Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jul 2014
Multicenter StudyAsleep Versus Awake: Does It Matter?: Pediatric Regional Block Complications by Patient State: A Report From the Pediatric Regional Anesthesia Network.
Performing regional anesthetic blocks in children under general anesthesia is as safe as in sedated or awake children.
pearl -
Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jul 2014
Multicenter StudyCan Changes in Vital Signs Be Used to Predict the Response to Lumbar Facet Blocks and Radiofrequency Denervation? A Prospective, Correlational Study.
Facet joint radiofrequency (RF) ablation is characterized by a high failure rate, which is partly due to the fact that pain relief after diagnostic blocks is inherently subjective. An area that has yet to be explored is whether more objective measures, such as changes in vital signs after blocks, might be used to predict treatment outcomes. ⋯ Although a decrease in DBP of more than 7.5 mm Hg had 97.3% specificity and 85.7% positive predictive value for predicting positive RF ablation outcomes, the low negative predictive value (56.3%) precludes its use as a solitary screening tool. An algorithm based on age, baseline NRS pain score, and a significant decrease in DBP was able to predict 76.7% (range, 65.8%-86.3%) of RF denervation outcomes.