Anesthesiology:

CONCLUSIONS: Ambulatory pediatric adenotonsillectomy is a common surgical procedure, performed both in the community as well as tertiary care pediatric centres. To optimize outcomes in this heterogenous patient population, anesthesiologists must risk stratify and anticipate perioperative respiratory adverse events.

CONCLUSIONS: Compared to neostigmine, use of sugammadex for reversal of neuromuscular block was not associated with an increased risk of postoperative delirium in this retrospective single-center study. Though sugammadex was associated with a statistically significant increased risk of postoperative early delirium, the difference was small and not clinically relevant, and may reflect the presence of unknown confounders.

INTRODUCTION: Retrospective studies suggest that inhalational volatile anaesthetic agents may contribute to an increased risk of metastasis and reduction in survival rates when used during cancer surgery. This relationship may vary between cancer types due to different tumour biology and differences in surgical procedures. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the type of anaesthetic used for maintenance of anaesthesia (propofol or inhalational volatile anaesthetic agent) and survival in patients with stage 1-3 colorectal cancer who underwent resection surgery under general anaesthesia in Sweden between 2014 and 2019.

This review aims to assess the existing studies on propofol, a relatively new intravenous anesthetic, related to its abuse and addictive potential and to explain the neurobiological and neuropharmacological aspects of propofol addiction. Several neurobiological factors related to complex processes in the brain influence propofol abuse and addiction. In this review, we assessed the literature regarding propofol abuse and addiction, including both experimental and clinical studies. We selected articles from animal studies, case reports, clinical trials, meta-analyses, narrative reviews, and systemic reviews to extract all relevant crucial quantitative data with a measure of neurobiological and neuropharmacological aspects. Thus, the main goal of this study was to investigate the current literature and discuss the association between the central nervous system and propofol abuse and addiction in the context of addictive behavior. Current data suggest that propofol has a strong addictive potential and produces prominent addiction in both animals and humans. Thus, medical practitioners should exercise caution with propofol use, and we argue that this drug should be added to the list of controlled substances.

Acute hypoxic ventilatory response is an important reflex that helps maintain breathing during low oxygen levels, but it is attenuated by most general anaesthetics. Analgesic doses of ketamine and esketamine are known to have respiratory stimulant effects. In their recent study in the British Journal of Anaesthesia, Jansen and colleagues show that low-dose esketamine preserved the acute hypoxic ventilatory response, while increasing breathing rate, systolic blood pressure, and heart rate. Participants also exhibited higher levels of alertness and unpleasant psychotropic effects compared with the control condition. We review the pharmaco-physiological effects of acute hypoxia and its interactions with esketamine. We provide a summary of the effects of hypoxia and esketamine on the neurocircuitry that leads to arousal, activation of the sympathetic nerve system, and increased drive to upper airway dilator and respiratory pump muscles.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially Machine Learning (ML), has developed systems capable of performing tasks that require human intelligence. In anesthesiology and other medical fields, AI applications can improve the precision and efficiency of daily clinical practice, and can also facilitate a personalized approach to patient care, which can lead to improved outcomes and quality of care. ML has been successfully applied in various settings of daily anesthesiology practice, such as predicting acute kidney injury, optimizing anesthetic doses, and managing postoperative nausea and vomiting. The critical evaluation of ML models in healthcare is crucial to assess their validity, safety, and clinical applicability. Evaluation metrics allow an objective statistical assessment of model performance. Tools such as Shapley Values (SHAP) help interpret how individual variables contribute to model predictions. Transparency in reporting is key in maintaining trust in these technologies and to ensure their use follows ethical principles, aiming to reduce safety concerns while also benefiting patients. Understanding evaluation metrics is essential, as they provide detailed information on model performance and their ability to discriminate between individual class rates. This article offers a comprehensive framework in assessing the validity, applicability, and limitations of models, guiding responsible and effective integration of ML technologies into clinical practice. A balance between innovation, patient safety and ethical considerations must be pursued.

CONCLUSIONS: Based on these results, we would recommend local bupivacaine infiltration or local levobupivacaine infiltration for older children and dexamethasone injection for younger children for early analgesia after tonsillectomy. However, clinicians should choose the optimal analgesic based on the individual child's condition and clinical situation.

No abstract available

CONCLUSIONS: 67.8% of the responders scored NRS ≥ 1 90 days after ED-visit with acute pain. Regardless of the used definition, chronic pain is associated with a lower HRQOL and more pain related hindrance.

BACKGROUND: Fully digital preoperative information could save valuable time and resources. However, compared with face to face consultations, equivalent levels of safety, patient satisfaction and participation need to be maintained when using other methods to inform patients. This trial compared knowledge retention between preoperative stand-alone video education and face-to-face education by an anaesthesiologist.

CONCLUSIONS: A significant proportion of patients with MMD developed delirium in the PACU. High intraoperative blood pressure variability and preoperative MRI lesions are independent risk factors for PACU delirium in children with MMD. TIVA may exert a protective effect against PACU delirium. Further studies are required to clarify the causality of these associations.

BACKGROUND: Similar to other continents, Europe is experiencing a shortage of anaesthesia workforce, which profoundly impacts the national healthcare systems of affected countries.

CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, there was no significant difference in NLR, PLR and SII between intravenous anesthesia or inhalational anesthesia. TIVA is not superior to INHA in reducing the perioperative inflammatory response of esophageal cancer.

PURPOSE: Given the occurrence of comorbidities in geriatric patients, the postoperative period of hip fractures may progress with high morbidity and mortality. Recently, several inflammatory markers have been used to evaluate the treatment course. Herein, we prospectively followed-up and examined the relationship between preoperative fibrinogen/albumin ratio(FAR) and morbidity/mortality in elderly patients with hip fracture.

CONCLUSIONS: When compared to placebo, VVZ-149 infusion demonstrated a significant reduction of pain within the first 12 h after surgery with a substantial decrease in opioid use. VVZ-149 rapidly lowers the pain intensity starting at as early as 4 h post-dose, allowing subjects to experience mild pain levels from 8 h through 48 h. Therefore, the analgesic effect of VVZ-149 was shown to effectively relieve pain and reduce opioid use for treating moderate to severe pain in the early postoperative care setting.

BACKGROUND AND STUDY OBJECTIVE: Delirium is an organic mental syndrome significantly associated with long-term cognitive decline, increased hospital stays and higher mortality. This systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) with meta-analysis assesses the association of remimazolam with postoperative cognitive function and delirium compared with non-benzodiazepine hypnotics.

No abstract available

PURPOSE: During the COVID-19 pandemic, neighbourhoods with high material deprivation and high proportions of racialized Canadians were disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Many of these neighbourhoods were served by community hospitals. We sought to compare the burden of COVID-19 care in community and academic intensive care units (ICUs) in Ontario, Canada.

CONCLUSIONS: Pager alerts significantly reduced time to HELP enrollment, albeit without reducing delirium incidence in this pilot study. Family care partners spent substantial time at the bedside during the study period.

CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative BBB integrity influences the impact of anesthesia and surgery on the brain, with astrocytes modulating this effect. These findings partly explain the heterogeneity in the occurrence of postoperative brain homeostasis imbalance.