BACKGROUND Single-shot suprascapular nerve block and superior trunk block have been reported to provide a non-inferior analgesic effect after shoulder surgery with a lesser incidence of hemidiaphragmatic paresis compared with interscalene brachial plexus block. This study hypothesized that continuous suprascapular nerve block provides non-inferior analgesia with minimal effects on diaphragmatic movement

BACKGROUND Children undergoing complex cardiac surgery are exposed to substantial cumulative doses of sedative medications and volatile anesthetics and are more frequently anesthetized with ketamine, compared with healthy children. We hypothesized that greater exposure to sedation and anesthesia in this population is associated with lower neurodevelopmental scores at 18-months of age. METHODS We conducted

BACKGROUND Individualized positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) guided by dynamic compliance improves oxygenation and reduces postoperative atelectasis in nonobese patients. We hypothesized that dynamic compliance-guided PEEP could also reduce postoperative atelectasis in patients undergoing bariatric surgery. METHODS Patients scheduled to undergo laparoscopic bariatric surgery were eligible. Dynamic

Control of Breathing Using an Extracorporeal Membrane Lung. By T Kolobow, L Gattinoni, TA Tomlinson, JE Pierce. Anesthesiology 1977; 46:138-41. Reprinted with permission. Body Position Changes Redistribute Lung Computed-Tomographic Density in Patients with Acute Respiratory Failure. By L Gattinoni, P Pelosi, G Vitale, A Pesenti, L D'Andrea, D Mascheroni. Anesthesiology 1991; 74:15-23. Reprinted with

BACKGROUND Older patients are vulnerable to developing new or worsening disability after surgery. Despite this, patient or surgical characteristics predisposing to postoperative disability are poorly defined. Our aim was to develop and validate a model, subsequently transformed to point-score form, to predict 6-month death or disability in older patients after surgery. METHODS The authors built a prospective

BACKGROUND Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is an important pain treatment modality. We hypothesized that a novel pulsed-ultrahigh-frequency SCS (pUHF-SCS) could safely and effectively inhibit spared nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain in rats. METHODS Epidural pUHF-SCS (± 3V, 2Hz pulses comprising 500 kHz biphasic sinewaves) was implanted at the thoracic vertebrae (T9-T11). Local field brain potentials

BACKGROUND Insured patients who receive out-of-network care may receive a "balance bill" for the difference between the practitioner's charge and their insurer's contracted rate. In 2017, California banned balance billing for anesthesia care. We examined the association between California's law and subsequent payments for anesthesia care. We hypothesized that following the law's implementation, there

Opioids are effective analgesics, but they can have harmful adverse effects, such as addiction and potentially fatal respiratory depression. Naloxone is currently the only available treatment for reversing the negative effects of opioids, including respiratory depression. However, the effectiveness of naloxone, particularly after an opioid overdose, varies depending on the pharmacokinetics and the

BACKGROUND The analgesic effectiveness of contemporary motor-sparing nerve blocks used in combination for analgesia in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is unclear. We conducted this network meta-analysis to evaluate the analgesic effectiveness of adding single-injection or continuous adductor canal block (ACB) with or without infiltration of the interspace between the popliteal artery and the capsule

BACKGROUND Perioperative neurocognitive disorders are a major public health issue, though there are no validated neurophysiologic biomarkers that predict cognitive function after surgery. This study tested the hypothesis that preoperative posterior electroencephalographic alpha power, alpha frontal-parietal connectivity, and cerebral oximetry would each correlate with postoperative neurocognitive function

BACKGROUND The pathophysiology of delirium is incompletely understood including what molecular pathways are involved in brain vulnerability to delirium. We determined whether preoperative plasma neurodegeneration markers were elevated in patients who subsequently developed postoperative delirium through a retrospective case-control study. METHODS Inclusion criteria were patients ≥65 years of age, undergoing

BACKGROUND Chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) is a poorly recognized outcome of surgery where patients experience pain long after healing from the surgical insult. Descending Control of Nociception (DCN), a phenomenon whereby application of a strong nociceptive stimulus to one part of the body of animals inhibits pain in remote body regions, offers one strategy to identify a propensity to develop CPSP-like

BACKGROUND Contemporary perioperative practice seeks to use less intraoperative opioid, diminish postoperative pain and opioid use, and enable less post-discharge opioid prescribing. For inpatient surgery, anesthesia with intraoperative methadone, compared with short-duration opioids, results in less pain, less postoperative opioid use, and greater patient satisfaction. This pilot investigation aimed

BACKGROUND Centrifugation-based autotransfusion devices only salvage red blood cells while platelets are removed. The same™ device (i-SEP, France) is an innovative filtration-based autotransfusion device able to salvage both red blood cells and platelets. We tested the hypothesis that this new device could allow a red blood cell recovery exceeding 80% with a post-treatment hematocrit exceeding 40%

Comparative effectiveness research aims to understand the benefits and harms of different treatments to assist patients and clinicians in making better decisions. Within anesthesia practice, comparing outcomes of spinal versus general anesthesia in older adults represents an important focus of comparative effectiveness research. The authors review methodologic issues involved in studying this topic

BACKGROUND Finger-cuff methods allow non-invasive continuous arterial pressure monitoring. We aimed to determine whether continuous finger-cuff arterial pressure monitoring helps clinicians reduce hypotension within 15 minutes after starting induction of anesthesia and during non-cardiac surgery. Specifically, we tested the hypotheses that continuous finger-cuff - compared to intermittent oscillometric

BACKGROUND Providing continuous health insurance coverage during the perinatal period may increase access to and utilization of labor neuraxial analgesia. This study tested the hypothesis that implementation of the 2010 Dependent Coverage Provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, requiring private health insurers to allow young adults to remain on their parent's plan until age 26

BACKGROUND Superobesity and laparoscopic surgery promote negative end-expiratory transpulmonary pressure, which causes atelectasis formation and impaired respiratory mechanics. We hypothesized that end-expiratory transpulmonary pressure differs between fixed and individualized PEEP strategies, and mediates their effects on respiratory mechanics, end-expiratory lung volume, gas-exchange, and hemodynamic

BACKGROUND Chronic post-surgical pain is a common complication of surgery. The role of psychological risk factors like depression and anxiety is substantially understudied in cardiac surgery. This study sought to identify perioperative factors associated with chronic pain at 3, 6, and 12 months after cardiac surgery. We hypothesize that baseline psychological vulnerabilities have a negative influence

BACKGROUND Anesthesiologists' contribution to perioperative healthcare disparities remains unclear because patient and surgeon preferences can influence care choices. Postoperative nausea and vomiting is a patient- centered outcome measure and a main driver of unplanned admissions. Antiemetic administration is under the sole domain of anesthesiologists. In a U.S. sample, Medicaid insured versus commercially

BACKGROUND Overprescription of opioids after surgery remains common. Residual and unnecessarily prescribed opioids can provide a reservoir for nonmedical use. This study therefore tested the hypothesis that a decision-support tool embedded in electronic health records guides clinicians to prescribe fewer opioids at discharge after inpatient surgery. METHODS This study included 21,689 surgical inpatient

BACKGROUND Delayed cold storage of room temperature platelets may extend shelf life from 5 to 14 days. The study hypothesized that the use of delayed cold-stored platelets in cardiac surgery would be associated with decreased postoperative platelet count increments but similar transfusion and clinical outcomes compared to room temperature-stored platelets. METHODS This is an observational cohort study

Recombinant activated factor VII has been widely used in an off-label manner for cardiac surgical bleeding. Recent reports have administered recombinant activated factor VII earlier in the course of bleeding and at lower doses than initially reported. This review will discuss the history, mechanism, current recommendations for use, and recent data on the use of recombinant activated factor VII in cardiac

BACKGROUND Patients with frailty consistently experience higher rates of perioperative morbidity and mortality; however, costs attributable to frailty remain poorly defined. This study sought to identify older patients with and without frailty using a validated, multidimensional frailty index and estimated the attributable costs in the year after major, elective noncardiac surgery. METHODS The authors

BACKGROUND Conflicting evidence exists regarding the risks and benefits of inotropic therapies during cardiac surgery, and the extent of variation in clinical practice remains understudied. Therefore, the authors sought to quantify patient-, anesthesiologist-, and hospital-related contributions to variation in inotrope use. METHODS In this observational study, nonemergent adult cardiac surgeries using

BACKGROUND The administration of epinephrine after severe refractory hypotension, shock, or cardiac arrest restores systemic blood flow and major vessel perfusion but may worsen cerebral microvascular perfusion and oxygen delivery through vasoconstriction. The authors hypothesized that epinephrine induces significant microvascular constriction in the brain, with increased severity after repetitive

BACKGROUND Mechanomyography is the traditional gold standard research technique for quantitative assessment of neuromuscular blockade. Mechanomyography directly measures the isometric force generated by the thumb in response to ulnar nerve stimulation. Researchers must construct their own mechanomyographs since commercial instruments are no longer available. A mechanomyograph was constructed, and its

BACKGROUND The association between growth differentiation factor-15 concentrations and cardiovascular disease has been well described. The study hypothesis was that growth differentiation factor-15 may help cardiac risk stratification in noncardiac surgical patients, in addition to clinical evaluation. METHODS The objective of the study was to determine whether preoperative serum growth differentiation

BACKGROUND Radial artery cannulation in young children is challenging. A single-operator laser-assisted ultrasound-guidance system was invented to project the path of the target artery on the skin surface. The hypothesis was that this system would improve the first-attempt success rate of radial arterial cannulation in young pediatric patients relative to traditional ultrasound guidance. METHODS This

BACKGROUND There is insufficient prospective evidence regarding the relationship between surgical experience and prolonged opioid use and pain. The authors investigated the association of patient characteristics, surgical procedure, and perioperative anesthetic course with postoperative opioid consumption and pain 3 months postsurgery. The authors hypothesized that patient characteristics and intraoperative

BACKGROUND The dose of sugammadex recommended by the manufacturer for reversal of rocuronium is 2 mg/kg when the train-of-four count is 2 or more and 4 mg/kg when it is less than 2 but there is a posttetanic count of at least 1. The purpose of this dose-finding study was to titrate sugammadex to produce a train-of-four ratio 0.9 or greater at the conclusion of cardiac surgery, and to continue monitoring

BACKGROUND The use of low-titer group O whole blood is increasing. To reduce wastage, unused units can be converted to packed red blood cells. Supernatant is currently discarded post-conversion; however, it could be a valuable transfusable product. The aim of this study was to evaluate supernatant prepared from late-storage low-titer group O whole blood being converted to red blood cells, hypothesizing

BACKGROUND A variety of molecular targets for volatile anesthetics have been suggested, including the anesthetic-sensitive potassium leak channel, TREK-1. Knockout of TREK-1 is reported to render mice resistant to volatile anesthetics, making TREK-1 channels compelling targets for anesthetic action. Spinal cord slices from mice, either wild type or an anesthetic- hypersensitive mutant, Ndufs4, display

BACKGROUND Suppression of behavioral and physical responses defines the anesthetized state. This is accompanied, in humans, by characteristic changes in electroencephalogram patterns. However, these measures reveal little about the neuron or circuit-level physiologic action of anesthetics nor how information is trafficked between neurons. This study assessed whether entropy-based metrics can differentiate