Articles: postoperative.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Aug 2014
ReviewPulmonary complications in patients receiving a solid-organ transplant.
Major improvements in perioperative care and immunobiology have not abated the risk for severe pulmonary complications after solid-organ transplantation. The aim of this study is to update information on infectious and noninfectious pulmonary complications after solid-organ transplantation, addressing epidemiology, risk factors, diagnostic workup, and management. ⋯ Pulmonary complications after solid-organ transplantation, and particularly infections, are able to compromise the extremely good results of the transplant procedures. Solid-organ transplantation recipients challenge the ICU physician with unique aspects of their post-transplant course, adding, in an already critical patient, the immunosuppressed state and the quality of the functional recovery of the graft.
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Journal of anesthesia · Aug 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialMethadone patient-controlled analgesia for postoperative pain: a randomized, controlled, double-blind study.
Postoperative pain is an important health-care issue. Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) is considered the gold standard for systemic postoperative pain treatment. Methadone PCA is used for patients with chronic pain and those in the palliative care setting. However, its efficacy as a first-line drug for acute postoperative pain is unknown. This study evaluated the use of postoperative methadone PCA after total hip arthroplasty (THA) compared with morphine PCA. ⋯ This study demonstrated that methadone PCA prompted less opioid consumption and lower pain scores at rest and at motion in comparison with morphine PCA as postoperative analgesia after THA.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Aug 2014
Major complications of epidural anesthesia: a prospective study of 5083 cases at a single hospital.
We undertook a prospective study of non-obstetric epidurals placed in surgical inpatients at a single teaching hospital to evaluate the incidence of and potential risk factors for major complications of continuous epidural anesthesia. ⋯ Serious complications were very rare; only one patient had permanent sequelae, and a single epidural hematoma was diagnosed. Post-operative neurologic deficits were more common, but most complications resolved spontaneously within 3 months and they rarely required intervention.
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Journal of anesthesia · Aug 2014
Case ReportsAltered responses to vasopressors of a patient medicated with carvedilol, pilsicainide and enalapril.
A patient scheduled for laparoscopic rectal surgery was medicated with carvedilol, an antagonist of beta 1-, beta 2- and alpha 1-adrenergic receptors, pilsicainide, a class Ic antiarrhythmic drug and enalapril, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor. Because the patient experienced attacks of atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response almost weekly, carvedilol and pilsicainide were continued up to the day of surgery, while enalapril was discontinued for 24 h prior to surgery. During the operation, he showed prolonged hypotension that did not respond to usual doses of vasopressors such as ephedrine, phenylephrine and dopamine but responded to higher doses of norepinephrine. Postoperatively, he was given dopamine but exhibited tachyarrhythmia until the dopamine infusion was discontinued.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The effect of pre-treatment with transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation on the quality of recovery after ambulatory breast surgery: a prospective, randomised controlled trial.
Electroacupuncture has been demonstrated to be effective at alleviating pain and postoperative side-effects. Our aim was to investigate whether transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation, a low-skill alternative to needle-based electroacupuncture, could improve the quality of recovery after ambulatory surgery. Seventy-two women scheduled for cosmetic breast surgery were randomly allocated to transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation or sham groups. ⋯ We found significant mean (SD) differences between the transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation and sham groups in the mean (SD) length of recovery room stay (35.6 (12.9) min vs 48.3 (16.3) min, p = 0.01), time to removal of the laryngeal mask airway (10.2 (2.5) min vs 17.8 (4.4) min, p = 0.01), and time to reorientation of the patient (14.6 (3.2) min vs 26.5 (5.0) min, p = 0.01). Further, postoperative pain scores and the incidence of side-effects were all lower in the transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation group. In conclusion, transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation can significantly improve the quality of recovery and decrease the incidence of anaesthesia-related side-effects for patients undergoing ambulatory surgery.