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Anesthesiology

News, opinions and meeting coverage in anesthesiology.

AMA Clamps Down on MOC, But Punts on Gun Regs

CHICAGO -- The AMA鈥檚 House of Delegates drew the line on this year's hot button topic -- maintenance of certification (MOC), saying it should not be mandatory, nor should it be a condition of licensure.

CCSVI Practices Suboptimal but Patients Don't Mind

DALLAS -- Canadian multiple sclerosis patients who left the country to undergo the controversial procedure called chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) often received poor pre- and postoperative care, but most were still relatively satisfied overall, a researcher reported here.

How To Tell Fake Neck Pain From Real: The Pain Medicine News Report

A regular update on what鈥檚 new in surgery from our friends at Pain Medicine News.

Lung Foam Disappoints in COPD

SAN DIEGO -- A trial of hydrogel-based lung volume reduction therapy in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) complicated by emphysema failed to show consistent enough results and has been abandoned by the agent's developer, researchers said here.

Medtronic's Infuse Moves From Operating Room to Courtroom

An investigative series by 番茄社区/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has been tracking the spinal fusion device called Infuse in a 4-year-long series and now reports how a flawed FDA system for device approval may have led to a long string of adverse events culminating in thousands of liability suits.

Dieting Shrinks Liver, Eases Gall Bladder Surgery

CHICAGO -- A 2-week-long restrictive diet appears to shrink obese patients鈥� livers enough to make gall bladder laparoscopic surgery quicker and easier, researchers reported here.

Pain Med Docs More Prone to Burnout

TAMPA -- Physicians who specialize in pain medicine appear to be at greater risk of experiencing professional burnout than physicians in other specialties, researchers reported here.

Patients鈥� Eye Color a Clue to Pain Tolerance

TAMPA -- Caucasian women with light-colored eyes -- blue or green -- appear to tolerate pain better than Causcasian women with brown or hazel eyes, researchers reported here.

APA Meeting Highlights Mental Health Biology

NEW YORK CITY -- The biological basis for normal and abnormal mental function is emerging as a dominant theme in psychiatry research, and the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting that starts here Saturday won't be an exception.

Missed Doses Cripple Postop DVT Prevention

Missed doses of prophylactic anticoagulation account for much of the deep vein thrombosis that occurs in surgery and trauma patients, a study showed.

ACC: Metformin No Help in MI Recovery

WASHINGTON -- Metformin started soon after reperfusion in the acute setting didn't help cardiac function recover in nondiabetic heart attack patients, a trial showed.

ACC: Gout Drug Tames the Heart

WASHINGTON -- Colchicine may be as effective at reducing multiple recurrences of pericarditis as it is in treating acute episodes and first recurrences.

ACC: Still No Clear CHOICE for TAVI

WASHINGTON -- Head-to-head comparison of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) devices favored the second-generation Sapien XT over CoreValve, although the trial was criticized on several fronts.

ACC: CoreValve Bests Surgery

WASHINGTON -- Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) with the CoreValve device improved survival compared with surgery in the high-risk pivotal trial cohort.

In AKI, Dialysis Works Better With Higher Creatinine

For patients with acute kidney injury, dialysis is associated with better survival among those with higher creatinine levels, but higher mortality for those with lower levels, researchers found.

10 Ways to Safely Push Ketamine in the ED

A doctor recently took me on a Special K trip, and I enjoyed it immensely.

Bupivacaine Formula Cuts Narcotic Use

NEW ORLEANS -- A long-lasting formulation of the analgesic bupivacaine (Exparel) can do as good a job reducing post-surgical pain among knee replacement patients as continuous femoral nerve blocks, researchers said here.

FDA Approves Headband Device for Migraine

A headband delivering electrical nerve stimulation can prevent onset of migraine headaches and can be marketed for that purpose in the U.S., the FDA said Tuesday.

Medtronic Sued by 1,000 Infuse Patients

Medtronic said about 1,000 people have sued the company over its bone morphogenetic protein-2 product, Infuse, and that many more lawsuits may be coming.

Killing Pain: Xanax Tops Charts

Alprazolam, more popularly known by its brand name -- Xanax--is America's favorite tranquilizer and one that is often used in combination with an opioid.

Killing Pain: Benzo 'Boost' Can Be Deadly

Adding a benzodiazepine to an opioid painkiller can increase the effect of the opioid, or in the language of addiction, benzos can boost the high -- but the combo can be deadly, according to this Killing Pain report from 番茄社区 and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Which Bullets Are Safe in an MRI?

Don't go ballistic -- only steel bullets will cause problems in MRI, says a study of 39 kinds of the projectiles.

10 Questions: E. Wesley Ely, MD, MPH

What's the biggest barrier to practicing medicine today? That's just the first of the 10 Questions the 番茄社区 staff is asking leading clinicians and researchers to get their personal views on their chosen profession. In this series we share their uncensored responses. Here, answers from pulmonary and critical care expert E. Wesley Ely, MD, MPH.

Killing Pain: Tramadol the 'Safe' Drug of Abuse

Almost 2 decades have passed since the FDA approved tramadol as a 'safe' opioid, but the intervening years provide evidence to question that 'safe' claim, as this latest investigation by John Fauber for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel-番茄社区 revealed.

Diabetes: TAVI Trumps Heart Surgery

Patients with diabetes who had aortic stenosis fared better in terms of mortality and kidney function during the first year if they underwent transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) rather than surgery, a post-hoc analysis found.

Fast-Acting AMA Group Hopes to Fix SGR

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- A large coalition of American Medical Association members met in seclusion Sunday morning here at the interim meeting of the House of Delegates and rapidly found consensus on a proposed resolution for the repeal of Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula.

Gestational Diabetes Tied to Perinatal Stroke

AUSTIN, Texas -- Perinatal arterial ischemic stroke has many possible risk factors, including gestational diabetes, researchers reported here.

Common Cause for Bruxism, Restless Legs, Migraine?

NEW ORLEANS -- About half of patients with restless legs syndrome (RLS) seen in a single neurology practice also qualified for diagnoses of bruxism and migraine, suggesting a possible common cause for these disorders, a researcher said here.

Will You Make More $$ if You Subspecialize?

Ivan Today looks at a study that looks at whether fellowships pay off.

Opioid Use Common After Spine Surgery

NEW ORLEANS -- One year after surgery to relieve back pain, about of third of patients still were using narcotic painkillers, according to a study that raised new concerns about the long-term use of opioids.

N.H. Hospital May Have Exposed Patients to CJD

Health officials in New Hampshire said eight neurosurgery patients at one hospital in the state may have been unwittingly exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).

Lab Notes: Meth May Worsen Fungal Infection

Mice injected with methamphetamine and exposed to Cryptococcus fungi showed more extensive and hard-to-eradicate infections. Also this week: an organic pesticide fights parasitic worms.

FDA Warns of Fatal Skin Reactions with Acetaminophen

SILVER SPRING, Md. -- Acetaminophen is associated with rare but severe and sometimes fatal skin reactions at usual doses, the FDA said Thursday.

Wounds Heal Better When Debrided Often

Faster and more complete wound healing was achieved with more frequent debridement regardless of wound type, size, or duration, researchers found.

FDA Adds GI Warning to Benicar Label

WASHINGTON -- The FDA ordered the maker of the blood pressure drug olmesartan (Benicar) to add a warning about risk of the intestinal condition known as sprue-like enteropathy to the drug's label.

Honey, Cola May Disrupt Heart

A detailed history of patients with arrhythmia or syncope might need to include their cola intake or the origin of the honey they consume, two case studies suggest.

Biological Death Needs Better Definition

An international consensus is needed on contemporary and practical criteria for brain and circulatory death, according to experts gathered in Barcelona for the annual congress of the European Society of Anesthesiology.

Diabetes Experts Divided About 'Lone Wolf' Butler

Top experts in diabetes and endocrinology have offered mixed reactions to a profile of Peter Butler, MD, chair of endocrinology at the University of California Los Angeles, in the New York Times.

Shots Best Way to Give B12 After Bariatric Surgery

Vitamin B12 injections are the preferred treatment for patients who develop a deficiency following bariatric surgery, researchers found.

Zilver Stent Recalled, System May Break

Cook Medical's Zilver PTX drug-eluting stent for peripheral artery disease has been recalled because of a defect in its associated delivery system, the company and the FDA said.

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