Injecting local anesthetic at the seeking current would be appealing.It would save time and avoid potentially dangerous manipulations of the needle. This study aimed to test the hypotheses that in vertical infraclavicular block, injecting local anesthetic at a seeking current of 0.8 mA would produce the same quality of block as injecting at ≤0.5mA. A total of sixty ASA I -III adult patients sch...

AIM OF THE STUDY To evaluate the new method of postoperative pain relief following port access (PA) heart surgery. METHODS Patients scheduled for PA heart surgery under cardioplegic arrest were enrolled in the study. At the end of the operation an epidural catheter was placed in the surgical wound. Analgesia was started with a bolus of 20 mL 0.75% ropivacaine through the catheter followed by ...

BACKGROUND The pectoral nerves (Pecs) block types I and II are novel techniques to block the pectoral, intercostobrachial, third to sixth intercostals, and the long thoracic nerves. They may provide good analgesia during and after breast surgery. Our study aimed to compare prospectively the quality of analgesia after modified radical mastectomy surgery using general anesthesia and Pecs blocks v...

BACKGROUND The current standard for pain control following liver surgery is intravenous, patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA) or epidural analgesia. We have developed a modification of a regional technique called medial open transversus abdominis plane (MOTAP) catheter analgesia. The MOTAP technique involves surgically placed catheters through the open surgical site into a plane between the in...

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The aim of this study is to compare the effects of intrathecal levobupivacaine with levobupivacaine and fentanyl in patients undergoing cesarean section. METHODS Patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status I and II scheduled for cesarean section under spinal anesthesia were randomly allocated with thirty patients each. Group L: levobupivacaine group...

BACKGROUND The analgesia/nociception index (ANI), a 0-100 non-invasive index calculated from heart rate variability, reflects the analgesia/nociception balance during general anaesthesia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ANI in the assessment of immediate postoperative pain in adult patients undergoing general anaesthesia. METHODS Two-hundred patients undergoing scheduled surgery or ...

INTRODUCTION Epidural analgesia is commonly used for management of pain during childbirth. Need for emergent Caesarean section e.g. because of signs of foetal distress or lack of progress is however not an uncommon event. In females having an established epidural; general anaesthesia, top-up of the epidural or putting a spinal are all possible options. Dosing of the spinal anaesthesia in female...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES This study evaluated the effects of clonidine on anesthesia onset, quality and duration of analgesia of sciatic nerve block using 0.5% ropivacaine. METHODS Forty adult patients scheduled for foot or lateral aspect of the ankle procedures under combined anterior femoral/sciatic nerves block were randomly assigned to group 1, receiving 25 mL of 0.5% ropivacaine plus pl...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy and safety of intrathecal morphine (ITM) for postoperative pain control in patients with renal cell carcinoma undergoing open nephrectomy. METHODS Forty-five patients scheduled for open nephrectomy were randomised to receive 300 µg ITM and intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) (n = 22) or IV-PCA alone (n = 23) for postoperative analgesia. The num...

BACKGROUND AND AIM Transversus abdominis plane block (TAP block) is a novel procedure to provide postoperative analgesia following inguinal hernia surgery. The utilization of ultrasound has greatly augmented the success rate of this block and additionally avoiding complications. The aim of our study was to gauge the analgesic efficacy of ultrasound-guided TAP block in patients undergoing unilat...