Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Oct 2023
ReviewCervical sympathectomy to treat cerebral vasospasm: a scoping review.
Delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) is the second-leading cause of death and disability in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH), and is associated with cerebral arterial vasospasm (CAV). Current treatments for CAV are expensive, invasive, and have limited efficacy. Cervical sympathetic block (CSB) is an underappreciated, but potentially highly effective therapy for CAV. ⋯ This scoping review suggests that CSB may be a viable option for treatment and prevention of CAV/DCI in patients with aSAH, although the included studies were heterogeneous, mostly observational, and with a small sample size. Further research is needed to standardize the technique and prove its effectiveness to treat patients suffering of CAV/DCI after aSAH.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Oct 2023
ReviewCervical sympathectomy to treat cerebral vasospasm: a scoping review.
Delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) is the second-leading cause of death and disability in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH), and is associated with cerebral arterial vasospasm (CAV). Current treatments for CAV are expensive, invasive, and have limited efficacy. Cervical sympathetic block (CSB) is an underappreciated, but potentially highly effective therapy for CAV. ⋯ This scoping review suggests that CSB may be a viable option for treatment and prevention of CAV/DCI in patients with aSAH, although the included studies were heterogeneous, mostly observational, and with a small sample size. Further research is needed to standardize the technique and prove its effectiveness to treat patients suffering of CAV/DCI after aSAH.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Sep 2023
ReviewThe role of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the management of perioperative peripheral nerve injury: a scoping review of the literature.
Peripheral nerve injury is an uncommon but potentially catastrophic complication of anesthesia and surgery, for which there are limited effective treatment options. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a unique medical intervention which improves tissue oxygen delivery and reduces ischemia via exposure to oxygen at supra-atmospheric partial pressures. While the application of hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been evidenced for other medical conditions involving relative tissue ischemia, its role in the management of peripheral nerve injury remains unclear. ⋯ Existing data suggest that hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a promising intervention in the management of perioperative peripheral nerve injury, in which tissue ischemia is the most common underlying mechanism of injury, neurological deficits are severe, and treatment options are sparse. This positive signal should be further investigated in prospective randomized clinical trials.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Sep 2023
ReviewThe role of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the management of perioperative peripheral nerve injury: a scoping review of the literature.
Peripheral nerve injury is an uncommon but potentially catastrophic complication of anesthesia and surgery, for which there are limited effective treatment options. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a unique medical intervention which improves tissue oxygen delivery and reduces ischemia via exposure to oxygen at supra-atmospheric partial pressures. While the application of hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been evidenced for other medical conditions involving relative tissue ischemia, its role in the management of peripheral nerve injury remains unclear. ⋯ Existing data suggest that hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a promising intervention in the management of perioperative peripheral nerve injury, in which tissue ischemia is the most common underlying mechanism of injury, neurological deficits are severe, and treatment options are sparse. This positive signal should be further investigated in prospective randomized clinical trials.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jun 2023
Review Meta AnalysisPhysical functioning following spinal cord stimulation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has emerged as an important treatment for chronic pain disorders. While there is evidence supporting improvement in pain intensity with SCS therapy, efforts to synthesize the evidence on physical functioning are lacking. ⋯ This meta-analysis highlights significant improvements in physical function after SCS therapy. However, this finding was limited by a very low GRADE certainty of evidence and high heterogeneity.