Pre-operative assessment is required prior to the majority of elective surgical procedures, primarily to ensure that the patient is fit to undergo surgery, whilst identifying issues that may need to be dealt with by the surgical or anaesthetic teams. The post-operative management of elective surgical patients begins during the peri-operative period and involves several health professionals. App...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the impact of labouring in water during first stage of labour on rates of epidural analgesia and operative delivery in nulliparous women with dystocia. DESIGN Randomised controlled trial. SETTING University teaching hospital in southern England. PARTICIPANTS 99 nulliparous women with dystocia (cervical dilation rate < 1 cm/hour in active labour) at low risk of compl...

BACKGROUND Post-operative cognitive impairment is common in elderly patients following surgery for hip fracture, with undertreated pain being an important etiological factor. Non-opioid based analgesic techniques, such as nerve blocks, may help reduce the risk of cognitive complications. The aim of this study was to investigate whether receiving a fascia iliaca compartment block (FICB) as part ...

Fifty-five patients were followed up after day surgery for breast lumpectomy. It was found that local infiltration with bupivacaine significantly decreased analgesic requirement in recovery. Almost half of the patients could not be contacted during the 24 hour post-operative follow-up by telephone. 7.1% complained of severe pain despite oral analgesics. 14.3% of patients had queries regarding w...

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE Regional analgesia for labor pain relief is effective and widely used. This study evaluated the controversial association between mode of operative delivery and patient-elective labor regional analgesia. METHODS We retrospectively compared the rates of instrumental vaginal and cesarean deliveries in parturients before the introduction, in the first 15 months after, and in t...

OBJECTIVE To test the effect of cognitive interventions with information given pre-operatively on post-operative outcomes in Chinese women undergoing elective hysterectomies. DESIGN An experimental design. The experimental group (n=48) received cognitive distraction and cognitive reappraisal with information, the control group (n=48) received information only. OUTCOME MEASURES Post-operativ...

BACKGROUND Surgical closure of gastrochisis has traditionally been performed under general anesthesia followed by admission to intensive care and postoperative ventilation. We reviewed the management of these neonates in our hospital over the past 5 years to identify the changes in practice and possible factors which affect the peri-operative course. METHODS We retrospectively identified case...

OBJECTIVE To conduct a prospective randomized controlled trial describing and investigating the efficacy and safety of radiosurgical excision of benign superficial vocal fold lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS Fifty patients with benign superficial vocal fold lesions (20 vocal nodules, 27 vocal polyps and three Reinke's oedema) who failed conservative therapy were included in the study. They were...