Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Nov 2009
Randomized Controlled TrialThe effectiveness of repetitive paravertebral injections with local anesthetics and steroids for the prevention of postherpetic neuralgia in patients with acute herpes zoster.
The treatment of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) continues to be a challenge in clinical pain management. In this randomized, controlled study, we assessed the effectiveness of repetitive paravertebral injections with local anesthetics and steroids for the prevention of PHN in patients with acute herpes zoster. ⋯ Repetitive paravertebral anesthetic block in combination with steroids plus standard treatment with acyclovir and analgesics significantly reduced the incidence of PHN than the standard treatment alone.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Nov 2009
Redesign of a university hospital preanesthesia evaluation clinic using a queuing theory approach.
Changes in patient length of stay (the duration of 1 clinic visit) as a result of the introduction of an electronic patient file system forced an anesthesia department to change its outpatient clinic organization. In this study, we sought to demonstrate how the involvement of essential employees combined with mathematical techniques to support the decision-making process resulted in a successful intervention. ⋯ Queuing theory provides robust methods to evaluate alternative designs for the organization of PACs. In this article, we show that queuing modeling is an adequate approach for redesigning processes in PACs.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Nov 2009
Randomized Controlled TrialRopivacaine spinal anesthesia is not antagonized by ondansetron pretreatment.
We investigated a possible effect of ondansetron on the duration of sensory and motor block produced by ropivacaine. ⋯ Ondansetron had no effect on the subarachnoid sensory or motor block produced by ropivacaine.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Nov 2009
A cost-effective screening method for preoperative hyperglycemia.
The preoperative encounter may offer a cost-effective opportunity for diabetes screening. ⋯ This preoperative blood glucose screening test was implemented at a cost of approximately one-tenth of current methods.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Nov 2009
The interrelationship between preoperative anemia and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide: the effect on predicting postoperative cardiac outcome in vascular surgery patients.
N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) predicts adverse cardiac outcome in patients undergoing vascular surgery. However, several conditions might influence this prognostic value, including anemia. In this study, we evaluated whether anemia confounds the prognostic value of NT-proBNP for predicting cardiac events in patients undergoing vascular surgery. ⋯ Both anemia and NT-proBNP are independently associated with an increased risk for postoperative cardiac events in patients undergoing vascular surgery. NT-proBNP has less predictive value in anemic patients.