Author: Dr Clemens

Uncategorized Published - 13 July, 2018    By - Dr Clemens
Machine-learning Algorithm to Predict Hypotension Based on High-fidelity Arterial Pressure Waveform Analysis

Authors: Feras Hatib, Ph.D. et al      Anesthesiology published on June 11, 2018. Background: With appropriate algorithms, computers can learn to detect patterns and associations in large data sets. The authors’ goal was to apply machine learning to arterial pressure waveforms and create an algorithm to predict hypotension. The algorithm detects early alteration in waveforms that can herald […]

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Uncategorized Published - 13 July, 2018    By - Dr Clemens
Psychosocial Interventions May Improve Outcomes in Orthopedic Surgery

Psychosocial interventions such as patient education and relaxation techniques may help reduce pain after orthopedic surgery and improve quality of clinical care, according to results published in the Journal of Pain. The review included 62 randomized controlled clinical trials with 4908 participants. The researchers performed a meta-analysis to examine postoperative pain, analgesic requirement, perioperative anxiety, quality of life, and […]

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Uncategorized Published - 13 July, 2018    By - Dr Clemens
Benefits of Perioperative IV Lidocaine for Postsurgical Pain Unclear

Perioperative lidocaine delivered intravenously (IV) may not improve pain, gastrointestinal recovery, postoperative nausea, or opioid consumption in the early postoperative phase compared with placebo or no treatment, according to results published in Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. The review included 68 trials with 4525 participants. Two trials compared IV lidocaine with thoracic epidural analgesia, and the […]

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Uncategorized Published - 13 July, 2018    By - Dr Clemens
Labor Epidural Analgesia Linked to Reduced Likelihood of Successful Breastfeeding

Labor epidural analgesia may be associated with reduced likelihood of breastfeeding at 6 weeks, according to a study published in Anesthesia & Analgesia. The study included women intending to breastfeed who had delivered vaginally with or without labor epidural analgesia (n=1204). The researchers recorded breastfeeding at 3 days and 6 weeks postpartum. The primary outcome was breastfeeding at […]

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Uncategorized Published - 13 July, 2018    By - Dr Clemens
Do Hospitals Performing Frequent Neuraxial Anesthesia for Hip and Knee Replacements Have Better Outcomes?

Authors: Stavros G. Memtsoudis, M.D., Ph.D., F.C.C.P. et al   Anesthesiology published on June 6, 2018. Background: Neuraxial anesthesia is increasingly recommended for hip/knee replacements as some studies show improved outcomes on the individual level. With hospital-level studies lacking, we assessed the relationship between hospital-level neuraxial anesthesia utilization and outcomes. Methods: National data on 808,237 total knee and 371,607 […]

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Uncategorized Published - 12 July, 2018    By - Dr Clemens
Surgeries account for almost half of hospital costs

By Richard Franki MDedge News Hospital stays with surgeries made up just under 29% of all admissions in 2014 but accounted for over 48% of all hospital costs, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Of the 35.4 million inpatient stays in 2014 – the last full year of ICD-9-CM coding – 10.1 million […]

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Uncategorized Published - 12 July, 2018    By - Dr Clemens
Biogen reports positive results with Alzheimer’s drug, reviving hopes for once-failed treatment

I thought this was interesting so wanted to share. By DAMIAN GARDE JULY 5, 2018 Biogen is declaring success with a once-failed treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, pointing to positive secondary results from a mid-stage study in hopes of saving a drug many in the field had written off entirely. The treatment, BAN2401, failed its primary goal […]

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Uncategorized Published - 12 July, 2018    By - Dr Clemens
Vague Presenting Symptoms Are Associated with Increased Mortality in Septic Shock

Authors: Filbin MR et al.  Crit Care Med 2018 Jun 29 And not for the reasons you might think. Sepsis can be both deadly and difficult to recognize. It is not clear whether treatment delays, such as delayed antibiotic administration, reflect poor recognition, poor quality care, or something else. To examine whether absence of explicit infectious […]

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Uncategorized Published - 12 July, 2018    By - Dr Clemens
A Case Report From the Anesthesia Incident Reporting System

ASA Monitor 7 2018, Vol.82, 40-42. Review of unusual patient care experiences is a cornerstone of medical education. Each month, the AQI-AIRS Steering Committee abstracts a patient history submitted to the Anesthesia Incident Reporting System (AIRS) and authors a discussion of the safety and human factors challenges involved. Real-life case histories often include multiple clinical decisions, […]

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Uncategorized Published - 12 July, 2018    By - Dr Clemens
Anticonvulsants Don’t Seem to Ease Low Back Pain

Anticonvulsant medications like gabapentin and pregabalin don’t appear to improve low back pain, a meta-analysis in the Canadian Medical Association Journal finds. Researchers examined nine studies of nearly 900 patients with chronic low back pain or lumbar radicular pain. Patients received either anticonvulsants (gabapentinoids or topiramate) or placebo. Gabapentinoids had no effect on low back pain or […]

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