Current opinion in anaesthesiology
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Jun 2020
ReviewCombined spinal epidural for labour analgesia and caesarean section: indications and recommendations.
The combined spinal-epidural offers faster-onset and superior labour analgesia.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Jun 2020
ReviewHypotension after spinal anesthesia for cesarean section: how to approach the iatrogenic sympathectomy.
Hypotension during cesarean section remains a frequent complication of spinal anesthesia and is associated with adverse maternal and fetal events. ⋯ Current evidence favors a combined approach of low-dose spinal anesthesia, adequate fluid therapy and vasopressor support to address maternal spinal-induced hypotension. As none of the available vasopressors is associated with relevantly impaired maternal and fetal outcomes, none of them should be abandoned from obstetric practice. Rapid crystalloid co-loading is of equivalent efficacy as compared with colloids and should be preferred because of a more favorable risk profile.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Jun 2020
ReviewPreoperative considerations for Jehovah's Witness patients: a clinical guide.
Jehovah's Witnesses have religious beliefs that preclude transfusion of blood products and certain medical interventions. This presents a unique dilemma and ethical challenge to healthcare providers, especially in a surgical setting. ⋯ Anticipating the challenges associated with managing and optimizing patients who refuse blood products allows for more favorable outcomes in the preoperative period.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Jun 2020
ReviewState of the art in clinical decision support applications in pediatric perioperative medicine.
The goal of this review is to describe the recent improvements in clinical decision tools applied to the increasingly large and complex datasets in the pediatric ambulatory and inpatient setting. ⋯ With more than a decade of electronic medical data generation, clinical decision support tools have begun to evolve into more sophisticated and complex algorithms capable of transforming large datasets into succinct, timely, and pertinent summaries for treatment and management of pediatric patients. Future developments will need to leverage patient-generated health data, integrated device data, and provider-entered data to complete the continuum of patient care and will likely demonstrate improvements in patient outcomes.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Jun 2020
ReviewPoint-of-care ultrasound in pregnancy: gastric, airway, neuraxial, cardiorespiratory.
This review focuses on the use of point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) in the obstetric context for airway management and assessment of aspiration risk, the placement of neuraxial blocks and the diagnosis and follow-up of cardiorespiratory dysfunction. ⋯ Owing to its noninvasiveness, ease of accessibility and lack of exposure to radiation, PoCUS plays an increasing and essential role in aspiration risk assessment, airway management, neuraxial anaesthesia and cardiorespiratory diagnosis and decision-making during pregnancy.