Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Sep 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialEfficacy of Ketamine as an Adjunct to Lidocaine in Intravenous Regional Anesthesia.
The addition of ketamine to lignocaine-based IVRA (Bier's block) significantly improved analgesia and patient satisfaction without increasing side effects.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Sep 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialPreoperative Fascia Iliaca Compartment Block for Positioning Patients With Hip Fractures for Central Nervous Blockade: A Randomized Trial.
Appropriate pain management may positively affect outcome following hip fractures. Positioning patients for spinal anesthesia (SA) can be extremely painful. Peripheral nerve blockades are gaining popularity in this setting. This prospective, randomized study compares the efficacy of fascia iliaca compartment block (FICB) to intravenous (IV) fentanyl for positioning hip fracture patients for SA. ⋯ Performing an FICB before positioning for SA provides superior pain management compared with IVFE administration, facilitates spinal performance, and yields satisfactory postoperative analgesia and wide patient acceptance, hence improving overall quality and efficiency of care.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Sep 2014
Evaluation of a task-specific checklist and global rating scale for ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia.
Checklists and global rating scales (GRSs) are used for assessment of anesthesia procedural skills. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of a recently proposed assessment tool comprising a checklist and GRS specific for ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia. ⋯ This is the first study to evaluate the reliability and validity of a combined checklist and GRS for ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia using multiple observers and taking into account both absolute agreement and correlation in determining the ICC of 0.44 for interrater reliability. There was evidence to support construct validity.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Sep 2014
Comparative StudyRegional Anesthesia, Time to Hospital Discharge, and In-Hospital Mortality: A Propensity Score Matched Analysis.
The anesthetic technique used during surgery can affect postoperative length of stay and outcomes, even after controlling for other clinically important factors. This study evaluated the impact of regional anesthesia (RA) compared with general anesthesia (GA) on the amount of time between leaving the operating room and hospital discharge and the odds of in-hospital mortality. ⋯ The study data provide evidence that median time to discharge is shorter when RA is used instead of GA, controlling for other clinically important factors. Additionally, RA use during surgery was associated with a decrease in in-hospital mortality. When an appropriate option, RA may facilitate faster hospital discharge and improve patient outcomes.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Sep 2014
Comparative StudyAccuracy and consistency of modern elastomeric pumps.
Continuous peripheral nerve blockade has become a popular method of achieving postoperative analgesia for many surgical procedures. The safety and reliability of infusion pumps are dependent on their flow rate accuracy and consistency. ⋯ Several studies have investigated the accuracy of portable infusion pumps. Using methodology similar to that used by Ilfeld et al, we investigated the accuracy and consistency of several current elastomeric pumps.