Articles: function.
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Multiple clinical and laboratory studies have been conducted to illustrate the effects of hypercapnia in a range of injuries, and to understand the mechanisms underlying these effects. The aim of this review is to highlight and interpret information obtained from these recent reports and discuss how they may inform the clinical context. ⋯ Experiments involving hypercapnia have covered a wide range of illness models with varying degrees of success. It is becoming evident that deliberate hypercapnia in the clinical setting should seldom be used, except wherever necessitated to avoid ventilator-associated lung injury. A more complete understanding of the molecular mechanisms must be established.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Feb 2015
ReviewTransesophageal echocardiography in thoracic anesthesia: pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular function.
Pulmonary hypertension is associated with increased postoperative morbidity and mortality. Early diagnosis and echocardiographic detection of right ventricular (RV) dysfunction are paramount in perioperative management. The goal of this review is to provide an overview of the recent literature on this topic. ⋯ More pulmonary hypertension patients are presenting for noncardiac surgery, creating a challenge for the anesthesiologist. Echocardiographic detection of RV dysfunction can be difficult. Routine use of intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography in major thoracic surgery is not advocated yet, but the development of automated techniques may provide an objective assessment of RV function.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Feb 2015
ReviewDiastolic dysfunction, diagnostic and perioperative management in cardiac surgery.
The review focuses on recent findings on the role of diastolic dysfunction in the perioperative period and on recent advances in the diagnosis and perioperative management of diastolic function. ⋯ Appropriate perioperative patient care requires that the perioperative physician be alerted to the presence of diastolic dysfunction, be knowledgeable of the diastolic dysfunction grading system and understand the pathophysiologic changes associated with various grades of diastolic function.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Feb 2015
ReviewEndothelial dysfunction after non-cardiac surgery: a systematic review.
More than 50% of patients with increased troponin levels after non-cardiac surgery have an impaired endothelial function pre-operatively. Non-invasive markers of endothelial function have been developed for the assessment of endothelial dysfunction. The aim of this paper was to systematically review the literature to evaluate the association between non-cardiac surgery and non-invasive markers of endothelial function. ⋯ Endothelial function changes in relation to surgery. Assessment of endothelial function by non-invasive measures has the potential to guide clinicians in the prevention or treatment of post-operative myocardial damage.
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Review Meta Analysis Comparative Study
[Opioids in chronic low back pain : A systematic review and meta-analysis of efficacy, tolerability and safety in randomized placebo-controlled studies of at least 4 weeks duration.]
The efficacy and safety of opioid therapy in chronic low back pain (CLBP) is under debate. We updated a recent systematic review on the efficacy and safety of opioids in CLBP. ⋯ Opioids were superior to placebo in terms of efficacy and inferior in terms of tolerability. Opioids and placebo did not differ in terms of safety during the study period. The conclusion on the safety of opioids compared to placebo is limited by the low number of serious adverse events and deaths. Short-term and intermediate-term opioid therapy may be considered in selected CLBP patients. The English full-text version of this article is freely available at SpringerLink (under "Supplemental").