Anesthesiology and pain medicine
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Occipital neuralgia is a condition manifested by chronic occipital headaches and is thought to be caused by irritation or trauma to the greater occipital nerve (GON). Treatment for occipital neuralgia includes medications, nerve blocks, and pulsed radiofrequency ablation (PRFA). Landmark-guided GON blocks are the mainstay in both the diagnosis and treatment of occipital neuralgia. ⋯ In Case 2, ultrasound was utilized to guide placement of radiofrequency probes for pulsed radiofrequency ablation of the greater occipital nerves. Both patients reported immediate, significant pain relief, with continued pain relief for several months. Further study is needed to examine any difference in outcomes or morbidity between the traditional landmark method versus ultrasound-guided blocks and pulsed radiofrequency ablation of the greater occipital nerves.
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Induction of anesthesia and endotracheal intubation often creates a period of hemodynamic instability in hypertensive patients. Endotracheal intubation of the trachea stimulates laryngeal and tracheal sensory receptors, resulting in a marked increase in the elaboration of sympathetic amines. ⋯ Fentanyl and fentanyl plus lidocaine effectively decreased the hemodynamic response to tracheal intubation, however, neither fentanyl nor fentanyl plus lidocaine, could inhibit all hemodynamic responses, moreover fentanyl plus lidocaine was not more effective than fentanyl alone.
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Colonoscopy is performed without preparing sedation in many countries. However, according to the current literature patients are more satisfied when appropriate sedation is prepared for them. ⋯ IV bolus injection of propofol-ketamine can lead to more patients' satisfaction than the other protocols during colonoscopy.
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Placement of a Blalock-Taussig (BT) shunt is frequently performed for palliation of cyanotic congenital heart disease (CCHD). ⋯ Use of inhalational anesthesia has increased in adult cardiac surgery and has proved to reduce duration of elective ventilation, decrease ICU and hospital LOS, and mortality. Inhalational anesthetics are less well-studied in CCHD. In the current study, desflurane was chosen because of its low solubility, decreased recovery time and lack of metabolism or organ system toxicities. Although it is a popular belief that desflurane is associated with tachycardia and airway irritation, findings of the current study are consistent with those of the previous works demonstrating a lack of these side effects below 1 MAC3. No hemodynamic instability was encountered and there was no evidence that desflurane exerted a negative inotropic effect. Markers of cardio protection were not examined, although desflurane may have had a renal protective effect compared to narcotic technique. In the current study, a desflurane anesthetic for BT shunt decreased the duration of mechanical ventilation and ICU and hospital LOS by nearly three days, with no difference in perioperative morbidity or mortality. Larger studies are required to determine whether these changes result in overall decreased complication rate and morbidity/mortality and whether desflurane has a cardio or renal protective effect in the patient population.