Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Oct 2018
Hypertonic Sodium Chloride Preinjectate Increases In Vivo Radiofrequency Ablation Size: Histological and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings.
Emphasis has been placed on methods to enlarge monopolar radiofrequency (RF) lesion size for pain management. Ex vivo research has suggested that fluid modulation may be an effective method to enlarge lesion zone. To date, these findings have not been confirmed in vivo. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of hypertonic saline on in vivo lesion size through both histological and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analysis. A secondary purpose was to validate in vivo characterization of RF lesions using contrast-enhanced MRI. ⋯ This study validates the ability of hypertonic saline to increase in vivo RF lesion size. With further refinement, MRI may be a viable method to assess RF lesion size.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jul 2018
ReviewConsensus Guidelines on the Use of Intravenous Ketamine Infusions for Chronic Pain From the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, the American Academy of Pain Medicine, and the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
Over the past 2 decades, the use of intravenous ketamine infusions as a treatment for chronic pain has increased dramatically, with wide variation in patient selection, dosing, and monitoring. This has led to a chorus of calls from various sources for the development of consensus guidelines. ⋯ Evidence supports the use of ketamine for chronic pain, but the level of evidence varies by condition and dose range. Most studies evaluating the efficacy of ketamine were small and uncontrolled and were either unblinded or ineffectively blinded. Adverse effects were few and the rate of serious adverse effects was similar to placebo in most studies, with higher dosages and more frequent infusions associated with greater risks. Larger studies, evaluating a wider variety of conditions, are needed to better quantify efficacy, improve patient selection, refine the therapeutic dose range, determine the effectiveness of nonintravenous ketamine alternatives, and develop a greater understanding of the long-term risks of repeated treatments.