Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2013
Stored platelet functionality is not decreased after warming with a fluid warmer.
Warming of IV-administered fluids and blood products is routinely performed in the operating room to help maintain normothermia. Current guidelines recommend against the warming of platelets (PLTs), although there is no evidence for this prohibition in the literature. Our goal in this pilot study was to determine whether the warming of stored PLTs had any effect on their function. ⋯ Although small in size, the results of this study do not support the prohibition against mechanical PLT warming. Studies of PLT activation after warming are also warranted.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2013
Trans-resectoscope stimulation predicts the need to block adductor response during bladder tumor resection.
Obturator nerve block is performed on patients who undergo transurethral resection of inferolateral bladder tumors to prevent thigh adductor muscle contraction. However, other than the tumor site, we have no criteria to judge whether this block is necessary in all patients. Moreover, it is difficult to predict the efficacy of obturator nerve block before resection. To solve these problems, we have devised a trans-resectoscope stimulation technique that involves delivering several single-twitch electrical stimuli to the inside wall of the bladder via a resectoscope to elicit contraction of the thigh adductor muscle. ⋯ Trans-resectoscope stimulation is beneficial not only to predict the need to block the contraction of the thigh adductor during tumor resection but also to avoid unnecessary obturator nerve block.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2013
Inhibition by local bupivacaine-releasing microspheres of acute postoperative pain from hairy skin incision.
Acute postoperative pain causes physiological deficits and slows recovery. Reduction of such pain by local anesthetics that are delivered for several days postoperatively is a desirable clinical objective, which is approached by a new formulation and applied in animal studies reported here. ⋯ Significant suppression of postoperative pain by the slow-release bupivacaine preparation outlasts its anesthetic action on intact skin. These findings demonstrate preventive analgesia and indicate the importance of acute processes in the development of chronic postoperative pain.