Anesthesiology
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Comparative Study Observational Study
Volatile versus Total Intravenous Anesthesia for Cancer Prognosis in Patients Having Digestive Cancer Surgery.
Previous experimental and clinical studies have shown that anesthetic agents have varying effects on cancer prognosis; however, the results were inconsistent among these studies. The authors compared overall and recurrence-free survival in patients given volatile or intravenous anesthesia for digestive tract cancer surgery. ⋯ Overall and recurrence-free survival were similar between volatile and intravenous anesthesia in patients having digestive tract surgery. Selection of the anesthetic approach for these patients should be based on other factors.
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Experimental evidence shows postnatal exposure to anesthesia negatively affects brain development. The PDZ2 domain, mediating protein-protein interactions of the postsynaptic density-95 protein, serves as a molecular target for several inhaled anesthetics. The authors hypothesized that early postnatal disruption of postsynaptic density-95 PDZ2 domain interactions has persistent effects on dendritic spines and cognitive function. ⋯ Early disruption of PDZ2 domain-mediated protein-protein interactions mimics isoflurane in decreasing mushroom spine density and causing learning and memory deficits in mice. Prevention of the decrease in mushroom spine density with a nitric oxide donor supports a role for neuronal nitric oxide synthase pathway in mediating this cellular change associated with cognitive impairment.
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Alveolar epithelial cell apoptosis is implicated in the onset of ventilator-induced lung injury. Death-associated protein kinase 1 (DAPK1) is associated with cell apoptosis. The hypothesis was that DAPK1 participates in ventilator-induced lung injury through promoting alveolar epithelial cell apoptosis. ⋯ DAPK1 promotes the onset of ventilator-induced lung injury by triggering alveolar epithelial cell apoptosis through intrinsic apoptosis pathway in mice.