British journal of anaesthesia
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Observational Study
Association between postoperative complications and lingering post-surgical pain: an observational cohort study.
Post-surgical pain that lingers beyond the initial few-week period of tissue healing is a major predictor of pain chronification, which leads to substantial disability and new persistent opioid analgesic use. We investigated whether postoperative medical complications increase the risk of lingering post-surgical pain. ⋯ Medical complications were associated with a two-fold increase in functionally limiting pain 1-3 months after surgery. Understanding the mechanisms that link complications to pathological persistence of pain could help develop future approaches to prevent persistent post-surgical pain.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of reversal of deep neuromuscular block with sugammadex or moderate block by neostigmine on shoulder pain in elderly patients undergoing robotic prostatectomy.
Deep neuromuscular block for robotic prostatectomy does NOT reduce shoulder pain or speed postoperative recovery.
pearl -
With an ageing population and increasing incidence of cerebrovascular disease, an increasing number of patients presenting for routine and emergency surgery have a prior history of stroke. This presents a challenge for pre-, intra-, and postoperative management as the neurological risk is considerably higher. ⋯ Increasing understanding of post-stroke systemic and cerebral haemodynamics has provided improved outcomes from stroke and more robust secondary prevention, although this knowledge has yet to be applied to our delivery of anaesthesia in those with prior stroke. This review describes the key pathophysiological and clinical considerations that inform clinicians providing perioperative care for patients with a prior diagnosis of stroke.
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Syringe infusion pumps are used for the precise continuous administration of intravenous drugs. Their compliance and mechanical deficiencies have been found to cause considerable start-up delays, flow irregularities during vertical displacement, as well extensive delays of occlusion alarms at low infusion rates. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of several modern syringe infusion pumps at low infusion rates and the impact on drug concentration. ⋯ Problems with the performance of syringe infusion pump assemblies can have considerable impact on plasma drug concentration when highly concentrated short-acting cardiovascular drugs are administered at low flow rates. The problems, which affected all assemblies tested, are mainly related to the functional principle of syringe infusion pumps and will only partially be solved by incremental improvements of existing equipment.