This is for our readers who treat pain patients. Author: Jenna Fletcher Medical News Today Many preventive migraine medications exist. Some examples include angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, anticonvulsants, beta-blockers, and calcium channel blockers. Not every medication is right for every person, so individuals should always talk with a doctor to determine which migraine prevention method might work […]
Read MoreAuthor: Richard Novak, MD The Anesthesia Consultant What is a difficult anesthetic? Most people have no real idea what anesthesiologists do. Many imagine an anesthesiologist’s job is to give a patient some “gas” which to keep the patient asleep, while the surgeon (the real doctor) heals the patient. This image is oversimplified and wrong. Anesthesiologists […]
Read MoreDG Journal Club AUTHORS: Philippe Beauchamp-Chalifour, Alana M Flexman et al. J Neurosurg Spine. 2021 Aug OBJECTIVE Frailty has been shown to be a risk factor of perioperative adverse events (AEs) in patients undergoing various types of spine surgery. However, the relationship between frailty and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) remains unclear. The primary objective of this […]
Read MoreAuthors: Yassir Aarab, M.D., M.Sc. et al Anesthesiology September 2021, Vol. 135, 442–453. Background Pectoral nerve blocks have been proposed for analgesia during and after breast cancer surgery, but data are conflicted in aesthetic breast surgery. This trial tested the primary hypothesis that adding a preincisional pectoral nerve block is superior to systemic multimodal analgesic […]
Read MoreAuthor: Richard Novak, MD The Anesthesia Consultant Anesthesia is a hands-on specialty. We use our manual skills daily to place breathing tubes, insert intravenous and intra-arterial catheters, and place needles for spinal punctures, epidural catheters, and regional nerve blocks. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the internet as “an electronic communications network that connects computer networks and […]
Read MoreAuthor: Cardiac Anesthesiologist Mixtures of local anesthetics for regional anesthesia are sometimes used in an effort to compensate for the short duration of action of certain rapidly acting agents such as chloroprocaine and lidocaine, and the long latency of longer-acting agents such as tetracaine and bupivacaine. Mixtures of chloroprocaine and bupivacaine theoretically offer significant clinical […]
Read MoreThis is for our readers who treat pain patients. Author: Karen Veazey Medical News Today When pain is present in the face and sinus regions, a person may think they are experiencing a sinus migraine. However, sinus headaches and migraine are two different types of headache with distinct symptoms and causes. This article examines the […]
Read MoreDG Journal Club AUTHORS: Simon Poignant, Bernard Vigué et al. Neurocrit Care. 2021 Jul BACKGROUND Sedation/analgesia is a daily challenge faced by intensivists managing patients with brain injury (BI) in intensive care units (ICUs). The optimization of sedation in patients with BI presents particular challenges. A choice must be made between the potential benefit of […]
Read MoreAuthor: Richard Novak MD the anesthesia consultant Postoperative nausea and vomiting is not infrequent. One of the most common fears patients have before surgery is, “Will anesthesia make me nauseated?” The answer is, “Possibly.” The anesthesia medical literature contains thousands of published papers studying the science behind post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV), and the best […]
Read MoreAuthors: Natalie Melton, M.D., F.R.C.P.C. et al Anesthesiology September 2021, Vol. 135, 454–462. Background Peripheral nerve blocks are being used with increasing frequency for management of hip fracture–related pain. Despite converging evidence that nerve blocks may be beneficial, safety data are lacking. This study hypothesized that peripheral nerve block receipt would not be associated with adverse […]
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