Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · May 2018
Effects of Intraneural Injection of Dexmedetomidine in Combination With Ropivacaine in Rat Sciatic Nerve Block.
Dexmedetomidine is known to have neural protection effect via attenuation of inflammatory responses induced by local anesthetics. We investigated whether intraneural dexmedetomidine is effective for attenuating or preventing neural injury resulting from inadvertent intraneural injection of local anesthetic. ⋯ Intraneural dexmedetomidine has sensory and motor blockade-enhancing effects, anti-inflammatory properties, and protective effects against neural injury. These findings suggest that dexmedetomidine as an adjuvant has beneficial effects in rat when intraneural injection of local anesthetic occurs.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · May 2018
Randomized Controlled TrialAnalgesia of Combined Femoral Triangle and Obturator Nerve Blockade Is Superior to Local Infiltration Analgesia After Total Knee Arthroplasty With High-Dose Intravenous Dexamethasone.
High-dose intravenous dexamethasone reduces the postoperative opioid requirement and is often included in the multimodal analgesia strategy after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Combined obturator nerve and femoral triangle blockade (OFB) reduces the opioid consumption and pain after TKA better than local infiltration analgesia (LIA). The question is whether preoperative high-dose intravenous dexamethasone would cancel out the superior analgesic effect of OFB compared with LIA. The aim was to evaluate the analgesic effect of OFB versus LIA after TKA when all patients received high-dose intravenous dexamethasone. ⋯ This study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT02374008.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · May 2018
Observational StudyPlasma Ropivacaine Concentrations Following Local Infiltration Analgesia in Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Pharmacokinetic Study to Determine Safety Following Fixed-Dose Administration.
The primary aim of this study was to examine the pharmacokinetics of ropivacaine in patients undergoing elective total knee arthroplasty with local infiltration analgesia as the primary analgesic method. We also sought to determine the incidence of biochemical toxicity through measurement of plasma ropivacaine concentrations over the first 24 hours postoperatively. ⋯ The peak total ropivacaine concentration was below quoted toxic concentrations (2.2 μg/mL) in all patients. This peak occurred later than has previously been described in those undergoing neuraxial or peripheral nerve block, occurring between 6 and 24 hours. The influence of age, weight, and renal function on systemic ropivacaine concentration should be considered when planning local infiltration analgesia. Female sex is a factor that has not previously been associated with peak ropivacaine concentrations.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · May 2018
Spinal Cord Stimulation 50 Years Later: Clinical Outcomes of Spinal Cord Stimulation Based on Randomized Clinical Trials-A Systematic Review.
To assess the efficacy of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for each indication, one must critically assess each specific clinical outcome to identify outcomes that benefit from SCS therapy. To date, a comprehensive review of clinically relevant outcome-specific evidence regarding SCS has not been published. We aimed to assess all randomized controlled trials from the world literature for the purpose of evaluating the clinical outcome-specific efficacy of SCS for the following outcomes: perceived pain relief or change pain score, quality of life, functional status, psychological impact, analgesic medication utilization, patient satisfaction, and health care cost and utilization. ⋯ Evidence assessments for each outcome for each indication were depicted in tabular format. Outcome-specific evidence scores were established for each of the abovementioned indications, providing both physicians and patients with a summary of evidence to assist in choosing the optimal evidence-based intervention. The evidence presented herein has broad applicability as it encompasses a breadth of patient populations, variations of SCS therapy, and comparable controls that, together, reflect comprehensive clinical decision making.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · May 2018
Spread of Quadratus Lumborum Block to the Paravertebral Space Via Intramuscular Injection: A Volunteer Study.
Several types of quadratus lumborum block (QLB) are used for postoperative analgesia and are believed to be effective against both somatic and visceral pain via a local anesthetic (LA) effect in the paravertebral space (PVS). However, it remains unclear whether all QLB techniques result in LA spread into the PVS. We hypothesized that LA administered via intramuscular QLB would spread into the paravertebral space and investigated the spread and sensory block area of LA in intramuscular QLB. ⋯ This study was registered at University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry, UMIN 000019149.