Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Shivering, which usually occurs as a thermoregulatory response to cold, may also occur following general or neuraxial anesthesia. Some of the causative factors of this type of shivering may be common to both, but some are particular to neuraxial anesthesia. ⋯ Both pharmacological and nonpharmacological mechanisms have been found to be effective in reducing this shivering. This review aims to elucidate the mechanisms of the shivering that occurs during neuraxial anesthesia, and to examine strategies for prevention and treatment of this shivering.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · May 2008
Intensity of the stimulating current may not be a reliable indicator of intraneural needle placement.
The current intensity at which a motor response is elicited with an intraneural needle placement has been inadequately studied. We hypothesized that electrical current delivered through an intraneurally placed needle does not always result in an evoked motor response. Our secondary objective was to determine the relationship between electrical current intensity and needle-to-nerve distance. ⋯ Specific response to nerve stimulation with currents <0.2 mA occurred only when the needle tip was positioned intraneurally. However, motor response could be absent with intraneural needle placement at a current intensity of up to 1.7 mA.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · May 2008
Contralateral neuropathic pain following a surgical model of unilateral nerve injury in rats.
Damage to peripheral nerves provokes chronic neuropathic pain that lasts beyond the duration of the nerve injury. The presence of pain signs have been reported in areas other than those attributed to the injured nerve, i.e., in contralateral regions. We evaluated the presence, magnitude, and chronology of mechanical and cold allodynia in the contralateral paw of rats undergoing unilateral ligation of the L5 and L6 spinal nerves. ⋯ After L5 and L6 spinal nerve ligation, rats developed mechanical and cold allodynia in the contralateral paw, suggesting extraterritorial development of neuropathic signs. This finding has implications for future study design and therapeutic approaches.