Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The purpose of this review article was to highlight the enhanced recovery protocols in pediatric cardiac surgery, including early extubation, rapid mobilization and recovery, reduction of opioid-related side effects, and length of pediatric ICU and hospital stay, resulting in decreased costs and perioperative morbidity, by introducing recent trends in perioperative anesthesia management combined with peripheral nerve blocks. RECENT FINDINGS: Efficient postoperative pain relief is essential for realizing enhanced recovery strategies, especially in pediatric patients...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of currently recommended treatment approaches for anemia during pregnancy, with a special focus on iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia (IDA). RECENT FINDINGS: As consistent patient blood management (PBM) guidelines in obstetrics are still lacking, recommendations regarding the timing of anemia screening and the treatment recommendations for iron deficiency and IDA during pregnancy are still controversial so far...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Excessive bleeding during and following childbirth remains one of the leading causes of maternal mortality. RECENT FINDINGS: Current guidelines differ in definitions and recommendations on managing transfusion and hemostasis in massive postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). Insights gained from trauma-induced coagulopathy are not directly transferable to the obstetric population due to gestational alterations and a differing pathophysiology. SUMMARY: Factor deficiency is uncommon at the beginning of most etiologies of PPH but will eventually develop from consumption and depletion in the absence of bleeding control...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: In 1989, the United Nations passed the 'Convention on the Rights of the Child' (UNCRC) and, among others claimed the highest attainable standard of health for children and consequently the highest level of safety and quality in paediatric anaesthesia. SAFETOTS (Safe Anesthesia For Every Tot, www.safetots.org), an initiative of international active paediatric anaesthetists, has derived 10 rights, the '10 R' of children undergoing anaesthesia care, which are critical for the well being of the child...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The use of restrictive transfusion triggers to avoid unnecessary transfusions is one important pillar of Patient Blood Management (PBM). For the safe application of this principle in pediatric patients, anesthesiologists need evidence-based guidelines for hemoglobin (Hb) transfusions thresholds in this specially vulnerable age-group. RECENT FINDINGS: This review outlines recent prospective and observational studies examining transfusion thresholds in pediatrics...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Cardiovascular disease is increasingly emerging as a cause of peripartum morbidity and mortality. Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is defined as pregnancy-related heart failure with a reduced left ventricular ejection fraction <45%. PPCM develops in the peripartum phase and is not an aggravation of an existing prepregnancy cardiomyopathy. Anesthesiologists typically encounter these patients in the peripartum phase in a variety of settings and should be aware of this pathology and its implications for the perioperative management of parturients...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review gives an overview of the safety aspects for paediatric procedural sedation and a discussion of possibilities for optimizing structure, processes and outcomes. RECENT FINDINGS: Procedural sedation in paediatric patients is performed by providers of different specialties and compliance with safety standards is a basic requirement regardless of provider specialty. This includes preprocedural evaluation, monitoring, equipment and profound expertise of sedation teams...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Do-not-intubate (DNI) orders are more frequently encountered over time. This widespread diffusion of DNI orders make it essential to develop therapeutic strategies matching patient's and his family willingness. The present review sheds light on the therapeutic approaches employed to support respiratory function of patients with DNI orders. RECENT FINDINGS: In DNI patients, several approaches have been described to relieve dyspnoea and address acute respiratory failure (ARF)...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Learning from errors has been the main objective of patient safety initiatives for the last decades. The different tools have played a role in the evolution of the safety culture to a nonpunitive system-centered one. The model has shown its limits, and resilience and learning from success have been advocated as the key strategies to deal with healthcare complexity. We intend to review the recent experiences in applying these to learn about patient safety. RECENT FINDINGS: Since the publication of the theoretical basis for resilient healthcare and Safety-II, there is a growing experience applying these concepts into reporting systems, safety huddles, and simulation training, as well as applying tools to detect discrepancies between the intended work as imagined when designing the procedures and the work as done when front-line healthcare providers face the real-life conditions...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Psychiatric disorders following trauma impact functional recovery in trauma survivors and are a significant source of disability. Although research has traditionally focused on the physical sequelae of trauma, more attention is being directed towards the significant morbidity and mortality associated with the psychologic sequelae of trauma. This review evaluates the existing literature. RECENT FINDINGS: Use of multidisciplinary collaborative programmes in combination with psychiatric treatment and pharmacotherapy may be necessary to improve the care of trauma patients with psychiatric sequelae...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Anesthesia for foreign body removal in children can be quite challenging. Even though rigid bronchoscopy is considered the gold standard for foreign body there is increasing evidence for successful foreign body removal using flexible bronchoscopy. This review discusses the recent implications for flexible bronchoscopy for the purpose of foreign body removal and will compare these findings to rigid bronchoscopy. RECENT FINDINGS: During the last few years, several observational studies on foreign body removal by flexible bronchoscopy have been published, with promising results...

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PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Routine monitoring of care quality is fundamental considering the high reported rates of preventable perioperative morbidity and mortality. However, no set of valid and feasible quality indicators is available as the gold standard for comprehensive routine monitoring of the overall quality of perioperative care. The purpose of this review is to describe underlying difficulties, to summarize current trends and initiatives and to outline the perspectives in support of suitable perioperative quality indicators...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Due to increased interest in opioid-sparing multimodal analgesic strategies both inside and outside of the operating room, anaesthesiologists have started to look towards regional anaesthesia as well as nonpharmacological pain-reducing techniques. The purpose of this article is to discuss current trends and recent developments in regional anaesthesia and virtual reality for paediatric pain management. RECENT FINDINGS: The development of novel fascial plane blocks has expanded regional options for anaesthesiologists, especially when neuraxial anaesthesia is not a viable or straightforward option...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To discuss the role of supraglottic airway devices as rescue and primary airway devices in pregnant patients. RECENT FINDINGS: General anaesthesia in pregnant patients is associated with increased incidence of difficult and failed intubation, especially when performed for caesarean deliveries. The Difficult Airway Society and the Obstetric Anaesthetists' Association guidelines for the management of failed intubation recommend the use of second-generation supraglottic airway devices as a rescue airway strategy when failed intubation occurs...

THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW: Placenta accreta poses significant risk of morbidity and mortality to a laboring patient. Here we review available treatment options, highlight in bleeding prevention and diagnosis that have been shown to improve patient outcome, and provide best practice suggestions. We also discuss the decision-making process for choice of anesthesia, as it is not based on a gold-standard paradigm. RECENT FINDINGS: The use of resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta has been gaining popularity around the world...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The aim of this study was to review the evolution of safety and outcomes in paediatric anaesthesia, identify gaps in quality and how these gaps may influence outcomes, and to propose a plan to address these challenges through the creation of universal outcome standards and a paediatric anaesthesia designation programme. RECENT FINDINGS: Tremendous advancements in the quality and safety of paediatric anaesthesia care have occurred since the 1950 s, resulting in a near absence of documented mortality in children undergoing general anaesthesia...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Pediatric trauma centers (PTCs) have been championed as multidisciplinary facilities specializing in the care of pediatric trauma, the leading cause of childhood mortality in the United States.1 However, the vast majority of pediatric trauma is still seen in trauma centers focused on treating adults. This article reviews the latest evidence comparing the relative strengths of PTCs and adult trauma centers (ATCs) in treating childhood injury. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent multicenter studies comparing outcomes of pediatric injury in PTCs and ATCs have found no differences in mortality or hospital length of stay, contradicting earlier findings...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This article aims to summarize the current literature describing the availability of different anaesthetic drugs, and to discuss the advantages and limitations of a self-imposed restriction on the scarcely existing anaesthetic drugs. RECENT FINDINGS: Earth temperature has risen 1.2°C since the beginning of industrial age, and it is expected to exceed a 1.5°C increase by 2050. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change depicts five different scenarios depending on how these increased temperatures will be controlled in the future...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The aim of this review is to discuss recent developments in paediatric anaesthesia, which have evolved in an undulating fashion. RECENT FINDINGS: The role and efficacy of pharmacological premedication is reevaluated. The anxiolytic and sedative properties of midazolam and α2-agonists have now been defined more precisely. Both classes of drugs have their unique profile, and there is no reason to condemn one or the other. Midazolam is an excellent anxiolytic, whereas dexmedetomidine is superior in the postoperative period and for sedation during diagnostic imaging...