Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2000
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialComparison of three catheter sets for continuous spinal anesthesia in patients undergoing total hip or knee arthroplasty.
Continuous spinal anesthesia (CSA) with microcatheters may be complicated because of technical problems. In elderly patients, some of the problems may be solved by using thicker catheters. A recent invention, involving a catheter-over-needle system, may prevent leakage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and may also improve the prediction of the intrathecal position of the catheter tip. ⋯ Placement of the SC catheters was unsuccessful to a high degree, and bone contact produced distortion of the tip of some of these catheters. Otherwise, the quality associated with catheterization time, anesthetic distribution, and catheter function was similar with the 3 catheters.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2000
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialIntraarticular morphine and bupivacaine reduces postoperative pain after rotator cuff repair.
To determine whether intraarticular injection of morphine, fentanyl, or sufentanil added to bupivacaine provided pain control after open rotator cuff repair. ⋯ Intraarticular injection of the shoulder with 0.25% bupivacaine and 1 mg morphine at the conclusion of surgery provided pain control and diminished morphine used in the first 24 hours after open rotator cuff repair. Fentanyl and sufentanil did not improve the analgesia over that achieved with bupivacaine alone.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2000
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialQuality of analgesia when air versus saline is used for identification of the epidural space in the parturient.
Identification of the epidural space is often performed using the loss-of-resistance technique (LOR), commonly with air or saline. The effect of air or saline on the quality of labor epidural analgesia has not been adequately studied. ⋯ Using 0.9% saline for the LOR technique is associated with better analgesia as compared with air for labor analgesia, and this advantage should be considered when selecting the syringe contents for the LOR technique.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2000
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialSkin blood flow changes in response to intradermal injection of bupivacaine and levobupivacaine, assessed by laser Doppler imaging.
The vascular effects of local anesthetics are important determinants of their therapeutic activity. Drugs that vasoconstrict have the potential clinical advantages of limited systemic uptake and prolonged duration of effect. The aim of this study was to assess quantitatively the cutaneous vasoactivity of racemic bupivacaine and one of its enantiomers, levobupivacaine. ⋯ Bupivacaine and levobupivacaine both have a biphasic effect on skin microvessels. The vasoconstriction observed after 40 minutes may occur when the quantity of drug remaining at the administration site has decreased to a lower level. The continued vasodilatation caused by bupivacaine is more difficult to interpret. The results suggest that these local anesthetics cause vasodilatation at high doses and vasoconstriction at lower, subclinical doses. This hypothesis and the clinical relevance of these effects warrant further investigation.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2000
Ultrasound-guided infraclavicular brachial plexus block: an alternative technique to anatomical landmark-guided approaches.
Infraclavicular brachial plexus block has been used less than other approaches because of its less uniform landmarks and the necessity of a longer needle, which increases the patient's discomfort. To overcome these drawbacks, we applied ultrasound guidance to infraclavicular approach and prospectively evaluated its feasibility and usefulness in 60 patients undergoing upper extremity surgery. ⋯ Real-time ultrasound guidance facilitates accurate infraclavicular approach to the brachial plexus. It could be used as an alternative to the landmark-guided techniques.