Opioid abuse could be costing U.S. employers about $18 billion a year in lost productivity and medical expenses, according to a study that also finds employers are paying for one-third of opioid prescriptions that end up being abused. Health information firm, Castlight Health on Wednesday released an analysis of aggregated data from nearly a million employer-based health […]
Read MoreAuthors: Ashraf Fayad, M.D., M.Sc., F.R.C.P.C., F.A.C.C., F.A.S.E. et al Anesthesiology published on 4 2016 Background: The prognostic value of perioperative diastolic dysfunction (PDD) in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery remains uncertain, and the current guidelines do not recognize PDD as a perioperative risk factor. This systematic review aimed to investigate whether existing evidence supports PDD as an […]
Read MoreAuthors: Paul S. Myles, M.B., B.S., M.P.H., M.D., F.C.A.I., F.A.N.Z.C.A., F.R.C.A., F.A.H.M.S. et al Anesthesiology 5 2016, Vol.124, 1032-1040 Background: The Evaluation of Nitrous oxide in the Gas Mixture for Anesthesia II trial randomly assigned 7,112 noncardiac surgery patients to a nitrous oxide or nitrous oxide–free anesthetic; severe postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) was a prespecified secondary […]
Read MoreWhen prescription opioids started getting too difficult or too expensive to procure, people addicted to them started turning to heroin–a shift that’s created an “epidemic” of heroin use in whole new groups of people. Now, a new opioid is rising in use and overdose: Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is 50-100 times more potent than morphine, according […]
Read MoreAuthors: Peter Szmuk, M.D. et al Anesthesiology 4 2016, Vol.124, 779-784 Background: Pulse oximetry provides no indication of downward trends in Pao2 until saturation begins to decrease. The Oxygen Reserve Index (ORI) is a novel pulse oximeter–based nondimensional index that ranges from 1 to 0 as Pao2 decreases from about 200 to 80 mmHg and is measured by optically […]
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