OBJECTIVE To investigate the feasibility of thoracic paravertebral block (TPVB) for percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) in comparison with epidural anesthesia (EA) combined with moderate sedation. SUBJECTS AND METHODS One hundred American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I-II adult patients scheduled for first-stage unilateral PCNL were randomly assigned to receive either TPVB or EA. All pa...

BACKGROUND Even extremely high-doses of the potent opioid, sufentanil, cannot reliably suppress stress responses to intense surgical stimuli such as sternotomy. The chemically related opioid remifentanil with its different pharmacokinetics and binding affinities for delta- and kappa-opioid receptors might be more effective in attenuating these responses. METHODS ASA I-III patients scheduled f...

Conditions for the equilibrium binding to opioid receptor of [3H]sufentanil (mu selective), [3H][D-Pen2,D-Pen5]enkephalin (delta selective), and [3H]U69,593 (kappa selective) were established in membranes from rat brain cerebrum, monkey cortex, or guinea pig cerebellum. The selectivity index of various opioid alkaloids and peptides in binding to the mu, delta, or kappa opioid receptors was expr...

We have studied the effects of a single i.v. dose of sufentanil 5 micrograms kg-1 in combination with pancuronium on the median nerve short latency somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) in 15 unpremedicated patients undergoing thoracic or lumbar spinal surgery. The latency and amplitude of the SSEP response over the second cervical vertebra (SC) and sensory cortex (P17, N20, P25), heart rate a...

Background: Intrathecal magnesium sulfate, an NMDA antagonist, has been shown to prolong analgesia and potentiates spinal anesthesia without significant side effects in parturients. This study aimed to explore the hypothesis that adding magnesium sulfate to intrathecal low-dose of bupivacaine and sufentanil can prolong the spinal analgesia in patients with severe pre-eclampsia. Methods: Sixty p...

OBJECTIVES The primary objective of this study was to investigate whether dexmedetomidine could potentiate the analgesic efficacy of ropivacaine, when added to ropivacaine for wound infiltration in patients undergoing open gastrectomy. METHODS Fifty patients scheduled for open gastrectomy were divided into 2 equal groups that were received wound infiltration using 20 mL 0.3% ropivacaine plus ...

BACKGROUND Laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation lead to the alteration of hemodynamic parameters, including blood pressure and heart rate, in traumatic patients who sustain rapid sequence intubation (RSI). Various drugs such as fentanyl, alfentanil and sufentanil have been used to modify these hemodynamic responses. OBJECTIVES The aim of the present study is to compare the effects of fentanyl...

PURPOSE This study examined the sparing effect of sufentanil on the median effective concentration (EC₅₀) of epidural ropivacaine in elderly patients undergoing elective transurethral resection of prostate (TURP). MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a prospective randomized double-blind dose-response study. Fifty eight elderly patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I-I...

INTRODUCTION The present study compared the effect of bupivacaine and bupivacaine + sufentanil on hemodynamic parameters and characteristics of spinal anesthesia in elderly patients undergoing transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) under spinal anesthesia. TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS The study included 40 American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I-III patients scheduled to undergo TUR...

Background: Combined spinal-epidural (CSE) analgesia is becoming increasingly used to provide pain relief during labor. It combines both the rapid onset of the spinal analgesia and the flexibility of the epidural catheter. Intrathecal sufentanil provides rapid-onset and profound analgesia during the first stage of labor. The dose required to produce this effect can be associated with maternal r...