Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialThe Influence of Spinal Flexion in the Lateral Decubitus Position on the Unilaterality of Spinal Anesthesia.
For unilateral spinal block, local anesthetics should affect the spinal nerves of 1 side. With full flexion of the spine, the sunken cauda equina becomes tightened and is suspended in the middle of the subarachnoid space. We performed this study to assess whether spinal flexion facilitates unilateral spinal anesthesia. ⋯ Strict unilateral sensory block was not achieved even after lateral decubitus positioning with spinal flexion, when 8 mg hyperbaric bupivacaine was administered manually at a conventionally slow rate through a beveled spinal needle. However, maintaining flexion of the spinal column during lateral decubitus positioning altered the initial onset of sensory block with respect to laterality.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 2013
The Association Between Perioperative Hemoglobin and Acute Kidney Injury in Patients Having Noncardiac Surgery.
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication of noncardiac surgery and is associated with excess morbidity and mortality. Perioperative hemoglobin concentrations are strongly associated with surgical mortality, but little is known about their relationship with AKI. We studied hemoglobin concentration before and 24 hours after surgery and its association with AKI. ⋯ Low preoperative and early postoperative decrements in hemoglobin concentrations are strongly associated with postoperative AKI in a graded manner. Given the frequency of low perioperative hemoglobin and decreases in hemoglobin concentration, research is needed to determine whether there are safe treatment strategies to mitigate the risk of AKI.
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Much more than a telephone, today's mobile device has become an integral part of the way we interface with the world. Mobile devices have the computing capability, display, and battery power to become powerful medical devices that measure vital signs and provide intelligent interpretation or immediate transmission of information. ⋯ This readily available computing power will also extend the utility of vital signs monitoring to new clinical indications, especially with the use of additional processing and integration of information. This review will focus on the universal promotion of pulse oximetry and advanced processing of plethysmography to assess variables such as respiratory rate, capillary refill time, and fluid responsiveness, and how these measurements may assist with perioperative monitoring, diagnosis, and management of pneumonia in children and preeclampsia in pregnancy when combined with mobile devices.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 2013
The Association Between Preoperative Anemia and 30-Day Mortality and Morbidity in Noncardiac Surgical Patients.
Anemia has been associated with increased postoperative morbidity and mortality. We used the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database to retrospectively assess the relationship between preoperative anemia and 30-day postoperative mortality and morbidity in noncardiac surgical patients, careful to distinguish confounding variables from mediator variables. ⋯ Preoperative anemia appears to be associated with baseline diseases that markedly increase mortality. Anemia per se is a rather weak independent predictor of postoperative mortality. Our analysis also illustrates how analyzing large variable-rich registries challenges investigators to discriminate between confounding variables and mediator variables, i.e., factors that might be considered as "causal pathways" for the effect of the exposure or intervention on outcome.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 2013
Propofol Shares the Binding Site with Isoflurane and Sevoflurane on Leukocyte Function-Associated Antigen-1.
We previously demonstrated that propofol interacted with the leukocyte adhesion molecule leukocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) and inhibited the production of interleukin-2 via LFA-1 in a dependent manner. However, the binding site(s) of propofol on LFA-1 remains unknown. ⋯ We demonstrated that propofol bound to the lovastatin site in LFA-1. Previously we showed that the volatile anesthetics isoflurane and sevoflurane bound to this site. Taken together, the lovastatin site is an example of the common binding sites for anesthetics currently used clinically.