Articles: postoperative.
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alpha(2)-Adrenozeptoragonisten agonists have shown antinociceptive and analgesic effects, which are not antagonized by naloxone. Therefore, the mechanism of action should be independent of opioid receptors. Most studies on this topic have been performed using clonidine. Experimentally the analgesic effect of clonidine can be suppressed by the inhibition of central adrenergic receptors. Furthermore, clonidine has analgesic effects at the spinal level. During recent years numerous studies have shown the analgesic effect of spinally or epidurally administered clonidine in humans. However, only very few studies have investigated the analgesic effect of parenterally administered clonidine in humans. ⋯ In our study the analgesic effect of 150 mug clonidine i.v. was equivalent to that of 5 mg morphine i.v. and 50 mg tramadol. Our results in humans confirm the dosage relationship of 1ratio30 found by Eisenach in sheep. Further studies on the use of parenteral clonidine for postoperative analgesia seem to be warranted.
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In 60 women undergoing vaginal hysterectomy, a total of 420 pain evaluations of postoperative pain intensity were performed by an observer and the patients. Pain intensity was rated by the observer on a visual analogue scale. The patients themselves evaluated their pain on a visual analogue scale and on a 101-point numerical rating scale. ⋯ The correlation between patients' self-assessments and observers' ratings was poor (r (2)=0.28;y=0.66x+31.3). There was also no clear correlation between pain intensity and heart rate or arterial blood pressure. A reliable assessment of pain intensity can only be performed by patients' self-assessment and not by observers' ratings.
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Perioperative myocardial ischaemia is common in patients who have or are at risk of coronary artery disease, occurring frequently in the pre-, intra- and postoperative periods. The majority of perioperative ischaemic episodes are silent, being unaccompanied by any symptoms of angina. ⋯ Maintenance of haemodynamic stability is important to reduce the incidence of myocardial ischemia, but ischaemia may occur in the absence of adverse haemodynamic changes. Although our efforts have largely been devoted to the prevention and treatment of intraoperative ischaemia, it is hoped that similar efforts outside the operating room in the postoperative period will further improve patient care and outcome.
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Numerous postoperative analgesic therapies are continuing to develop as interest increases in the control of acute pain, particularly within the specialty of anaesthesia. Further progress will be made in the near future in relation to preemptive analgesia and reduction of postoperative pain by controlling spinal cord plasticity.(41,42) The concept of multimodal or balanced analgesia(43) in which the combined use of specific agents blocking specific segments of the pain pathway is another area which may provide improvements in postoperative analgesia.
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The outcome of disk surgery in 40 consecutive patients was predicted by pre-treatment assessments of sociodemographic and psychological variables and findings in a standardised orthopaedic and neurological examination. The pre-surgery variables that proved to be associated with outcome criteria six months post surgery by means of a multiple stepwise regression procedure were selected for discriminant analyses, using three outcome criteria: functional status, patient evaluation of the outcome, and vocational rehabilitation. ⋯ No prediction was possible for postoperative pain behaviour and postoperative orthopaedic and neurological status. Significant predictors were time off work before surgery, active search for information about disease and surgery, presence of conditions that reinforce pain behaviour, and cognitive variables indicating helplessness.