Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jun 2021
ReviewInterventional procedure plans generated by telemedicine visits in spine patients are rarely changed after in-person evaluation.
The role of telemedicine in the evaluation and treatment of patients with spinal disorders is rapidly expanding, brought on largely by the COVID-19 pandemic. Within this context, the ability of pain specialists to accurately diagnose and plan appropriate interventional spine procedures based entirely on telemedicine visits, without an in-person evaluation, remains to be established. In this study, our primary objective was to assess the relevance of telemedicine to interventional spine procedure planning by determining whether procedure plans established solely from virtual visits changed following in-person evaluation. ⋯ Our findings suggest that telemedicine evaluations are a generally accurate means of preprocedural assessment and development of interventional spine procedure plans. These findings clearly demonstrate the capabilities of telemedicine for evaluating spine patients and planning interventional spine procedures.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jun 2021
CommentAvoid suboptimal perioperative analgesia during major surgery by enhancing thoracic epidural catheter placement and hemodynamic performance.
Thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) is an established gold standard for postoperative pain control especially following laparotomy and thoracotomy. The safety and efficacy of TEA is well known when the attention to patient selection is upheld. Recently, the use of fascial plane blocks (FPBs) has evolved as an alternative to TEA most likely because these blocks avoid problems such as neurological comorbidity, coagulation disorders, epidural catheter failure and hypotension due to sympathetic denervation. ⋯ Also, the true efficacy of FPBs is questioned. Thus, should we prioritize less efficient analgesic regimens with FPBs when preventive treatment strategies for epidural catheter failure and hypotension exist for TEA? It is time to promote and underscore the benefits of TEA provided to patients undergoing major open surgical procedures. In our mind, FPBs and landmark-guided techniques should be limited to less extensive surgery and when either neuraxial blockade is contraindicated or resources for optimal epidural catheter placement and maintenance are not available.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jun 2021
Review Meta AnalysisThe analgesic efficacy of liposomal bupivacaine compared with bupivacaine hydrochloride for the prevention of postoperative pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis with trial sequential analysis.
Liposomal bupivacaine (LB) is a prolonged release formulation of conventional bupivacaine designed for prolonging local or peripheral regional single injection anesthesia. To this day, the benefit of the new substance on relevant end points is discussed controversial. ⋯ The beneficial effect on pain scores and opioid consumption was small but not clinically relevant, despite statistical significance. The effect was stable among all studies, indicating that it is independent of the application modality.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jun 2021
Neonatal and early childhood outcomes following maternal anesthesia for cesarean section: a population-based cohort study.
The fetus is vulnerable to maternal drug exposure. We determined associations of exposure to spinal, epidural, or general anesthesia on neonatal and childhood development outcomes during the first 1000 days of life. ⋯ General anesthesia for cesarean section, irrespective of urgency, is associated with neonatal resuscitation, low Apgar, and neonatal unit admission. Associations were strongest in non-urgent cases and at term. Further evaluation of long-term outcomes is warranted.