Anesthesiology and pain medicine
-
Simultaneous administration of epidural local anesthetic agents (LA) and general anesthetics (intravenous or inhaled) is a common procedure in patients undergoing major operations. The effects of epidural anesthesia during combined general-epidural anesthesia on the alertness level (CGEA) in the awake phase and the doses of anesthetics have been reported. ⋯ Performing CGEA using bupivacaine was reported to reduce propofol and fentanyl doses required to maintain BIS levels between 40 and 50 considerably.
-
Although opioids are the main choice for acute postoperative pain control, many side effects have been reported for them. NSAIDs and paracetamol have been used extensively as alternatives, and it seems that they are more effective for minor to moderate pain control postoperatively when have been used alone or in combination with opioids. As laparoscopic cholecystectomy poses moderate pain postoperatively, this study was planned to assess whether paracetamol is able to provide effective analgesia as a sole analgesic at least in the first few hours post operatively. ⋯ Although paracetamol (1gr) has caused a better pain relief quality but it is not a suitable analgesic for moderate pain control in acute phase after surgery alone.
-
Various attempts have been made to reduce the incidence of fentanyl-induced cough during anesthesia induction. We hypothesized that an appropriate dose of propofol might suppress fentanyl-induced cough. ⋯ Priming dose of propofol (20mg) one minute prior to fentanyl injection was effective in suppressing a fentanyl-induced cough.
-
Placement of a Blalock-Taussig (BT) shunt is frequently performed for palliation of cyanotic congenital heart disease (CCHD). ⋯ Use of inhalational anesthesia has increased in adult cardiac surgery and has proved to reduce duration of elective ventilation, decrease ICU and hospital LOS, and mortality. Inhalational anesthetics are less well-studied in CCHD. In the current study, desflurane was chosen because of its low solubility, decreased recovery time and lack of metabolism or organ system toxicities. Although it is a popular belief that desflurane is associated with tachycardia and airway irritation, findings of the current study are consistent with those of the previous works demonstrating a lack of these side effects below 1 MAC3. No hemodynamic instability was encountered and there was no evidence that desflurane exerted a negative inotropic effect. Markers of cardio protection were not examined, although desflurane may have had a renal protective effect compared to narcotic technique. In the current study, a desflurane anesthetic for BT shunt decreased the duration of mechanical ventilation and ICU and hospital LOS by nearly three days, with no difference in perioperative morbidity or mortality. Larger studies are required to determine whether these changes result in overall decreased complication rate and morbidity/mortality and whether desflurane has a cardio or renal protective effect in the patient population.
-
The incidence of transient neurologic symptoms (TNS) after spinal anesthesia with lidocaine is reported as high as 40%. ⋯ According to the results of this clinical study, spinal anesthesia with lidocaine, and the lithotomy position in surgery increased the risk of TNS.