Articles: anesthetics.
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Editorial Comment
Long-term evidence of neonatal anaesthesia neurotoxicity linked to behavioural phenotypes in monkeys: where do we go from here?
Whether anaesthesia exposure early in life leads to brain damage with long-lasting structural and behavioural consequences in primates has not been conclusively determined. A study in the British Journal of Anaesthesia by Neudecker and colleagues found that 2 yr after early anaesthesia exposure, monkeys exhibited signs of chronic astrogliosis which correlate with behavioural deficits. Given the increasing frequency of exposure to anaesthetics in infancy in humans, clinical trials are greatly needed to understand how sedative/anaesthetic agents may be impacting brain and behaviour development.
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In this issue of the British Journal of Anaesthesia, Joksimovic and colleagues report significant sex differences in sensitivity to the behavioural and neurophysiological effects of 3β-OH, a novel neurosteroid anesthetic. Female rats were more sensitive to the effects of 3β-OH than male rats, although the mechanims remain unclear. Sex differences have been understudied in anaesthesia research, and this article by Joksimovic and colleagues emphasizes the need to devote more effort to understanding these differences.
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Editorial Comment Meta Analysis
Pharmacotherapy for the Prevention of Chronic Pain after Surgery in Adults: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Chronic postsurgical pain can severely impair patient health and quality of life. This systematic review update evaluated the effectiveness of systemic drugs to prevent chronic postsurgical pain. ⋯ Despite agreement that chronic postsurgical pain is an important topic, extremely little progress has been made since 2013, likely due to study designs being insufficient to address the complexities of this multifactorial problem.