Articles: function.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Jun 2014
ReviewAnesthesia and ventilation strategies in children with asthma: part II - intraoperative management.
As asthma is a frequent disease especially in children, anesthetists are increasingly providing anesthesia for children requiring elective surgery with well controlled asthma but also for those requiring urgent surgery with poorly controlled or undiagnosed asthma. This second part of this two-part review details the medical and ventilatory management throughout the perioperative period in general but also includes the perioperative management of acute bronchospasm and asthma exacerbations in children with asthma. ⋯ To minimize the considerable risk of perioperative respiratory adverse events in asthmatic children, perioperative management should be based on two main pillars: the preoperative optimization of asthma treatment (please refer to the first part of this two-part review) and - the focus of this second part of this review - the optimization of anesthesia management in order to optimize lung function and minimize bronchial hyperreactivity in the perioperative period.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Jun 2014
ReviewAnesthesia and ventilation strategies in children with asthma: part I - preoperative assessment.
Asthma is a common disease in the pediatric population, and anesthetists are increasingly confronted with asthmatic children undergoing elective surgery. This first of this two-part review provides a brief overview of the current knowledge on the underlying physiology and pathophysiology of asthma and focuses on the preoperative assessment and management in children with asthma. This also includes preoperative strategies to optimize lung function of asthmatic children undergoing surgery. The second part of this review focuses on the immediate perioperative anesthetic management including ventilation strategies. ⋯ To minimize the considerable risk of perioperative respiratory adverse events in asthmatic children, a good understanding of the underlying physiology is vital. Furthermore, a thorough preoperative assessment to identify children who may benefit of an intensified medical treatment thereby minimizing airflow obstruction and bronchial hyperreactivity is the first pillar of a preventive perioperative management of asthmatic children. The second pillar, an individually adjusted anesthesia management aiming to reduce perioperative adverse events, is discussed in the second part of this review.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jun 2014
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyDehydration Enhances Pain-Evoked Activation in the Human Brain Compared with Rehydration.
Negative effects of dehydration on the human brain and cognitive function have been reported. In this study, we examined the effects of dehydration on pain thresholds and cortical activations in response to pain, compared with rehydration with an oral rehydration solution (ORS) by functional magnetic resonance imaging. ⋯ Our findings suggest that dehydration brings about increased brain activity related to painful stimuli together with enhanced thirst, whereas rehydration with ORS alleviates thirst and decreases brain activity related to painful stimuli.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Jun 2014
ReviewPerioperative implications of the patient with autonomic dysfunction.
The autonomic nervous system functions to control heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, gastrointestinal motility, hormone release, and body temperature on a second-to-second basis. Here we summarize some of the latest literature on autonomic dysfunction, focusing primarily on the perioperative implications. ⋯ Patients with dysautonomia often have unpredictable and paradoxical physiological responses to various perioperative stimuli. Knowledge of the underlying pathophysiology of their condition is required in order to reduce symptom exacerbation and limit morbidity and mortality during the perioperative period.
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This retrospective observational study was performed to determine if the age of transfused units of red blood cells (RBCs) was related to mortality. The study included 31 transfused patients admitted to the intensive care unit during 1992 with severe sepsis (i.e., sepsis associated with organ dysfunction, hypoperfusion, or hypotension). ⋯ The authors concluded that the duration of storage of RBCs is directly related to the risk of mortality among transfused patients with severe sepsis. Recognizing the limitations of their small retrospective study that did not adjust for confounders, they also stated that further studies are needed to confirm or refute this association.