To the Editor:—The recent editorial by Berge and colleagues sends an extremely important message to the anesthesia community, and I agree with many of its thoughtful and incisive points. However, I must take issue with the authors’ proposed new default position of “one strike, you’re out.” I believe that the question of return to work is far too complex to be approached in a monolithic fashion ...

The use of ultrasound to facilitate regional anesthesia is an evolving area of clinical, education, and research interests. As our community’s experience grows, it has become evident that anesthesiologists performing Broutine[ ultrasound-guided blocks may very well be confronted with atypical or even pathologic anatomy. As an educational resource for anesthesiologists, the following articles pr...

Adrenal gland surgery needs a multidisciplinary team including endocrinologist, radiologist, anesthesiologist, and surgeon. The indications for adrenal gland surgery include hormonal secreting and non-hormonal secreting tumors. Adrenal hormonal secreting tumors present to the anesthesiologist unique challenges requiring good preoperative evaluation, perioperative hemodynamic control, correction...

Recent emphasis on the prevention of surgical wound infection has highlighted the role of the anesthesiologist as the physician responsible for administering appropriate antibiotic prophylaxis. Patients often report a distant or unclear history of penicillin allergy. Administering an antibiotic to which the patient has a true allergy can provoke a life threatening reaction. The anesthesiologist...

Anesthesiologists often care for patients with renal insufficiency or renal failure. These patients may present to the operating room for a minor procedure such as an inguinal hernia repair or an arteriovenous fistula/graft. Alternatively, they may present for major abdominal operations or coronary artery bypass grafting. Critically ill patients presenting to the operating room may have acute k...