Anesthesia and analgesia最新文献

Background: The electroencephalographic (EEG) provides the anesthesiologist with information regarding the level of anesthesia. Processed EEG indices are available that reflect the level of anesthesia as a single number. Strong oscillatory EEG activity in the alpha-band may be associated with an adequate level of anesthesia and a lower incidence of cognitive sequelae. So far, we do not know how the processed indices would react to changes in the alpha-band activity. Hence, we modulated the alpha-oscillatory activity of intraoperative EEG to assess possible index changes.

Methods: We performed our analyses based on data from 2 studies. Intraoperative EEG was extracted, and we isolated the alpha-band activity by band-pass filtering (8-12 Hz). We added or subtracted this activity to the original EEG in different steps with different amplifications of the alpha signal. We then replayed these signals to the bispectral index (BIS), the Entropy Module (state entropy [SE]), the CONOX (qCON), and the SEDLine (patient state index [PSI]); and evaluated the alpha-band modulation's impact on the respective index.

Results: The indices behaved differently to the modulation. In general, indices decreased with stronger alpha-band activity, but the rate of change was different with SE showing the strongest change (9% per step) and PSI and BIS (<5% per step) showing the weakest change. A simple regression analysis revealed a decrease of 0.02 to 0.09 index points with increasing alpha amplification.

Conclusions: While the alpha-band in the intraoperative EEG seems to carry information regarding the quality of anesthesia, changes in the alpha-band activity do neither strongly nor uniformly influence processed EEG indices. Hence, to assess alpha-oscillatory activity's strength, the user needs to focus on the raw EEG or its spectral representation also displayed on the monitoring systems.

Background: Mixed venous oxygen saturation (SvO 2 ) is a critical variable in the assessment of oxygen supply and demand but is rarely used in children due to the invasive nature of pulmonary artery catheters. The aim of this prospective, observational study was to investigate the accuracy of noninvasively measured SvO 2 acquired by the novel capnodynamic method, based on differential Fick equation (Capno-SvO 2 ), against gold standard CO-oximetry.

Methods: Capno-SvO 2 was compared to SvO 2 measured by pulmonary artery blood gas CO-oximetry in children undergoing cardiac catheter interventions and subjected to moderate hemodynamic challenges. Bland-Altman analysis was used to describe the agreement of absolute values between CO-oximetry and Capno-SvO 2 , and a concordance rate was calculated to evaluate the ability of Capno-SvO 2 to track change.

Results: Twenty-five procedures were included in the study. Capno-SvO 2 showed a bias toward CO-oximetry of +3 percentage points; upper and lower limits of agreement were +11 percentage points (95% confidence interval [CI], 9-14) and -5 percentage points (95% CI, -8 to -3), respectively. The concordance rate was 92% (95% CI, 89-96).

Conclusions: In conclusion, this first clinical application of a novel concept for noninvasive SvO 2 monitoring without the need for a pulmonary artery catheter indicates that Capno-SvO 2 generates absolute values and trending capacity in close agreement with the gold standard reference method.

Background: The nociception level (NOL) index is a quantitative parameter derived from physiological signals to measure intraoperative nociception. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate if NOL monitoring reduces intraoperative opioid use compared to conventional therapy (opioid administered at clinician discretion).

Methods: This meta-analysis comprises randomized clinical trials comparing NOL-guided opioid administration to conventional therapy in adult patients undergoing any type of surgery. A systematic search of PubMed, Scopus, and CENTRAL databases was conducted. The primary outcome was intraoperative opioid consumption and the effect estimate of the NOL index was measured using the standardized mean difference (SMD) where 0.20 is considered a small and 0.80 a large effect size. A random-effects model with Hartung-Knapp-Sidik-Jonkman adjustment was applied to estimate the treatment effect. Heterogeneity was explored clinically and statistically (using the inconsistency I² statistic, prediction intervals, and influence analysis). The quality (certainty) of evidence was evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) guidelines methodology.

Results: This review comprised 9 trials (519 patients). The intraoperative opioid SMD (NOL monitoring versus conventional therapy) was -0.26 (95% confidence interval [CI], -0.82 to 0.30; P = .31; low certainty of evidence). We observed substantial clinical (intraoperative opioid regimens) and statistical heterogeneity with the I² statistic being 86% (95% CI, 75%-92%). The prediction interval was between -1.95 and 1.42 indicating where the SMD between NOL and conventional therapy would lie if a similar study were conducted in the future.

Conclusions: This meta-analysis does not provide evidence supporting the role of NOL monitoring in reducing intraoperative opioid consumption.

Background: The efficient and fluid organization of surgical interventions in an operating room (OR) and operating suite (OS) is important as these are among the most expensive units to run in medical-surgical facilities. The complexity of OS organization requires careful coordination, defined here as the directing of individuals' efforts toward achieving common and explicitly recognized goals. There is currently sparse literature on OS coordination, especially in the French context. This study aimed to respond to this gap by reporting on the coordination mechanisms associated with the perceived performance of OS across 4 facilities in an urban setting in France.

Methods: We used a qualitative comparative case study based on ethnographic methodology to explore 4 facilities (2 teaching, 1 general, and 1 private). Several investigation techniques were used for data collection (semistructured interviews, participant and nonparticipant observations, and informal interviews) in the OR, the OS, the regulation council (dedicated to adapting the necessary resources to specific procedures and patients' health status), and the OS council (dedicated to strategic and operational OS transformations and adaptations, and responsible for finding solutions to organizational problems). Analysis was guided by Okhuysen and Bachky's theoretical framework on coordination and multi-team systems theory. Data were compared across the 4 facilities and triangulated using the different techniques to ensure coherence and accuracy.

Results: Overall, 48 interviews with health care providers and hospital managers and 200 hours of direct observations were performed. The OR exhibited a high degree of coordination, whereas improved perception of performance in the OS depended on managerial competency, trust, and authority. Perceived performance in the regulation council and OS council, on the other hand, depended on the identification of formal objectives by all stakeholders and the development of common understanding (developing agreement, direct information sharing, creating common perspective, substitution, bringing groups together, and storing of knowledge).

Conclusions: Based on existing literature on multi-team systems (as represented in the OS organization), this study identifies success factors influencing OS coordination. These include the OS manager's leadership skills; the identification of formal system objectives; and professional differentiation between stakeholders (absence/decrease of a sense of belonging to a multi-team system). This differentiation was related to the high degree of specialization within OS teams, each bringing different norms, cultures, and contingencies that induce dissonance in organization and task performance. Interventions targeting these success factors might improve coordination, and thus performance, in the OS.

Background: Postdischarge primary care follow-up is associated with lower readmission rates after medical hospitalizations. However, the effect of primary care utilization on readmission has not been studied in surgical patients.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study of Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and older undergoing major inpatient diagnostic or therapeutic procedures (n = 3,552,906) from 2017 through 2018, examining the association between postdischarge primary care visits within 14 days of discharge (primary exposure), and Annual Wellness Visits in the year prior (secondary exposure), with 30-day unplanned readmission (primary outcome), emergency department visits, and mortality (secondary outcomes).

Results: Overall, 9.5% (n = 336,837) had postdischarge visits within 14 days, 2.9% (n = 104,571) had Annual Wellness Visits in the year preceding the procedure, 9.5% (n = 336,401) were readmitted, 9% (n = 319,054) had emergency department visits, and 0.6% (n = 22,103) of the cohort died within 30 days. Our fully adjusted propensity-matched proportional hazards Cox regression analysis showed that postdischarge visits were associated with a 5% lower risk of readmission (hazard ratio [HR], 0.95, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.93-0.97), 43% higher risk of emergency department use (HR, 1.43, 95% CI, 1.40-1.46) and no difference in mortality risk (HR, 0.98, 95% CI, 0.90-1.06), compared with not having a visit within 14 days of discharge. In a separate set of regression models, Annual Wellness Visits were associated with a 9% lower risk of readmission (HR, 0.91, 95% CI, 0.88-0.95), 45% higher risk of emergency department utilization (HR, 1.45, 95% CI, 1.40-1.49) and an 18% lower mortality risk (HR, 0.82, 95% CI, 0.75-0.89) compared with no Annual Wellness Visit in the year before the procedure.

Conclusions: Both postdischarge visits and the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit appear to be extremely underutilized among the older surgical population. In those patients who do utilize primary care, compared with propensity-matched patients who do not, our study suggests primary care use is associated with modestly lower readmission rates. Prospective studies are needed to determine whether targeted primary care involvement can reduce readmission.

Background: The learning-curve cumulative sum method (LC-CUSUM) and its risk-adjusted form (RA-LC-CUSUM) have been proposed as performance-monitoring methods to assess competency during the learning phase of procedural skills. However, scarce data exist about the method's accuracy. This study aimed to compare the accuracy of LC-CUSUM forms using historical data consisting of sequences of successes and failures in brachial plexus blocks (BPBs) performed by anesthesia residents.

Methods: Using historical data from 1713 BPB performed by 32 anesthesia residents, individual learning curves were constructed using the LC-CUSUM and RA-LC-CUSUM methods. A multilevel logistic regression model predicted the procedure-specific risk of failure incorporated in the RA-LC-CUSUM calculations. Competency was defined as a maximum 15% cumulative failure rate and was used as the reference for determining the accuracy of both methods.

Results: According to the LC-CUSUM method, 22 residents (84.61%) attained competency after a median of 18.5 blocks (interquartile range [IQR], 14-23), while the RA-LC-CUSUM assigned competency to 20 residents (76.92%) after a median of 17.5 blocks (IQR, 14-25, P = .001). The median failure rate at reaching competency was 6.5% (4%-9.75%) under the LC-CUSUM and 6.5% (4%-9%) for the RA-LC-CUSUM method ( P = .37). The sensitivity of the LC-CUSUM (85%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 71%-98%) was similar to the RA-LC-CUSUM method (77%; 95% CI, 61%-93%; P = .15). Identical specificity values were found for both methods (67%; 95% CI, 29%-100%, P = 1).

Conclusions: The LC-CUSUM and RA-LC-CUSUM methods were associated with substantial false-positive and false-negative rates. Also, small lower limits for the 95% CIs around the accuracy measures were observed, indicating that the methods may be inaccurate for high-stakes decisions about resident competency at BPBs.

Postoperative delirium (POD) is frequent in older adults and is associated with adverse cognitive and functional outcomes. In the last several decades, there has been an increased interest in exploring tools that easily allow the early recognition of patients at risk of developing POD. The electroencephalogram (EEG) is a widely available tool used to understand delirium pathophysiology, and its use in the perioperative setting has grown exponentially, particularly to predict and detect POD. We performed a systematic review to investigate the use of EEG in the pre-, intra-, and postoperative settings. We identified 371 studies, and 56 met the inclusion criteria. A range of techniques was used to obtain EEG data, from limited 1-4 channel setups to complex 256-channel systems. Power spectra were often measured preoperatively, yet the outcomes were inconsistent. During surgery, the emphasis was primarily on burst suppression (BS) metrics and power spectra, with a link between the frequency and timing of BS, and POD. The EEG patterns observed in POD aligned with those noted in delirium in different contexts, suggesting a reduction in EEG activity. Further research is required to investigate preoperative EEG indicators that may predict susceptibility to delirium.

Obesity is often considered a contraindication to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) candidacy due to technical challenges with vascular access, higher cardiac output requirements, and known associations between obesity and overall increased morbidity and mortality due to chronic health conditions. However, a growing body of literature suggests that ECMO may be as safe and efficacious in both obese and nonobese patients. This scoping review provides a synthesis of the available literature on the outcomes of obese patients supported with (1) venovenous (VV)-ECMO in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) not due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), (2) VV-ECMO in ARDS due to COVID-19, (3) venoarterial (VA)-ECMO for all indications, and (4) studies combining data of patients supported with VA- and VV-ECMO. A librarian-assisted search was performed using 4 primary electronic medical databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Excerpta Medica database [Embase], and Cochrane Library) from January 2003 to March 2023. Articles that reported outcomes of obese patients requiring ECMO support were included. Two reviewers independently screened titles, abstracts, and full text of articles to determine eligibility. Data extraction was performed using customized fields established a priori within a systematic review software system. A total of 354 publications were imported for screening on titles and abstracts, and 30 studies were selected for full-text review. A total of 26 publications met the inclusion criteria: 7 on VV-ECMO support in non-COVID-19 ARDS patients, 6 on ECMO in COVID-19 ARDS patients, 8 in patients supported with VA-ECMO, and 5 combining both VA- and VV-ECMO data. Although the included studies are limited to retrospective analyses and display a heterogeneity in definitions of obesity and comparison groups, the currently available literature suggests that outcomes and complications of ECMO therapy are equivalent in obese patients as compared to nonobese patients. Hence, obesity as measured by body mass index alone should not be considered an exclusion criterion in the decision to initiate ECMO.

Physician unionization is gaining traction in the United States, with <10% of practicing physicians now members, up from historically weak support. Factors that drive interest in unions include a decreased number of independent practitioners, an increase in workloads, and the erosion of autonomy. Approximately 56% of anesthesiologists are considered employees and may be eligible for union membership. Physician unions may provide higher wages, better working conditions, and legal protection. However, they also raise concerns about patient care and professionalism. This article discusses the legal and regulatory framework governing the unionization of physicians, benefits, challenges, and potential future developments. Continued analysis and debate are necessary to determine the optimal role of physician unions in the health care industry.