Aǧrı : Ağrı (Algoloji) Derneği'nin Yayın organıdır = The journal of the Turkish Society of Algology
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Case Reports
Awake hand surgery under ultrasound-guided infraclavicular block is possible for cooperative children.
In recent years, brachial plexus anesthesia techniques for upper limb surgery have been used more and more commonly on children; however, the patient is typically under deep sedation or general anesthesia. For eligible, cooperative children, surgery can also be performed using regional blocks while the patient is awake. We present 5 cases in which Ultrasound (US)-guided infraclavicular brachial plexus blocks (ICB) were used on children for hand or forearm surgery. Surgical anesthesia was achieved in all patients and surgery was completed uneventfully using brachial plexus anesthesia, without need for deep sedation.
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The aim of the present study was to examine the presence of fibromyalgia (FM) in elderly adults and to evaluate the impact of the severity of FM on quality of life. ⋯ Although FM is known as a disease of young and middle-aged women, our study indicates that its prevalence increases with age. FM is associated with poor quality of life in terms of pain, sleep, social, and emotional functions.
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Pain is one of the most important symptoms in palliative care, and has a major impact on the quality of life of cancer patients. In developing countries, difficult access to opioids and the lack of well-established palliative care organizations result in undertreatment of pain. Turkey is one of the countries with statistical evidence of inadequate morphine consumption per capita. In 2010, the adequacy of opioid analgesic consumption was only 7%, based on a per capita consumption of 14.31 mg morphine equivalents. The present study analyzed and described patterns of opioid use among cancer patients in the palliative care clinic. ⋯ Although there is a limited variety of opioids currently available in this country, it is thought that a more effective and adequate level of pain management can be obtained through education of health practitioners about pain management and opioid use. The relatively high incidence of weak opioid use may be associated with the lack of available rapid release opioids in the country.