BACKGROUND Pain is the primary complaint and the main reason for prolonged recovery after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The authors hypothesized that patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy will have less pain four hours after surgery when receiving maintenance of anesthesia with propofol when compared to isoflurane, desflurane, or sevoflurane. METHODS In this prospective, randomized...

Presynaptic voltage-gated calcium Ca(V)2.2 channels play a privileged role in spinal level sensitization following peripheral nerve injury. Direct and indirect inhibitors of Ca(V)2.2 channel activity in spinal dorsal horn are analgesic in chronic pain states. Ca(V)2.2 channels represent a family of splice isoforms that are expressed in different combinations according to cell-type. A pair of mu...

Background: Ultra-fast track anesthesia (UFTA) aims at immediate extubation of cardiac surgical patients at the end of the operation. It has not been found to increase postoperative cardiorespiratory morbidity, sympathoadrenal stress, or mortality. On the other hand, it significantly reduces costs and improves resource utilization. Methods: Fifty two consecutive patients underwent open heart su...

AIMS To compare the safety and effectiveness of morphine and diamorphine for the sedation of ventilated preterm neonates in a double blind, randomised trial. METHODS Eighty eight babies were allocated to receive either morphine (n = 44) or diamorphine (n = 44) by bolus infusion (200 or 120 mcg/kg, respectively, over two hours), followed by maintenance infusion (25 or 15 mcg/kg/h, respectively...

BACKGROUND Patients receiving total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) with propofol have been shown to experience less postoperative pain. We evaluated the post-operative analgesic effects of propofol compared with sevoflurane maintenance of anesthesia in liver surgery. This study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02179437). METHODS In this retrospective study, records of patients who unde...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the changes of telemetry electrical activity in the infralimbic cortex (IL) of morphine-dependent rats with extinguished drug-seeking behavior. METHODS SD rats were randomly divided into model group and control group and received operations of brain stereotaxic electrode embedding in the IL. The rats in the model group were induced to acquire morphine dependence and t...

AIMS To compare the efficacy of slow-release oral morphine (SROM) and methadone as maintenance medication for opioid dependence in patients previously treated with methadone. DESIGN Prospective, multiple-dose, open label, randomized, non-inferiority, cross-over study over two 11-week periods. Methadone treatment was switched to SROM with flexible dosing and vice versa according to period and ...

AIMS To assess the efficacy of buprenorphine compared with methadone maintenance therapy for opioid dependence in a large sample using a flexible dosing regime and the marketed buprenorphine tablet. DESIGN Patients were randomized to receive buprenorphine or methadone over a 13-week treatment period in a double-blind, double-dummy trial. SETTING Three methadone clinics in Australia. PARTI...