Journal of clinical anesthesia
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We report a case of subdural hematoma in a 68-year-old white man who underwent left inguinal hernia repair with spinal anesthesia. The patient had a postdural puncture headache (PDPH) on postoperative day 4, but he refused invasive treatment. Instead, he self-administered acetaminophen, aspirin, and caffeine. ⋯ Immediate treatment of the PDPH with an epidural blood patch should be considered. If a patient refuses invasive treatment, he should be counseled for the possibility of subdural hematoma. The patient also should be advised to avoid medications with anticoagulant properties.
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When spinal and epidural anesthesia were introduced into clinical practice, their primary use was as an alternative to general anesthesia. Later, largely as a result of the realization that opioids could be safely and effectively used to produce selective spinal analgesia, spinal and epidural (neuraxial) analgesia began to be used specifically for the treatment of perioperative pain. We present a systematic review of the literature on neuraxial anesthesia and analgesia, new meta-analyses that illustrate the powerful effect of improvements in perioperative safety in general on the ability of neuraxial techniques to make a difference, and a consideration of why a literature analysis does not provide clear answers.
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The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the intraoperative pharyngeal temperatures obtained on the perilaryngeal airway (PLA), a novel airway device with a larger pharyngeal cuff (when inflated) than the laryngeal mask airway, are similar to tympanic membrane core temperatures. ⋯ These data suggest that the PLA can be adapted to monitor core temperature reliably.
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Leroy D Vandam, MD was a remarkable man--an intricate amalgamation of an artist, scientist, and physician. He was a bastion of medical historical knowledge. Dr Vandam became a most influential anesthesiologist, some say, a giant. ⋯ Dr Vandam published more than 250 original articles, chapters, abstracts, and other reports on a wide variety of subjects including history, art, and pharmacology. His classic article on the complications of neuroaxial blocks is a seminal work in anesthesiology. This article describes how an anesthesiologist who shared an interest with Dr Vandam in the history of anesthesiology came to produce a movie based on his career, the evolution of anesthesia equipment, and the transformation of our specialty.