Anaesthesia
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The effect of pre-operative methylprednisolone on early endothelial damage after total knee arthroplasty: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
We wished to evaluate whether inhibition of the systemic inflammatory response by a single pre-operative dose of methylprednisolone reduced markers of early endothelial damage after fast-track total knee arthroplasty. We randomly allocated 70 patients undergoing elective unilateral total knee arthroplasty (1:1) to receive either pre-operative intravenous methylprednisolone 125 mg (methylprednisolone group) or isotonic saline (control group). All procedures were performed under spinal anaesthesia without a tourniquet, using a standardised multimodal analgesic regime. ⋯ Finally, methylprednisolone reduced the C-reactive protein response 24 h postoperatively; 31.1 (1.1) mg.l-1 vs. 68.4 (1.1) mg.l-1 , p < 0.001. Pre-operative administration of methylprednisolone 125 mg reduced circulating markers of endothelial activation and damage, as well as the systemic inflammatory response (C-reactive protein) early after fast-track total knee arthroplasty. These findings may have a positive effect on surgical outcome, but require studies in major surgery.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
A randomised, controlled trial of rectus sheath bupivacaine and intrathecal bupivacaine, without or with intrathecal morphine, vs. intrathecal bupivacaine and morphine after caesarean section.
We recruited 144 women of whom 131 underwent scheduled caesarean section and were allocated to intrathecal bupivacaine without (46) or with (47) morphine and postoperative rectus sheath bupivacaine; or intrathecal bupivacaine with morphine and postoperative rectus sheath saline (38). We measured postoperative pain with a 10-point numeric rating scale. ⋯ The equivalent values for pain at rest were 160.8 (64.7), 85.8 (79.4) and 82.8 (74.3), respectively, p < 0.001. There was no difference between women who had intrathecal morphine with or without rectus sheath bupivacaine, p = 0.98.
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Case Reports
The mid-point transverse process to pleura (MTP) block: a new end-point for thoracic paravertebral block.
Current descriptions of thoracic paravertebral block techniques require the needle tip to be anterior to the superior costotransverse ligament. We hypothesised that an injection point midway between the posterior border of the transverse process and the pleura would result in spread to the paravertebral space. We completed bilateral injections of 5 ml methylene blue 0.2% midway between the posterior border of the transverse process and the pleura at T2, T4, T6, T8 and T10 in three unembalmed cadavers. ⋯ Our cadaver results and clinical cases demonstrate that, with the exception of cadaver 1, an injection point midway between the posterior border of the transverse process and pleura consistently achieved spread of dye at least to the paravertebral space at the level of injection, and frequently to adjacent levels. This may be a plausible explanation for the landmark technique's inability to reliably achieve a multilevel block. We describe a new ultrasound-guided technique for a single level paravertebral block.
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This study aimed to investigate the validity of the oxygen uptake efficiency slope as an objective and submaximal indicator of cardiorespiratory fitness in elderly patients scheduled for major colorectal surgery. Patients ≥ 60 years of age, with a metabolic equivalent score using the Veterans Activity Questionnaire ≤ 7 and scheduled for major colorectal surgery participated in a pre-operative cardiopulmonary exercise test. The oxygen uptake efficiency slope was calculated up to different exercise intensities, using 100%, 90% and 80% of the exercise data. ⋯ Receiver operating characteristic curves showed that the oxygen uptake efficiency slope is a sensitive and specific predictor of a peak oxygen uptake ≤ 18.2 ml.kg-1 .min-1 , with an area under the curve (95%CI) of 0.876 (0.780-0.972, p < 0.001) and a ventilatory anaerobic threshold ≤ 11.1 ml.kg-1 .min-1 , with an area under the curve (95%CI) of 0.828 (0.726-0.929, p < 0.001). These correlations suggest that the oxygen uptake efficiency slope provides a valid (sub)maximal measure of cardiorespiratory fitness in these patients, and the predictive ability described indicates that it might help discriminate patients at higher risk of postoperative morbidity. However, future research should investigate the prognostic value of the oxygen uptake efficiency slope for postoperative outcomes.
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The aim of this study was to analyse publication trends from the anaesthetic literature of the G-20 countries. We performed a literature search in Medline to identify articles related to anaesthetic departments published between 2001 and 2015, by specific G-20 countries according to the affiliation field of the authors, and to three time periods 2001-2005, 2006-2010 and 2011-2015. The number of articles, number of original articles (vs. reviews, editorials or correspondence), articles per million inhabitants, and citations per article were analysed. ⋯ The USA published most articles (2011-15 16,016; 31% of total), second came the EU as a whole and third Japan (from 2001 to 2005) or Germany (2006-2010) until 2011-2015 when China took over the third rank. In 2011-2015, Canada published most articles per million inhabitants (68.7 articles/million inhabitants). China and India exhibited the most publication growth 11- and 9-fold, respectively, and are now among the top five countries for the number of published articles.