Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jul 2007
ReviewShould we add clonidine to local anesthetic for peripheral nerve blockade? A qualitative systematic review of the literature.
Although clonidine has been shown to prolong analgesia in central neuraxial blocks, its use in peripheral nerve blocks remains controversial. We performed a systematic review of the current literature to determine the benefit of adding clonidine to peripheral nerve blocks. ⋯ Clonidine improves duration of analgesia and anesthesia when used as an adjunct to intermediate-acting local anesthetics for some peripheral nerve blocks. Side-effects appear to be limited at doses up to 150 mug. Evidence is lacking for the use of clonidine as an adjunct to local anesthetics for continuous catheter techniques. Further research is required to examine the peripheral analgesic mechanism of clonidine.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jul 2007
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyPreliminary evaluation of infraclavicular catheters inserted using ultrasound guidance: through-the-catheter anesthesia is not inferior to through-the-needle blocks.
This prospective study compared the initial block quality and surgical anesthesia rates of ultrasound-guided infraclavicular blocks with local-anesthetic injected through a catheter versus through a needle. We hypothesized that positioning of the catheter immediately posterior to the axillary artery would produce through-the-catheter (TTC) anesthesia with rates of complete block not inferior to through-the-needle (TTN) injection. ⋯ Ultrasound-guided TTC infraclavicular block produced perioperative anesthesia that was not inferior to a TTN technique.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jul 2007
Randomized Controlled TrialEfficacy of continuous femoral nerve block with stimulating catheters versus nonstimulating catheters for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.
This prospective randomized controlled trial investigated the clinical efficacy of stimulating catheters for continuous femoral nerve block in patients who underwent anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. ⋯ Although the use of a stimulating catheter was associated with faster onset time for the femoral nerve block and lower additional analgesics postoperatively, the clinical superiority (analgesia; lateral femoral cutaneous, and obturator nerve block) of stimulating catheters was not evident in this clinical setting.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jul 2007
Case ReportsUneventful removal of an epidural catheter guided by impedance aggregometry in a patient with recent coronary stenting and treated with clopidogrel and acetylsalicylic acid.
This report suggests that impedance aggregometry can be helpful to assess optimum time for and minimize the risk of catheter removal during double antiplatelet therapy. ⋯ Balancing the risks of stent occlusion and epidural bleeding, bedside impedance aggregometry helped to identify the optimum time window for epidural catheter removal with the lowest bleeding risk in this patient.