Article Collections
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- Remifentanil infusions above 0.20-0.25 μg/kg/min are associated with hyperalgesia (OIH = Opioid Induced Hyperalgesia) and tolerance (AOT = Acute Opioid Tolerance) respectively.
- Some of these effects can be mitigated by multimodal analgesia (notably ketamine), and possibly by gradual weaning of a remifentanil infusion.
- The findings have been predominately identified in rats and volunteer human studies. The clinical and longterm significance is still uncertain.
- Although OIH and AOT arise from different physiological mechanisms, they are clinically difficult (if not impossible) to differentiate.
- The clinical priority for management is prevention.
...and 1 more note
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A collection of landmark papers relevant to anaesthesia and anesthesiology.
Generally, these papers are practice changing and hold current, ongoing significance beyond their historical importance.
This is a dynamic and changing document that will be updated, pruned and added to as appropriate. Many of these papers have free full-text provided by the publisher because of their significance.
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There has been some observational evidence that a greater depth of anesthesia, as measured by BIS, may be associated with an increase in post-operative mortality. In particular the association of the "triple low state" (low BIS, low volatile-ET, low MAP) with post-operative mortality is worrying.
Completion of the Balanced Anaesthesia Study Group’s large RCT looking at this issue however brings us as close to a final word as we may expect. Short et al. (2019) showed no difference in 1-year mortality for older patients undergoing major surgery, whether they received a deep (BIS target 35) or light (BIS target 50) general anaesthetic.
It is likely that earlier observational studies were showing the consequences of intraoperative hypotension resulting from anaesthetic depth, rather than anaesthetic depth itself.
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