Anesthesiology
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Xenon is a noble gas with anesthetic properties currently under investigation for use in humans. This study was performed to evaluate whether xenon may trigger malignant hyperthermia in susceptible swine. ⋯ The authors conclude that xenon does not trigger malignant hyperthermia in susceptible swine.
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Editorial Comment Comparative Study
Obstetric anesthesia: what have you done for us lately?
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Effect of mivazerol on perioperative cardiac complications during non-cardiac surgery in patients with coronary heart disease: the European Mivazerol Trial (EMIT).
Mivazerol is a drug with alpha2-agonist properties that reduces post-ganglionic noradrenaline availability and spinal efferent sympathetic output. ⋯ The alpha2-adrenergic agonist, mivazerol, did not alter the rates of myocardial infarction or cardiac death in patients with known coronary heart disease undergoing noncardiac surgery. However, it may have protected patients undergoing vascular surgery from further coronary events, and a specific study of such patients is now indicated.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Randomized trial of hypotensive epidural anesthesia in older adults.
Data are sparse on the incidence of postoperative cognitive, cardiac, and renal complications after deliberate hypotensive anesthesia in elderly patients. ⋯ Elderly patients can safely receive controlled hypotensive epidural anesthesia with this protocol. There was no evidence of greater risks, or early benefits, with the use of the more markedly hypotensive range.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Is combined spinal-epidural analgesia associated with more rapid cervical dilation in nulliparous patients when compared with conventional epidural analgesia?
The combined spinal-epidural technique provides rapid onset of labor analgesia and, anecdotally, is associated with labors of shorter duration. Epidural analgesia, by contrast, has been suggested to prolong labor modestly. It is unclear, however, whether more rapid cervical dilation in patients who receive combined spinal-epidural analgesia is a physiologic effect of the technique or an artifact of patient selection. The authors hypothesized that anesthetic technique may influence the rate of cervical dilation, and we compared the effects of combined spinalepidural with those of epidural analgesia on the rate of cervical dilation. ⋯ In healthy nulliparous parturients in early labor, combined spinal-epidural analgesia is associated with more rapid cervical dilation compared with epidural analgesia. Further study is needed to elicit the cause and overall effect of this difference.