Current opinion in anaesthesiology
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Feb 2025
Towards optimization in the use of hemostatic agents and blood products in the early treatment of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI).
The treatment of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) with subsequently evolving hemostatic failure and hemorrhagic lesion progression remains challenging. New studies highlight windows of opportunity for treatment optimization. ⋯ Mortality in TBI with subsequent evolving hemostatic failure can be reduced through treatment optimization delivering early prehospital high-dose tranexamic acid and in-hospital goal-directed treatment algorithms to timely correct coagulopathy and restore hemostasis.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Feb 2025
Current opinion: an overview of sickle cell disease and chronic pain and perioperative considerations.
This review aims to provide the practicing anesthesiologist with information on the pathophysiology, physiology, and management of patients with sickle cell disease. This includes the evaluation of common intraoperative management issues as well as perioperative concerns related to the disease. This review will also discuss the outpatient care of sickle cell patients concerning disease-modifying agents and chronic pain management. ⋯ The sociopolitical context and pathophysiology of sickle cell disease make it a unique disease to manage for the practicing anesthesiologist. Tailoring management via developing a patient-specific approach to maintain homeostasis and minimize the perioperative prevalence of VOCs.
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The labor and delivery unit poses unique challenges for the clinician faced with an ethical dilemma. Ethics training for physicians is heterogeneous and may not include specifics that are relevant to the obstetric anesthesiologist such as the implications of caring for a maternal-fetal dyad. ⋯ Principlism is the most commonly applied ethical theory in clinical medicine. The four principles are autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice. These principles are prima facie in that no one is defined as being consistently more important than another; it is the clinical situation that determines how to prioritize the principles. This framework allows the obstetric anesthesiologist to assess and manage each of these principles to provide ethically appropriate care for their patient. The aim of this article is to provide the obstetric anesthesiologist with an understanding of the foundational ethical principles that impact the ability to fulfill their fiduciary duty to advocate for patients by offering, and with informed consent, providing indicated and appropriate interventions.
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Improved perioperative patient monitoring is a crucial step toward better predicting postoperative outcomes. Wearable devices capable of measuring various health-related metrics represent a novel tool that can assist healthcare providers. However, the literature surrounding wearables is wide-ranging, preventing clinicians from drawing definitive conclusions regarding their utility. This review intends to consolidate the recent literature on perioperative wearables and summarize the most salient information. ⋯ Perioperative wearables are valuable tools for tracking postoperative health metrics, predicting adverse events, and improving patient satisfaction. Future research on removing barriers such as technological illiteracy, artifact generation, and false-positive alarms would enable better integration of wearables into the hospital setting.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Feb 2025
Individualized and targeted coagulation management in bleeding trauma patients.
This review aims to summarize current evidence on hemostatic management of bleeding trauma patients, with a focus on resuscitation strategies using either coagulation factor concentrates or fixed-ratio transfusion concepts. It discusses the potential benefits and limitations of both approaches. ⋯ Individualized, goal-directed hemostatic management offers several advantages over fixed-ratio transfusion therapy for trauma patients. However, there is a paucity of data regarding the direct comparison of these two approaches.