Effect of ankle versus thigh tourniquets on post-operative pain in foot and ankle surgery

BACKGROUND Tourniquets are commonly used in elective extremity orthopaedic surgery to reduce blood loss,improve visualization in the surgical field,and to potentially reduce surgical time.There is a lack of consensus in existing guidelines regarding the optimal tourniquet pressure,placement site,and duration of use.There is a paucity of data on the relationship between the site of a tourniquet and postoperative pain in foot and ankle surgery.AIM To explore the relationship between tourniquet site and intensity of post-operative pain scores in patients undergoing elective foot and ankle surgery.METHODS Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data on 201 patients who underwent foot and ankle surgery in a single institution was undertaken.Intraoperative tourniquet duration,tourniquet pressure and site,and postoperative pain scores using Visual Analogue Score were collected in immediate recovery,at six hours and at 24 h post-op.Scatter plots were used to analyse the data and to assess for the statistical correlation between tourniquet pressure,duration,site,and pain scores using Pearson correlation coefficient.RESULTS All patients who underwent foot and ankle surgery had tourniquet pressure of 250 mmHg for ankle tourniquet and 300 mmHg for thigh.There was no correlation between the site of the tourniquet and pain scores in recovery,at six hours and after 24 h.There was a weak correlation between tourniquet time and Visual Analogue Score immediately post-op(r=0.14,P=0.04)but not at six or 24 h post-operatively.CONCLUSION This study shows that there was no statistically significant correlation between tourniquet pressure,site and postop pain in patients undergoing foot and ankle surgery.The choice of using a tourniquet is based on the surgeon's preference,with the goal of minimizing the duration of its application at the operative site.

Pain Management in Pediatric Nursing

Children often experience pain in different stage of life. After birth, newborns are exposed to many painful attempts and their anxiety levels increase with it. These painful attempts lead to metabolic or physiological problems in newborns. Excessive protein expenditure when exposed to pain for a long time, electrolyte inhalation, weakening of the immune system. Even repetitive painful procedures increase mortality and morbidity. Children experience pain due to acute onset diseases such as otitis media or pharyngitis and also in different medical interventions such vaccination, blood transfusion, vascular access, dressing change, lumber punching, or sickle cell anemia. Appropriate assessment scales should be used to treat pain effectively and adequately. Pharmacological treatment as well as non-pharmacological treatment methods has been found to be effective in the treatment of pain. Non-pharmacological methods allow your body to release natural endorphins and help to lift the pain to a minimum level or completely. In this study, current approaches and studies about pain in children will be presented. Non-pharmacological methods will be examined in more detail. Every child has right to live a painless life. It is one of the main purposes of nursing care to relieve children’s pain and improve their life quality.

Intracameral lidocaine as supplement to classic topical anesthesia for relieving ocular pain in cataract surgery

AIM: To evaluate safety, efficacy, and patient adherence of intracameral lidocaine as supplement of classic topical anesthetic drops in cataract surgery.METHODS: A prospective and controlled trial including a large cohort of 1650 individuals suffering with bilateral cataract not complicated, in program by phacoemulsification surgery, were randomly assigned to 2 different groups for the type of anesthesia received, 0.4% oxybuprocaine hydrochloride(INN) drops, and INN drops associated to intracameral 1% lidocaine hydrochloride monohydrate. At the end of surgery, tables were assigned to each patient indicating the degree of pain(0-3) felt during the operation.RESULTS: Thirty-two percent of patients in group 1 declared to have not felt any pain against the 77% of patients in group 2. Fifty-nine percent of patients in group 1 complained about only a slight discomfort against 20% of group 2 patients. Only a small percentage of patients in group 1(5%) admitted severe pain, while no patient in group 2 admitted severe pain. Four patients of group 2 reported an episode of transient amaurosis, lasting several hours after surgery.CONCLUSION: Intracameral administration of lidocaine is a simple and secure method able to increase the analgesia during the cataract surgery, eliminating the discomfort and increasing also the cooperation of the patients during the steps of manipulation.

Comparison of intraosseous access and central venous catheterization in Chinese adult emergency patients: A prospective, multicenter, and randomized study

BACKGROUND: It is challenging to establish peripheral intravenous access in adult critically patients. This study aims to compare the success rate of the first attempt, procedure time, operator satisfaction with the used devices, pain score, and complications between intraosseous(IO) access and central venous catheterization(CVC) in critically ill Chinese patients.METHODS: In this prospective clustered randomized controlled trial, eight hospitals were randomly divided into either the IO group or the CVC group. Patients who needed emergency vascular access were included. From April 1, 2017 to December 31, 2018, each center included 12 patients. We recorded the data mentioned above.RESULTS: A total of 96 patients were enrolled in the study. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups regarding sex, age, body mass index, or operator satisfaction with the used devices. The success rates of the first attempt and the procedure time were statistically significant between the IO group and the CVC group(91.7% vs. 50.0%, P<0.001;52.0 seconds vs. 900.0 seconds, P<0.001). During the study, 32 patients were conscious. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding the pain score associated with insertion. There were statistically significant differences between the two groups regarding the pain score associated with IO or CVC infusion(1.5 vs. 0.0, P=0.044). Complications were not observed in the two groups.CONCLUSIONS: IO access is a safe, rapid, and effective technique for gaining vascular access in critically ill adults with inaccessible peripheral veins in the emergency departments.

Comparing lignocaine-adrenaline-tetracaine gel with lignocaine infiltration for anesthesia during repair of lacerations:A randomized trial

BACKGROUND:This study aimed to compare the topical anesthetic lignocaine,adrenaline,and tetracaine(LAT)(4%lignocaine,1:2 000 adrenaline,1%tetracaine) with the conventional lignocaine infiltration(LI) for repair of minor lacerations,for the comfort of anesthetic administration,efficacy,adverse effects and cost.METHODS:This was a prospective randomized clinical trial.Forty Asian patients who required toilet and suture for minor lacerations in the emergency department of the Singapore General Hospital over a 4-month period.The patients were assigned randomly to 2 arms of treatment.The first was the LAT gel group who had LAT gel applied to the laceration prior to suturing.The second was the control group in whom the anesthetic administered was lignocaine infiltration(LI) via a syringe.The pain of the process of administering anesthetic and efficacy of anesthesia were scored using the visual pain scale included within.The efficacy of LAT vs.lignocaine infiltration as an anesthetic prior to the toilet and suture of minor lacerations and complications of therapy.RESULTS:Twenty patients were randomized to LAT gel and 16 to LI on an intention to treat analysis.The mean pain score by patients in the LAT gel group was 2.5(0.52 SE),and 2.5(0.58 SE)in the LI group.The pain score for pain during application of the anesthetic was 1.5(0.40) in the LAT gel group,and 3.5(0.46) in the LI group.There was no difference in complications between the LAT and LI groups.CONCLUSION:LAT gel prior to the toilet and suture of minor lacerations is proven to be as efficacious as LI in terms of patient comfort and effectiveness of anesthesia.The complications are also comparable to those treated with LI.

A Comparative Study on Safety and Efficacy of Caudal, Thoracic Epidural and Intra Venous Analgesia in Paediatric Cardiac Surgery: A Double Blind Randomised Trial

Introduction:Regional anaesthesia combined with general anaesthesia reduces stress response to surgery, duration of ventilation, intensive care unit (ICU) stay and promotes early recovery. Studies on thoracic epidural, caudal analgesia along with general anaesthesia (GA) in paediatric cardiac surgery are limited hence we aimed to compare efficacy and safety of caudal, thoracic epidural and intravenous analgesia in paediatric cardiac surgery. Methodology: This study was conducted in the Department of Anaesthesiology in a tertiary care teaching hospital in southern India from February 2019 to December 2019. 90 children were randomised into group A, group B, group C. Children in group A received caudal analgesia along with GA. Group B children received thoracic epidural along with GA. Group C patients received intravenous analgesia along with GA. Rescue analgesia 1 mcg/kg fentanyl given in all 3 groups if pain score is more than 4. Primary outcome assessed was post-op pain scores. Secondary outcome assessed was duration of ventilation, duration of intensive care unit stay. Results: All patients were comparable in terms of age, sex, weight, mean RACHS score, baseline heart rate and blood pressure. Pain scores were significantly lower in thoracic epidural group compared to other two grou ps. Duration of ventilation was lower in thoracic epidural group (91.17± 43.85) minutes and caudal (199.6 ± 723.59) minutes compared to intravenous analgesia groups (436.37 ± 705.51) minutes. Duration of ICU stay was significantly low in thoracic epidural group (2.73 ± 0.69) days compared to caudal (3.7 ± 2.8) and intravenous analgesia groups (4.33 ± 0.920). We didn’t have any complications like hematoma, transient or permanent neurological sequelae in regional anesthesia groups. Conclusion: Regional anaesthesia along with general anaesthesia was more effective in pain relief than intravenous analgesia with general anaesthesia in paediatric cardiac surgery.

Clinical observation on 90 cases of primary dysmenorrhea treated by buccal acupuncture therapy:a randomized controlled study

OBJECTIVE:To explore the short-term and long-term efficacy of buccal acupuncture therapy in the treatment of patients with primary dysmenorrhea(PD).METHODS:A total of 90 patients with PD who were admitted to the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January 2020 to December 2021 were included in this study and randomly divided into three groups,including the observation group,the control group,and the placebo group,with 30 patients in each group.Patients in the observation group were treated according to the syndrome types of Traditional Chinese Medicine,those in the control group were treated with Saridon,and those in the placebo group received a placebo.The visual analog scale(VAS)scores of these patients were evaluated at different time points(before treatment,5 min after needle retention,30 min after needle retention,1 h after treatment,2 h after treatment,1 d after treatment,and 2 d after treatment).The Cox Menstrual Symptom Scale(CMSS)scores were assessed before the treatment and after three courses of treatment.Besides,these two scales were also evaluated during follow-up.Moreover,the pain score and adverse reactions of these patients were assessed during treatment.RESULTS:After treatment,the VAS and CMSS scores in the observation group decreased significantly(P<0.05)5 and 30 min after needle retention and after treatment.CONCLUSION:Buccal acupuncture therapy is verified to have short-term efficacy in the treatment of PD.In addition,this therapy has an immediate analgesic effect and long-term efficacy in reducing the severity and frequency of PD.

Comparison of surgical effect and postoperative patient experience between laparoendoscopic single-site and conventional laparoscopic varicocelectomy, a systematic.review and meta-analysis

The present meta-analysis was conducted to compare the clinical effect and patient experience of laparoendoscopic single-site varicocelectomy （LESSV） and conventional laparoscopic varicocelectomy. The candidate studies were included after literature search of database Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, and MEDLINE. Related information on essential data and outcome measures was extracted from the eligible studies by two independent authors, and a meta-analysis was conducted using STATA 12.0 software. Subgroup analyses were conducted by study design （RCT and non-RCT）. The odds ratio （OR） or standardized mean difference （SMD） and their 95% confidence intervals （95% CIs） were used to estimate the outcome measures. Seven articles were included in our meta-analysis. The results indicated that patient who had undergone LESSV had a shorter duration of back to work （overall： SMD = -1.454, 95% Ch -2.502m0.405, P= 0.007; non-RCT： SMD = -2.906, 95% Ch -3.796-2.017, P= 0.000; and RCT： SMD = -0.841, 95% Ch -1.393-0.289, P = 0.003） and less pain experience at 3 h or 6 h （SMD = -0.447, 95% Ch -0.754-0.139, P = 0.004）, day 1 （SMD = -0.477, 95% Ch -0.905-0.05, P = 0.029）, and day 2 （SMD = -0.612, 95% Ch -1.099-0.125, P= 0.014） postoperatively based on RCT studies. However, the meta-analyses based on operation time, clinical effect （improvement of semen quality and scrotal pain relief）, and complications （hydrocele and recurrence） yielded nonsignificant results. In conclusion, LESSV had a rapid recovery and less pain experience over conventional laparoscopic varicocelectomy. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the two varicocelectomy techniques in terms of the clinical effect and the incidence of hydrocele and varicocele recurrence. More high-quality studies are warranted for a comprehensive conclusion.