Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · May 2000
Case ReportsLateral cervical epidural catheter placement for continuous unilateral upper extremity analgesia and sympathetic block.
The use of the laterally directed cervical epidural catheter for the treatment of acute and chronic pain has not been previously described. We have used this technique in a series of 30 patients to produce unilateral upper extremity analgesia and sympathetic block. We present a case report of a patient treated with this technique and a description of the technique and results from the series. ⋯ This case report shows results typical of this series of 30 patients. In this series, the laterally directed cervical epidural catheter was an effective technique to produce continuous unilateral analgesia and sympathetic block. Key Words: Analgesia (epidural), Autonomic nerve block, Reflex sympathetic dystrophy, Postoperative pain.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · May 2000
Case ReportsDetermining epidural catheter location using nerve stimulation with radiological confirmation.
The use of epidural stimulation to confirm epidural catheter placement has been shown. This case report describes the benefits and problems of using the epidural stimulation test to confirm epidural catheter placement and provides supporting evidence for these observations using radiological imaging. ⋯ This report illustrates some of the potential benefits and problems of using the nerve stimulation test to confirm epidural catheter placement, with radiological verification.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · May 2000
Clinical TrialPlasma lidocaine, monoethylglycinexylidide, and glycinexylidide concentrations after epidural administration in geriatric patients.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of age on the pharmacokinetics of lidocaine after epidural administration. ⋯ The increase in plasma lidocaine concentration after epidural anesthesia in elderly patients was not as high as anticipated. However, the elderly patients showed longer MRTs, lower clearance, and lower ratios of MEGX/lidocaine than did the adult (middle-age) patients.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · May 2000
Clinical TrialEffect of high-dose lidocaine treatment on superoxide dismutase and malon dialdehyde levels in seven diabetic patients.
We report on the use of intravenous (IV) high-dose lidocaine to relieve diabetic neuropathic pain, and the technique's effects on clinical measures of lipid peroxidation. ⋯ High-dose lidocaine treatment lessens MDA levels, a marker of free-radical-mediated cell damage. This suggests that one of lidocaine's mechanism of action may be its effect on oxygen free radicals, which in turn impacts lipid peroxidation.