaneous radiofrequency lesioning of sensory branches of the obturator and femoral nerves for the treatment of hip joint pain.
The sensory innervation of the hip joint includes the sensory articular branches of the obturator and femoral nerves. In this report, we retrospectively evaluated 14 cases in which hip joint pain was treated by percutaneous radiofrequency lesioning of sensory branches of obturator and/or femoral nerves. ⋯ Percutaneous radiofrequency lesioning of sensory branches of the obturator and femoral nerves is an alternative treatment in patients with hip joint pain, especially in those where operation is not applicable.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2001
Clinical TrialVibration sense testing with a 128-Hz tuning fork as a tool to determine recovery from epidural neuraxial block.
Vibration sense testing using a 128-Hz tuning fork is a commonly used test in the diagnosis of dorsal horn dysfunction and polyneuropathy. In this open, prospective study, we tested the hypothesis that vibration sense testing is a sensitive and specific method to assess recovery from epidural block. ⋯ Based on our observations, recovery of vibration sense corresponds with recovery of motor block after epidural anesthesia and may serve as an easy means of documenting recovery with a single test before discharge.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2001
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialEffects of epidural anesthesia on thermal sensation.
Epidural anesthesia decreases the core temperatures triggering vasoconstriction and shivering, presumably by increasing apparent (as opposed to actual) lower-body temperature. We therefore tested the hypothesis that epidural anesthesia also increases the overall perception of warmth. ⋯ Thermal sensation with and without epidural anesthesia was comparable at a lower-body temperature near 34 degrees C, which is a normal leg skin temperature. This suggests that autonomic and behavioral thermoregulatory consequences of epidural anesthesia differ-or that the current explanation for reduced vasoconstriction and shivering thresholds during epidural anesthesia is incorrect.