General Anesthetic Research Articles

Safety profiles of general and local anaesthetics in Italy

Safety profiles of general and local anaesthetics in Italy

Addition of topical airway anaesthesia to conventional induction techniques to reduce haemodynamic instability during the induction period in patients undergoing cardiac surgery: protocol for a randomised controlled study

IntroductionThe aim of this prospective study is to evaluate the effects of combining topical airway anaesthesia with intravenous induction on haemodynamic variables during the induction period in patients undergoing cardiac...

Ketamine use in critically ill patients: a narrative review.

Ketamine is unique among anesthetics and analgesics. The drug is a rapid-acting general anesthetic that produces an anesthetic state characterized by profound analgesia, preserved pharyngeal-laryngeal reflexes, normal or slightly enhanced skeletal muscle tone, cardiovascular and respiratory stimulation, and occasionally a transient and minimal respiratory depression. Research has demonstrated the efficacy of its use on anesthesia, pain, palliative care, and intensive care. Recently, it has been used for postoperative and chronic pain, as an adjunct in psychotherapy, as a treatment for depression and posttraumatic stress disorder, as a procedural sedative, and as a treatment for respiratory and/or neurologic clinical conditions. Despite being a safe and widely used drug, many physicians, such as intensivists and those practicing in emergency care, are not aware of the current clinical applications of ketamine. The objective of this narrative literature review is to present the theoretical and practical aspects of clinical applications of ketamine in intensive care unit and emergency department settings.

Endoscopic foreign body retrieval from the caecum - A case report and push for intervention guidelines.

Introduction and importanceEndoscopic foreign body retrieval in the upper gastrointestinal tract is well established, however indications for endoscopy for retained foreign bodies in the lower gastrointestinal tract and specifically the right colon is still being navigated [3]. A PubMed and Google Scholar search discovered a variety of case reports detailing various methods and indications for endoscopic retrieval of right sided colonic foreign bodies. This case report endeavors to supplement the literature so that guidelines can one day be established for colonoscopic retrieval of right-sided foreign bodies.Case presentation36-year-old male prisoner swallowed 6.5 cm nail clippers with a long-standing history of intentional foreign body ingestion (FBI) including multiple laparotomies for foreign body retrievals. Computerized tomography (CT) was used initially to confirm the position of the nail clippers. After almost two weeks of failure of the foreign body (FB) to move beyond the caecum as demonstrated on plain abdominal X-rays, the patient had a colonoscopy with successful retrieval of the FB.Clinical discussionThis case report hopes to encourage the consideration of colonoscopy for retrieval of right sided colonic foreign bodies that have failed to pass on their own and where an operation may come with increased risk (multiple laparotomies, multiple comorbidities, and higher anaesthetic risk for a general anaesthetic). Colonoscopy/endoscopy still has inherent risk and this patient did have an episode of temporary laryngospasm that required intubation and monitoring in the intensive care unit post operatively. Despite this the patient recovered and was discharged day one post procedure without further complication. The case report has been reported in line with the SCARE 2020 criteria (Agha et al., 2020 [2]).ConclusionIndications for consideration of endoscopic retrieval of foreign bodies in the right colon have not been entirely detailed as endoscopy is for upper gastrointestinal foreign bodies. This case report documents the indications for endoscopy in the clinical context of a recurrent FBI and a history of multiple laparotomies with failure of the FB to move beyond the caecum.

The Nature and Dynamics of General Anesthetics Sites

The Nature and Dynamics of General Anesthetics Sites

Ultrasound-Guided Subcostal Transversus Abdominis Plane Block for Pain Management in Open Surgical Gastrostomy

Abstract Gastrostomy is needed to provide nutritional support in patients with head and neck cancer surgery. The incision in upper abdomen causes moderate pain. We usually encountered our postoperative patients complaining of significant discomfort that leads us to think about adding some regional anesthesia techniques with conventional pain management. Recently, the role of regional anesthetic techniques for involving anterior abdominal wall has been increased. Ten patients who underwent head and neck cancer surgery requiring open surgical gastrostomy for long-term nutritional support were taken into this descriptive case series. In addition to general anesthetic, intravenous nalbuphine, and paracetamol, ultrasound-guided subcostal transversus abdominal plane (TAP) block was performed 30 min prior to incision of gastrostomy to improve postoperative analgesia. All 10 patients had significant pain relief at gastrostomy incision site which is different from our experience in the same patient population before. The numerical rating score (NRS) was between 0 and 2, and average satisfaction score was 7–8 on a scale of 10. The patients reported a very low level of discomfort. No adverse events were recorded up to patient discharge from the hospital. Subcostal TAP block under ultrasound guidance is a valuable addition to improve postoperative pain management in open surgical gastrostomy. The available case series show encouraging analgesic results with no adverse events recorded. Formal prospective randomized trials are needed to provide further evidence on its efficacy, failure rate, and safety.

Effects of General Anesthetics on Synaptic Transmission and Plasticity

Effects of General Anesthetics on Synaptic Transmission and Plasticity

Inference of Brain States Under Anesthesia With Meta Learning Based Deep Learning Models.

Monitoring the depth of unconsciousness during anesthesia is beneficial in both clinical settings and neuroscience investigations to understand brain mechanisms. Electroencephalogram (EEG) has been used as an objective means of characterizing brain altered arousal and/or cognition states induced by anesthetics in real-time. Different general anesthetics affect cerebral electrical activities in different ways. However, the performance of conventional machine learning models on EEG data is unsatisfactory due to the low Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) in the EEG signals, especially in the office-based anesthesia EEG setting. Deep learning models have been used widely in the field of Brain Computer Interface (BCI) to perform classification and pattern recognition tasks due to their capability of good generalization and handling noises. Compared to other BCI applications, where deep learning has demonstrated encouraging results, the deep learning approach for classifying different brain consciousness states under anesthesia has been much less investigated. In this paper, we propose a new framework based on meta-learning using deep neural networks, named Anes-MetaNet, to classify brain states under anesthetics. The Anes-MetaNet is composed of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) to extract power spectrum features, and a time consequence model based on Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks to capture the temporal dependencies, and a meta-learning framework to handle large cross-subject variability. We use a multi-stage training paradigm to improve the performance, which is justified by visualizing the high-level feature mapping. Experiments on the office-based anesthesia EEG dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed Anes-MetaNet by comparison of existing methods.

Ketamine use in critically ill patients: a narrative review

Ketamine is unique among anesthetics and analgesics. The drug is a rapid-acting general anesthetic that produces an anesthetic state characterized by profound analgesia, preserved pharyngeal-laryngeal reflexes, normal or slightly enhanced skeletal muscle tone, cardiovascular and respiratory stimulation, and occasionally a transient and minimal respiratory depression. Research has demonstrated the efficacy of its use on anesthesia, pain, palliative care, and intensive care. Recently, it has been used for postoperative and chronic pain, as an adjunct in psychotherapy, as a treatment for depression and posttraumatic stress disorder, as a procedural sedative, and as a treatment for respiratory and/or neurologic clinical conditions. Despite being a safe and widely used drug, many physicians, such as intensivists and those practicing in emergency care, are not aware of the current clinical applications of ketamine. The objective of this narrative literature review is to present the theoretical and practical aspects of clinical applications of ketamine in intensive care unit and emergency department settings.

Effects of Sevoflurane on Apoptosis of Myocardial Cells in IRI Rats.

Background Cardiomyocyte apoptosis functions essentially in ischemia/reperfusion- (I/R-) induced myocardial injury. It is suggested that autophagy is widely implicated in the regulation of cell survival and death. Sevoflurane, as a largely used inhalational general anesthetic, has been shown to have a protective effect on cardiomyocytes. However, it was yet elusive on the underlying mechanisms. Aim The objective of this study is to investigate the association of sevoflurane-mediated cardioprotective effects with autophagy regulation. Methods An in vitro hypoxia model was established in primary cardiomyocytes from fresh myocardial tissue of the rats. The apoptosis rate of myocardial cells treated with hypoxia and treated with sevoflurane was measured. Western blot and immunocytochemical assay were used to measure the protein expression. The cell proliferation rate and cell apoptosis were measured using the MTT assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Results The expression of apoptotic proteins including B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein homologous protein (CHOP), glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), and Bcl-2-associated X protein (BAX) in myocardium treated with sevoflurane was significantly lower than that in myocardium treated with hypoxia. The expression of adhesion proteins such as intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), and E-selectin in myocardium treated with sevoflurane was higher than that in myocardium treated with hypoxia, suggesting better connectivity of the myocardium. Conclusion Sevoflurane treatment reduced the apoptosis of myocardial cells after hypoxia treatment.

The importance of perioperative optimisation to facilitate safe regional anaesthesia and their improved outcomes in fracture neck of femur patients.

Hip fractures are common presentations to orthopaedic departments, and their surgical management often results in blood transfusions. Compared with general anaesthesia, regional anaesthesia reduces the need for transfusions and mortality in the wider surgical population. In hip fracture patients, our primary outcome measure was to examine any relationship between anaesthetic modality and transfusion rates. The secondary outcome measure was to assess the relationship between anaesthetic modality and one-year mortality. A retrospective cohort study of 280 patients was carried out in 2017 and 2018. Data were collected from patient records, local transfusion laboratory and the national hip fracture database. A total of 59.6% had regional and 40.4% general anaesthesia. Regional anaesthesia patients were younger with fewer comorbidities (p < .05). About 19.8% regional and 34.5% general anaesthesia patients received transfusions (odds ratio (OR) = 0.47, p < .05); 13.6% were taking anticoagulants and were less likely to receive a regional anaesthetic (31.6% versus 64%, OR = 0.26, p < .05). One-year mortality was 27% for regional and 37% for general anaesthetic patients (OR = 0.64, p = .09). Regional anaesthesia halved the risk of blood transfusion. Anticoagulated patients were 74% less likely to receive regional anaesthetics, but had no additional transfusion risk. With optimisation, a larger proportion of patients could have regional anaesthesia.

75 No Time To Train? The Use of Simulation to Develop a Pathway and Deliver Training for Emergency Surgery in Maternity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic presented healthcare workers with a challenge to provide safe clinical care while protecting staff and coping with an evolving situation. The use of simulation to devise and test emergency pathways is well recognized in the literature Recognizing the need to develop a safe pathway, with a limited evidence base, we sought to test the hypothesis that a combination of table-top and This programme involved three phases: pathway development, safety testing and team training. The initial phase was a simulated table-top scenario of a parturient requiring a Category 1 Caesarean delivery under general anaesthetic. This pathway was then used to create a structured simulation scenario to test its suitability. The debrief sessions for each explored three themes: (1) pathway feasibility; (2) timing and (3) feedback.The table-top simulation took place on 11 March. Team-specific outcomes highlighted the logistics of early senior escalation and the rationalization of staff and equipment in theatre. We also recognized deficits in the amount and correct use of personal protective equipment (PPE). Staffing levels and limitations in communication were also key findings. The subsequent The initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic provided a fertile ground for team consolidation and planning that promoted collaboration in one of the most multi-professional areas of any hospital: the maternity unit. Involvement of all teams meant that deficits in training could be identified early, and changes could be adapted rapidly. The simulations also demonstrated to staff that it was possible to safely deliver a baby within the timeframe. Recognizing that this was not an isolated problem, we shared our resources publicly helping teams in the USA, Laos, Australia and UK to develop their own protocols. Importantly, it improved our response to the second wave.

Emergency Department Stress Radiographs of Lateral Compression Type-1 Pelvic Ring Injuries Are Safe, Effective, and Reliable.

Occult instability of lateral compression type-1 (LC1) pelvic ring injuries may be determined with a fluoroscopic stress examination under anesthesia (EUA) performed in the operating room. We hypothesized that LC1 injuries, similar to some fractures of the extremities, could be radiographically stressed for stability in the emergency department (ED). Our primary objective was to determine if stress examination of LC1 fractures could be safely and accurately performed in the ED and could be tolerated by patients. A prospective, consecutive series of 70 patients with minimally displaced LC1 pelvic injuries (<10-mm displacement on presentation) underwent stress examinations performed by the on-call orthopaedic resident in the ED radiology suite. The stress examination series included static 40° inlet, internal rotation stress inlet, and external rotation stress inlet views. Pelvic fractures that had positive stress results (≥10 mm of overlap of the rami) were indicated for a surgical procedure. These fractures also underwent EUA in order for the 2 techniques to be compared. All patients tolerated the ED stress examination without general anesthetic or hemodynamic instability. Fifty-seven patients (81%) had negative stress results and were allowed to bear weight. All patients with negative stress results who had 3-month follow-up went on to radiographic union without substantial displacement. For the patients with a positive stress result in the ED, the mean displacement was 15.15 mm (95% confidence interval [CI], 10.8 to 19.4 mm) for the ED stress test and 15.60 mm (95% CI, 11.7 to 19.4 mm) for the EUA (p = 0.86). Two patients with a negative ED stress test did not mobilize during their hospitalization and underwent EUA and conversion to a surgical procedure. Thus, a total of 11 patients underwent both stress testing in the ED and EUA; no patient had a positive result on one test but a negative result on the other. ED stress examination of LC1 injuries is a safe and reliable method to determine pelvic ring stability. The displacement measured in the ED stress examination is similar to the displacement measured under general anesthesia. Furthermore, a negative ED stress examination predicts successful nonoperative treatment. Given the results of this study, we encourage the use of stress examination in the ED for LC1-type injuries involving complete sacral fractures only. Widescale adoption of this streamlined protocol may substantially diminish cost, anesthetic risk, and potential operations for patients. Diagnostic Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Intraoperative electrocorticography: variants of periodic patterns in the structural epilepsy

The results of intraoperative electrocorticography for patients with the structural epilepsy are influenced by two main factors: the action of general anesthetic and the mechanisms of epileptogenesis. Under the general anesthesia, there is a dose-dependent suppression of the bioelectrical activity of the brain; you could even register the outburst-diminution and outburst-suppression types of the periodic patterns. The study was carried out to classify the variants of periodic activity registered on the intraoperative electrocorticogram for patients with a structural epilepsy. The work was carried out during the examination and surgical treatment of the two groups of patients: 1) 19 patients (men/women 10/9, 1945 years old) with focal drug-resistant epilepsy; 2) 19 patients (men/women 8/11, 2868 years old) with structural epilepsy associated with the intracerebral tumors. All patients underwent surgical removal of the epileptic focus under a neurophysiological control. Surgical interventions were performed under the sevoflurane-based inhalation anesthesia in doses from 1.01.5 MAC (minimum alveolar concentration). Periodic activity on intraoperative electrocorticography was represented with the outburst-suppression type of patterns and patterns containing epileptiform discharge graph elements: discharge- postdischarge depression, outburst-suppression with discharges against the background of depression, small electrical elements with epileptiform discharges. The presence of discharge graph elements in the periodic patterns has a neurophysiological correlation with a drug-resistance in the structural epilepsy.

ATPase Inhibitory Factor 1 Is Critical for Regulating Sevoflurane-Induced Microglial Inflammatory Responses and Caspase-3 Activation.

Postoperative delirium (POD) is one of the most important complications after surgery with general anesthesia, for which the neurotoxicity of general anesthetics is a high-risk factor. However, the mechanism remains largely unknown, which also hinders the effective treatment of POD. Here, we confirmed that a clinical concentration of the general anesthetic sevoflurane increased the expression of inflammatory factors and activated the caspase-3 by upregulating ATPase inhibitory factor 1 (ATPIF1) expression in microglia. Upregulation of ATPIF1 decreased the synthesis of ATP which is an important signaling molecule secreted by microglia. Extracellular supplementation with ATP attenuated the microglial inflammatory response and caspase-3 activation caused by sevoflurane or overexpression of ATPIF1. Additionally, the microglial inflammatory response further upregulated ATPIF1 expression, resulting in a positive feedback loop. Animal experiments further indicated that intraperitoneal injection of ATP significantly alleviated sevoflurane anesthesia-induced POD-related anxiety behavior and memory damage in mice. This study reveals that ATPIF1, an important protein regulating ATP synthesis, mediates sevoflurane-induced neurotoxicity in microglia. ATP supplementation may be a potential clinical treatment to alleviate sevoflurane-induced POD.

Current Status of Ureteric Stents on Extraction Strings and Other Non-cystoscopic Removal Methods in the Paediatric Setting: A Systematic Review on Behalf of the European Association of Urology (EAU) Young Academic Urology (YAU) Urolithiasis Group

Ureteric stents are an important tool in urology and have a wide range of indications. While they offer a number of advantages, limitations remain despite modern advancements. These include discomfort, migration and encrustation. Standard removal is via cystoscopy but in the paediatric setting this mandates general anaesthetic, which holds disadvantages. Alternative removal methods include use of extraction strings and magnetic retrieval devices, which can be performed in the outpatient setting. This systematic review evaluates the safety and efficacy of different non-cystoscopic methods for stent removal in the paediatric setting.

Cognitive Recovery by Decade in Healthy 40- to 80-Year-Old Volunteers After Anesthesia Without Surgery.

Postoperative delirium and postoperative cognitive dysfunction are the most common complications for older surgical patients. General anesthesia may contribute to the development of these conditions, but there are little data on the association of age with cognitive recovery from anesthesia in the absence of surgery or underlying medical condition. We performed a single-center cohort study of healthy adult volunteers 40 to 80 years old (N = 71, mean age 58.5 years, and 44% women) with no underlying cognitive dysfunction. Volunteers underwent cognitive testing before and at multiple time points after 2 hours of general anesthesia consisting of propofol induction and sevoflurane maintenance, akin to a general anesthetic for a surgical procedure, although no procedure was performed. The primary outcome was time to recovery to cognitive baseline on the Postoperative Quality of Recovery Scale (PQRS) within 30 days of anesthesia. Secondary cognitive outcomes were time to recovery on in-depth neuropsychological batteries, including the National Institutes of Health Toolbox and well-validated paper-and-pencil tests. The primary hypothesis is that time to recovery of cognitive function after general anesthesia increases across decades from 40 to 80 years of age. We examined this with discrete-time logit regression (for the primary outcome) and linear mixed models for interactions of age decade with time postanesthesia (for secondary outcomes). There was no association between age group and recovery to baseline on the PQRS; 36 of 69 (52%) recovered within 60-minute postanesthesia and 63 of 69 (91%) by day 1. Hazard ratios (95% confidence interval) for each decade compared to 40- to 49-year olds were: 50 to 59 years, 1.41 (0.50-4.03); 60 to 69 years, 1.03 (0.35-3.00); and 70 to 80 years, 0.69 (0.25-1.88). There were no significant differences between older decades relative to the 40- to 49-year reference decade in recovery to baseline on secondary cognitive measures. Recovery of cognitive function to baseline was rapid and did not differ between age decades of participants, although the number in each decade was small. These results suggest that anesthesia alone may not be associated with cognitive recovery in healthy adults of any age decade.

Anesthesia Management in Intramural Uterine Myoma and Obesity Morbid Patients Who Underwent Myomectomy Perlaparatomy

Introduction. Obesity is a condition that increases the challenges in the surgical process. Obesity increases the risk of sleep apnea and affects anaesthetics. This case report aims to discuss the management of anaesthesia in a patient with morbid obesity.&#x0D; Case. Female, 26 years old, with intramural uterine myoma and morbid obesity, will undergo myomectomy per laparotomy with ASA II physical status, performed anaesthesia with general anaesthesia intubation technique using the anaesthetic agent Propofol 1-2.5 mg/kg titration until the patient falls asleep, fentanyl 1-2 mcg/kg, then the patient was intubated in a ramped position with sleep non-apnea. After it was confirmed that the ETT was entered, 30 mg of a muscle relaxant (atracurium) was added. The operation lasts 1 hour 30 minutes, with a bleeding 250 cc, hemodynamically stable.&#x0D; Conclusion. Morbid obesity has extraordinary implications for anaesthetic management. Various considerations for patients with morbid obesity are needed starting from the preoperative, intraoperative, to postoperative periods. Regional anaesthesia is preferred because the physiological function of unhealthy obese patients is impaired due to excess body weight. Selection of anaesthetic agent and calculation of drug dose is crucial to know because there is a change in the volume of distribution. The pharmacokinetics of most general anaesthetics are affected by the adipose tissue mass, produce a prolonged drug effect, and less predictable.

Ultrasound assessment of gastric contents prior to placental delivery: A prospective multicentre cohort study

BackgroundThere is ongoing debate regarding the optimal general anaesthetic technique for manual removal of the placenta after vaginal delivery. Using ultrasound examination of the gastric antrum, this study aimed to assess the change in gastric contents during vaginal delivery and to determine the prevalence of stomach at risk for pulmonary aspiration in the immediate postpartum period before placental delivery. MethodsIn this prospective multicentre cohort study, antral ultrasonography was performed at full cervical dilatation within the thirty minutes preceding the beginning of expulsive efforts and after vaginal birth, before placental delivery. High-risk gastric content was defined as the visualisation of any solid content in the antrum or antral cross-sectional area in the semi-recumbent position (SR-CSA) > 608 mm². ResultsTwenty-six women were included and analysed. There was a significant decrease in both the proportion of patients with solid gastric content and the SR-CSA between the two-ultrasound examinations. Twenty-one patients (80.8%) exhibited a decrease in the SR-CSA during vaginal delivery. The prevalence of stomach at risk for pulmonary aspiration was significantly lower after vaginal delivery than before vaginal delivery (23.1% vs. 57.7%, P = 0.0004). ConclusionOur results suggest that gastric emptying is at least partially preserved during vaginal birth. Nevertheless, almost a quarter of women did have high-risk gastric content in the immediate postpartum period. Point-of-care antral ultrasonography may be of interest for the fast assessment of the gastric content status when a general anaesthesia is required for manual removal of retained placenta.

Epileptic status: reality 2021

Epileptic status is one of the urgent conditions in neurology that requires clear and urgent measures at any stage of medical care. It ranks second among all urgent neurological conditions. The therapeutic principle time-brain is applicable not only for urgent measures in acute cerebrovascular accident, but also for the relief of epileptic status, since the worst prognosis is associated with an increase in the duration of seizure activity. According to the standards proposed in the world for the treatment of epileptic status, benzodiazepines, intravenous forms of antiepileptic drugs, and general anesthetics are used. In the Russian Federation, the use of many drugs is limited due to the lack of registration, their lack in standards, and unavailability in hospitals. Due to the lack of studies on the treatment of epileptic status that go beyond the early stage of status, most of the recommendations presented worldwide remain based on case series or expert judgment. The efficacy benefits of anti-status drugs used in the second and third stages of epileptic status therapy remain unclear. Therefore, if there is a choice of anti-status drugs, the decision of which drug, in what dose and in what sequence will be used, should be made by the senior and most trained doctor in this matter, taking into account the characteristics of each patient. Based on modern international and personal experience, the paper presents a step-by-step protocol for the treatment of generalized convulsive epileptic status, discusses the successes and problems of providing care to patients with this pathology in Russia. The quality of medical care in epileptic status can be significantly improved provided that medical personnel at all stages of the treatment protocol are required to evacuate patients with epileptic status to specialized centers of multidisciplinary hospitals with the possibility of examination and therapy, including the availability of EEG monitors, neuroimaging and laboratory capabilities, and also access to modern antiepileptic drugs (1 table, bibliography: 30 refs)