Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2014
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyUsing an International Clinical Registry of Regional Anesthesia to Identify Targets for Quality Improvement.
Despite the widespread use of regional anesthesia, limited information on clinical performance exists. Institutions, therefore, have little knowledge of how they are performing in regard to both safety and effectiveness. In this study, we demonstrate how a medical institution (or physician/physician group) may use data from a multicenter clinical registry of regional anesthesia to inform quality improvement strategies. ⋯ To our knowledge, this is the first large-scale effort to use a clinical registry to provide comparative outcome rates representing the safety and effectiveness of regional anesthesia. These results can be used to help inform quality improvement strategies.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jul 2014
Multicenter StudyAsleep Versus Awake: Does It Matter?: Pediatric Regional Block Complications by Patient State: A Report From the Pediatric Regional Anesthesia Network.
Performing regional anesthetic blocks in children under general anesthesia is as safe as in sedated or awake children.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jul 2014
Multicenter StudyCan Changes in Vital Signs Be Used to Predict the Response to Lumbar Facet Blocks and Radiofrequency Denervation? A Prospective, Correlational Study.
Facet joint radiofrequency (RF) ablation is characterized by a high failure rate, which is partly due to the fact that pain relief after diagnostic blocks is inherently subjective. An area that has yet to be explored is whether more objective measures, such as changes in vital signs after blocks, might be used to predict treatment outcomes. ⋯ Although a decrease in DBP of more than 7.5 mm Hg had 97.3% specificity and 85.7% positive predictive value for predicting positive RF ablation outcomes, the low negative predictive value (56.3%) precludes its use as a solitary screening tool. An algorithm based on age, baseline NRS pain score, and a significant decrease in DBP was able to predict 76.7% (range, 65.8%-86.3%) of RF denervation outcomes.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Mar 2014
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyDoes the Impact of the Type of Anesthesia on Outcomes Differ by Patient Age and Comorbidity Burden?
Neuraxial anesthesia may provide perioperative outcome benefits versus general anesthesia in orthopedic surgical patients. As subgroup analyses are lacking, we evaluated the influence of the type of anesthesia on outcomes in patient groups of different age and the presence of cardiopulmonary disease. ⋯ Neuraxial anesthesia is associated with decreased odds for major complications and resource utilization after joint arthroplasty for all patient groups, irrespective of age and comorbidity burden.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Jul 2013
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyUltrasound guidance reduces the risk of local anesthetic systemic toxicity following peripheral nerve blockade.
The use of ultrasound for peripheral nerve blockade reduces the incidence of systemic local anesthetic toxicity by at least 65%, possibly 80%.
pearl