Articles: postoperative.
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Local wound perfusion with bupivacaine after elective abdominal surgery seems to be a promising method of reducing postoperative pain. Applicability, effectiveness, side effects and risks were tested in a pilot study with 28 patients. During closure of the laparotomy incision two catheters were inserted, one between peritoneum and fascia and the other subcutaneously. ⋯ No severe side effects occurred, but the study was interrupted nonetheless in 3 patients, 2 of whom had a transit syndrome while the third had more severe hypotension than could be explained by the bupivacaine blood level. No infections and no problems with wound healing occurred during the study. This study proved that the method tested leads to significant pain reduction after elective abdominal surgery and has no severe side effects.
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Journal of anesthesia · Sep 1994
High incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications after orthotopic liver transplantation in children.
Postoperative pulmonary complications were investigated in a total of 41 pediatric recipients who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) between January, 1990 and March, 1992 at the Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane. Atelectasis was seen in 40 cases (98%) of the 41 recipients, and occurred in the left lower lobe in 28 cases (68%), and in the right upper lobe in 25 cases (61%). Radiographic pulmonary edema occurred on 23 occasions in 18 recipients (45%). ⋯ Pneumothorax occurred in three cases. Pyothorax, hemothorax, bronchial asthma, and subglottic granulation occurred in one case each. The present study demonstrated that postoperative pulmonary complications are frequently observed in pediatric recipients undergoing OLT.
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There have been major advances in knowledge and efficient techniques for pain relief have been developed during recent years. Nevertheless, many patients on surgical wards still suffer from severe pain following surgery or trauma. Therefore, in the University hospital of Kiel (Germany) an anaesthesiology-based acute pain service (APS) was established in 1985 to improve this situation.
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Nociceptive stimuli are modulated at the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. This modulation is performed by various systems working independently complementarily, additively or supra-additively. Non-opioid analgesics relieve pain without a motor blockade. ⋯ Lysine acetylsalicylic acid (L-ASA) has been given intrathecally for the therapy of severe cancer pain and chronic back pain. In most patients good analgesia was observed up to 2 months after a single injection. If neurotoxity can be excluded, L-ASA may be an alternative in the therapy of cancer pain before neurodestructive therapy is done.
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Numerous experimental studies have shown that systemic or regional administration of analgesics prior to a nociceptive stimulus results in a significant reduction of analgesic requirements compared with the administration of the same analgesic dose given after the nociceptive stimulus. This phenomenon is called "preemptive analgesia". Recently several clinical studies have been conducted to determine whether "preemptive analgesia" also occurs in humans. ⋯ Most studies have failed to show a significant reduction in postoperative analgesic requirements with preemptive analgesia. Even in studies with positive results the reduction in analgesic requirements was limited and without clinical relevance. Further studies should focus on the questions which analgesics and which administration routes might provide clinically significant "preemptive analgesia" and how long analgesia should be prolonged into the postoperative period.