British journal of anaesthesia
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Opioids have a vital role in alleviating pain from cancer and surgery. Despite good intentions, it is now recognised that the original WHO Cancer Pain Relief guidance from 1986, in which opioids were classified as either weak or strong, has been both inadvertently and purposefully misused, thereby contributing to harm from opioid use and misuse. However, the recommendation in the 2018 update of the WHO analgesic ladder that a combination of a high-potency opioid with simple analgesics is better than alternative analgesics for the maintenance of pain relief is also applicable to patients who require short-term opioids. Furthermore, because potential harm through opioid use and misuse is intrinsic to all opioids, whether weak or strong, we argue that the arbitrary classification of opioids either as weak or strong should be discontinued, as this description is not helpful to either prescribers or consumers.
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Computational modelling has been used to enlighten pathophysiological issues in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) using a sophisticated, integrated cardiopulmonary model. COVID-19 ARDS is a pathophysiologically distinct entity characterised by dissociation between impairment in gas exchange and respiratory system mechanics, especially in the early stages of ARDS. Weaver and colleagues used computational modelling to elucidate factors contributing to generation of patient self-inflicted lung injury, and evaluated the effects of various spontaneous respiratory efforts with different oxygenation and ventilatory support modes. Their findings indicate that mechanical forces generated in the lung parenchyma are only counterbalanced when the respiratory support mode reduces the intensity of respiratory efforts.
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Review Meta Analysis
Direct oral anticoagulants in atrial fibrillation following cardiac surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis with trial sequential analysis.
Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) have been increasingly used as anticoagulation therapy in the postoperative period. However, their effectiveness in post-cardiac surgical atrial fibrillation is yet to be determined. ⋯ PROSPERO CRD42021282777.
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Editorial Randomized Controlled Trial
Critical appraisal of randomised trials assessing regional analgesic interventions for knee arthroplasty: implications for postoperative pain guidelines development.
Guidelines are increasingly being used for clinical decision-making. Such guidelines are usually based on meta-analyses, which are generally derived from RCTs. ⋯ Analyses of RCTs assessing analgesic efficacy of advanced regional analgesic techniques in knee arthroplasty show that the majority of trials do not include a package of basic analgesics such as paracetamol, NSAIDs or cyclooxygenase-2 specific inhibitors, dexamethasone, and local infiltration analgesia in the comparator group. Consequently, the current approach to analyse meta-analyses of pain interventions is not optimal, and may lead to inadequate or inappropriate conclusions and clinical guidance.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Intraoperative lidocaine infusion in patients undergoing pancreatectomy for pancreatic cancer: a mechanistic, multicentre randomised clinical trial.
Intravenous lidocaine has been postulated to improve long-term survival after surgery for pancreatic cancer through anti-inflammatory effects, anti-tumour effects, or both. We investigated whether intraoperative lidocaine improves survival after pancreatectomy for pancreatic cancer and whether lidocaine modified the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), high levels of which are associated with poor prognosis. ⋯ NCT03245346; updated in Chi-CTR-2000035469.