Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
-
Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2011
ReviewProspective trial registration for clinical research: what is it, what is it good for, and why do I care?
Optimizing evidence-based medicine--and therefore the care of our patients--requires a public record of both the benefits and the risks of various medical interventions. Unfortunately, available evidence is often skewed because some clinical trials are withheld from publication; only selected data are reported, and statistical techniques are often inappropriately determined following data analysis. Prospective clinical trial registration (PCTR) is the public documentation of trial protocols--today primarily on the Internet--before data analysis (and ideally before trial commencement). ⋯ Multiple organizations endorse (in some cases mandate) PCTR, including prominent committees of medical editors, the World Health Organization, the World Medical Association (responsible for the Helsinki Declaration), and, more recently, the US Food and Drug Administration. Although Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine does not currently require registration for published articles, PCTR in this and other anesthesiology and pain journals may become mandatory within the next few years. Potential authors/investigators will therefore benefit from becoming familiar with PCTR before mandatory registration implementation, and familiarity among readers may improve interpretation and understanding of clinical research results.
-
Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2011
ReviewUltrasound-guided interventional procedures in pain medicine: a review of anatomy, sonoanatomy, and procedures. Part III: shoulder.
Application of ultrasound for musculoskeletal injections is increasingly popular. The common targets for shoulder injection are the subacromial subdeltoid bursa, glenohumeral joint, acromioclavicular joint, and the long head of biceps tendon. This review describes and summarizes the anatomy and sonoanatomy relevant to the injection of these structures. The feasibility, accuracy, and effectiveness of the injections into and around these shoulder structures, as well as the injection techniques, are also described in detail.