Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2009
Comparative StudyRedistribution of tissue blood flow after stellate ganglion block in the rabbit.
The goal of this study was to compare tissue blood flow at various sites before and after stellate ganglion block (SGB) and to discuss the redistribution of tissue blood flow after SGB. ⋯ These results indicate that lower limb and visceral blood flow as well as blood flow on the nonblock side are redistributed to the block side after SGB. Redistribution from peripheral tissue may have a more important role than that of visceral blood flow redistribution after SGB.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2009
Effects of dexmedetomidine pretreatment on bupivacaine cardiotoxicity in rats.
We evaluated the effects of dexmedetomidine pretreatment on bupivacaine cardiotoxicity in anesthetized rats. ⋯ Dexmedetomidine pretreatment delays the effects of bupivacaine cardiotoxicity.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2009
Pain: friend or foe? A Neurobiologic perspective: the 2008 Bonica Award Lecture.
Pain is a protective sensation, but it can also be a burden without any useful value. Pain as a friend warns of impending damage and protects the body from injury. Pain as a foe is a useless sensation that makes the underlying problem worse and becomes a disease in its own right. ⋯ However, in inflammatory and neuropathic conditions, these actions are reversed, leading to touch-evoked pain or tactile allodynia. The mechanism responsible for this reversal is a change in the synaptic actions of [gamma]-aminobutyric acid that switches from being an inhibitory neurotransmitter to an excitatory one. Our challenge was to devise methods for pain relief based on elimination of the useless aspects of pain and the restoration of the protective qualities of normal pain sensation.