Articles: cations.
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J Clin Monit Comput · Apr 2024
ReviewClosed-loop anesthesia: foundations and applications in contemporary perioperative medicine.
A closed-loop automatically controls a variable using the principle of feedback. Automation within anesthesia typically aims to improve the stability of a controlled variable and reduce workload associated with simple repetitive tasks. This approach attempts to limit errors due to distractions or fatigue while simultaneously increasing compliance to evidence based perioperative protocols. ⋯ Despite their advantages, these tools still require that a well-trained practitioner maintains situation awareness, understands how closed-loop systems react to each variable, and is ready to retake control if the closed-loop systems fail. In the future, multiple input multiple output closed-loop systems will control anesthetic, fluid and vasopressor titration and may perhaps integrate other key systems, such as the anesthesia machine. Human supervision will nonetheless always be indispensable as situation awareness, communication, and prediction of events remain irreplaceable human factors.
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J Neurosurg Anesthesiol · Apr 2024
Observational StudyEffect of Repeated Exposure to Sevoflurane on Electroencephalographic Alpha Oscillation in Pediatric Patients Undergoing Radiation Therapy: A Prospective Observational Study.
Pharmacological tolerance is defined as a decrease in the effect of a drug over time, or the need to increase the dose to achieve the same effect. It has not been established whether repeated exposure to sevoflurane induces tolerance in children. ⋯ Our results suggest that children undergoing repeated anesthesia exposure for radiotherapy do not develop tolerance to sevoflurane. However, we found that a group of patients exhibited a reduction in the alpha relative power as a function of anesthetic exposure. These results may have implications that justify further studies.
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Paralysis after spinal cord injury involves damage to pathways that connect neurons in the brain to peripheral nerves in the limbs. Re-establishing this communication using neural interfaces has the potential to bridge the gap and restore upper extremity function to people with high tetraplegia. We report a novel approach for restoring upper extremity function using selective peripheral nerve stimulation controlled by intracortical microelectrode recordings from sensorimotor networks, along with restoration of tactile sensation of the hand using intracortical microstimulation. ⋯ The combination of implanted cortical electrodes and nerve cuff electrodes has the potential to create bidirectional restoration of motor and sensory functions of the arm and hand after neurological injury.
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Frailty is increasingly prevalent in the aging neurosurgical population and is an important component of perioperative risk stratification and optimization to reduce complications. Frailty is measured using the phenotypic or deficit accumulation models, with simplified tools most commonly used in studies of neurosurgical patients. ⋯ Evidence for interventions to improve outcomes for frail neurosurgical patients is limited, and the role of bundled care pathways, prehabilitation, and multidisciplinary involvement requires further investigation. Surgery itself may be an intervention to improve frailty in selected patients, and future research should focus on identifying effective interventions to improve both short-term complications and long-term outcomes.
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Localized provoked vulvodynia is characterized by chronic vulvar pain that disrupts every aspect of the patient's life. Pain is localized to the vulvar vestibule, a specialized ring of tissue immediately surrounding the vaginal opening involved in immune defense. In this article, we show inflammation is the critical first step necessary for the generation of pain signals in the vulva. ⋯ Activity is blocked by the TRPV4 antagonist HC067047, denoting specificity to TRPV4. Using lipidomics, we found pro-resolving lipids in the vulvar vestibule were dysregulated, characterized by a reduction in pro-resolving mediators and heightened production of inflammatory mediators. We demonstrate specialized pro-resolving mediators represent a potential new therapy for vulvar pain, acting on 2 key parts of the disease mechanism by limiting inflammation and acutely inhibiting TRPV4 signaling.