British journal of anaesthesia
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Single-cuff forearm tourniquet in intravenous regional anaesthesia results in less pain and fewer sedation requirements than upper arm tourniquet.
A limitation of Bier's block or i.v. regional anaesthesia (IVRA) is tourniquet pain. We hypothesized that tourniquet placement on the forearm vs upper arm during IVRA for distal upper extremity surgery may result in less tourniquet pain, lower the need for analgesic interventions, and decrease post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) admission. ⋯ Our results indicate that the placement of the tourniquet on the forearm resulted in less discomfort, fewer sedation interventions, and greater likelihood of bypassing the PACU when compared with upper arm tourniquet.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of phenylephrine on the haemodynamic state and cerebral oxygen saturation during anaesthesia in the upright position.
The upright sitting or beachchair position is associated with hypotension, risk of cerebral hypoperfusion, and cerebral injury. We hypothesized that by increasing arterial pressure with phenylephrine administration, cerebral perfusion, and postoperative recovery would be improved. ⋯ Despite maintaining arterial pressure with phenylephrine, cerebral desaturation occurred with upright positioning. Cerebral oxygen saturation can provide a valuable endpoint when evaluating the effect of vasopressor therapy on cerebral perfusion.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Anticipation of the difficult airway: preoperative airway assessment, an educational and quality improvement tool.
Assessment of the potentially difficult airway (DA) is a critical aspect of resident education. We investigated the impact of a new assessment form on airway prediction and management by anaesthesia residents. We hypothesized that residents would demonstrate improvement in evaluation of DAs over the study duration. ⋯ The use of a comprehensive airway assessment did not improve resident ability to predict a DA in an academic, tertiary-based hospital, anaesthesiology residency training programme.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerves cannot be selectively blocked by using ultrasound guidance: a volunteer study.
Ilioinguinal (IL) and iliohypogastric (IH) nerve blocks are used in patients with chronic postherniorrhaphy pain. The present study tested the hypothesis that our method, previously developed in cadavers, blocks the nerves separately and selectively in human volunteers. ⋯ The IL and IH nerves cannot be selectively blocked even if volumes below 1 ml are used. The most likely explanation is the spread of local anaesthetic from one nerve to the other, although this could not be directly observed in most cases.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of concentration of local anaesthetic solution on the ED₅₀ of bupivacaine for supraclavicular brachial plexus block.
The aim of this trial was to compare the effect of concentration of bupivacaine solution on the ED₅₀ dose required for supraclavicular brachial plexus block. ⋯ Our study demonstrates that the ED₅₀ dose of bupivacaine for supraclavicular block is not dependent on the concentration. Lowering the concentration or the strength of the local anaesthetic leads to an increase in the volume required for successful block.