Articles: trauma.
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The use of regional anesthesia, either alone or as an adjunct to general anesthesia, is at an all-time high. Demonstrated benefits include reduced side effects, more efficient use of facilities and enhanced patient satisfaction with the improved postoperative pain relief. New advances in equipment, techniques and medications have been incorporated over the past 10 years, and especially over the last 2 years. As the number of practitioners and procedures increase, the number of complications may rise as well. ⋯ Specific needle shapes, appropriate pharmacologic resuscitation from intravascular injection of local anesthetics and institutional procedures to positively identify patients and the correct block location are all part of a strategy to minimize the occurrence of adverse outcomes and to mitigate the consequences of those adverse events when they do occur. More importantly, these are changes that can be instituted immediately with minimal expense to the institution and great benefit to the patient.
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To determine the number of brain CT scans carried out in patients with mild head injury (MHI) during 13 months of trauma registry, and to investigate means of reducing the rate of unnecessary scans. ⋯ Patients who have GCS score of 13 or 14 on admission should be considered to have a moderate rather than a mild head injury. For reduction of unnecessary brain CT scan performance in MHI patients, we must define the appropriate criteria.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Sep 2006
CommentConsidering the use of induced hypothermia in a pediatric patient with traumatic brain injury: a critical appraisal of two meta-analyses.
To review whether induced hypothermia after traumatic brain injury affects morbidity and mortality based on the results of two meta-analyses. ⋯ The discrepancies in the results of these contemporaneous meta-analyses may stem, in part, from differences in their trial selection strategies as well as from sources of trial heterogeneity. Nevertheless, McIntyre et al. uncovered the equivalent of a dose-dependent reduction in the risk of death with induced hypothermia, supporting further study of this neuroprotective strategy. Although these meta-analyses included trials containing adult patients, a phase II trial of induced hypothermia in pediatric traumatic brain injury has established its feasibility and safety in infants and children. As in adult patients, induced hypothermia for traumatic brain injury in children can be considered an optional therapy for refractory intracranial hypertension but should not be regarded as standard of care.
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Hypersensitivity to mechanical stimulation is a well documented symptom of neuropathic pain, for which there is currently no effective therapy. Src-family kinases (SFKs) are involved in proliferation and differentiation and in neuronal plasticity, including long-term potentiation, learning, and memory. Here we show that activation of SFKs induced in spinal cord microglia is crucial for mechanical hypersensitivity after peripheral nerve injury. ⋯ In contrast, there was no change in SFK phosphorylation in primary sensory neurons, and PP2 did not decrease the induction of transient receptor potential ion channel TRPV1 and TRPA1 in sensory neurons. Together, these results demonstrate that SFK activation in spinal microglia contributes to the development of mechanical hypersensitivity through the ERK pathway. Therefore, preventing the activation of the Src/ERK signaling cascade in microglia might provide a fruitful strategy for treating neuropathic pain.