Anesthesiology
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Dexamethasone Dose and Early Postoperative Recovery after Mastectomy: A Double-blind, Randomized Trial.
Pain and nausea are the most common challenges in postoperative recovery after mastectomy. Preventive measures include multimodal analgesia with preoperative glucocorticoid. The aim of this study was to investigate whether 24 mg of preoperative dexamethasone was superior to 8 mg on early recovery after mastectomy in addition to a simple analgesic protocol. ⋯ The authors found no evidence of 24 mg versus 8 mg of dexamethasone affecting the primary outcome regarding immediate recovery after mastectomy. The authors observed a short length of stay and low pain scores despite a simple analgesic protocol.
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Multicenter Study
Lung Ultrasound in Emergency and Critically Ill Patients: Number of Supervised Exams to Reach Basic Competence.
Lung ultrasound is increasingly used in critically ill patients as an alternative to bedside chest radiography, but the best training method remains uncertain. This study describes a training curriculum allowing trainees to acquire basic competence. ⋯ A training curriculum including 25 transthoracic ultrasound examinations supervised by an expert provides the basic skills for diagnosing normal lung aeration, interstitial-alveolar syndrome, and consolidation in emergency and critically ill patients.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Suture-method versus Through-the-needle Catheters for Continuous Popliteal-sciatic Nerve Blocks: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
The basic perineural catheter design has changed minimally since inception, with the catheter introduced through or over a straight needle. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently cleared a novel perineural catheter design comprising a catheter attached to the back of a suture-shaped needle that is inserted, advanced along the arc of its curvature pulling the catheter past the target nerve, and then exited through the skin in a second location. The authors hypothesized that analgesia would be noninferior using the new versus traditional catheter design in the first two days after painful foot/ankle surgery with a primary outcome of average pain measured with the Numeric Rating Scale. ⋯ Suture-type perineural catheters provided noninferior analgesia compared with traditional catheters for continuous popliteal-sciatic blocks after painful foot and ankle surgery. The new catheter design appears to be a viable alternative to traditional designs used for the past seven decades.