Upper gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures may be commonplace, but they have surprisingly high complication and mortality rates. The advent of a modified laryngeal mask that can simultaneously protect the airway and facilitate the passage of an endoscope may reduce some of these adverse events. Preliminary results from an Australian study found that the mask facilitated endoscopic […]
Read MoreHow healthy is “healthy”? According to the results of an analysis from the University of California, San Diego, surgical mortality in a relatively healthy (ASA I and II) patient population is decreasing across the United States. Nevertheless, the study of more than 1.5 million patients identified several clinical predictors of increased mortality risk in this population. Consideration […]
Read MoreUnderbody warming blankets ultimately may prove to be a better choice than their overbody counterparts, with respect to both treating and preventing hypothermia, according to a recent study. “A few years have passed since underbody-type blankets were introduced to the market,” began Hiroshi Sumida, MD, a staff anesthesiologist at the Tohoku University School of Medicine, […]
Read MoreInfections can be lethal in the hospital setting, of course, but awareness of anesthesiologists’ role in contamination is just starting to emerge. According to data presented at the 2017 annual meeting of the Society for Technology in Anesthesia (abstract 29), anesthesia machines, which are notoriously difficult to clean, have been shown to be a potent […]
Read MoreAUTHOR: Hahn, Robert G. MD, PhD Anesthesia & Analgesia: June 2017 – Volume 124 – Issue 6 – p 1824–1833 Excretion of crystalloid fluid is slow during general anesthesia. The distribution and elimination of buffered Ringer’s solution were analyzed to determine whether the rate of elimination correlates with a hemodynamic factor, consciousness, patient posture, or the […]
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