Postoperative analgesia for total knee replacement: comparing between pre-and postoperative "3-in-1" femoral nerve block.

BACKGROUND: Total Knee Replacement (TKR) produces severe postoperative pain. Pre- and postoperative single-shot "3-in-1" Femoral Nerve Block (FNB) were reported to improve analgesia and reduce morphine consumption post TKR. OBJECTIVE: To find out the most beneficial time for injection of single shot "3-in-1" FNB for TKR between preoperative and postoperative in a prospective controlled trial. MATERIAL AND METHOD: In a Randomized, double-blind Controlled Trial (RCT), 48 patients undergoing TKR received either pre- or postoperative "3-in-1" FNB using 30 mL of bupivacaine 0.25% after a standardized general anesthesia. Morphine consumption, Numeric Pain-Rating Scale (NPRS) at rest and during movement, tension in the back of the knee, nausea/vomiting, pruritus, sedation, and respiratory depression at 1, 4, 24 and 48 hr after TKR were compared RESULTS: There were no significant differences in 48-hr morphine consumption [46.5 (20.0) vs 45.0 (23.6) mg, p = 0.809], NPRS both at rest and during movement, tension in the back of knee, nausea/vomiting, pruritus, sedation, and respiratory depression at any time during 48-hr postoperative TKR between groups. CONCLUSION: Preoperative single-shot "3-in-1" FNB using 30 mL of bupivacaine 0.25% is not better than postoperative single-shot "3-in-1" FNB using the same drug in postoperative pain and morphine reduction in patients undergoing elective TKR under general anesthesia.

Validity and reliability of cardiac output by arterial thermodilution and arterial pulse contour analysis compared with pulmonary artery thermodilution in intensive care unit.

Cardiac output measurement has a significat role in the critical care setting. The standard of measurement currently is via pulmonary arterial catheter but it has some technical difficulties and serious complications. The authors performed a new method of measurement that used a catheter in a femoral artery. The results of both methods performed simultaneously in 10 surgical intensive care patients every 2 hours for 24 hours were compared. There was high correlation between the two methods, r = 0.97. The average difference of the cardiac output values was 0.46 l/min with standard deviation 0.56 l/min.

Risk factors for predicting mortality in a surgical intensive care unit in the year 2000.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the mortality and risk factors of mortality in a surgical intensive care unit (SICU), King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital. DESIGN: Review of retrospective data. SETTING: a SICU of a tertiary-care academic medical center. PATIENTS: Out of a total of 546 patients admitted to SICU during a one year period (January 1, 2000 - December 31, 2000), 458 (83.9%) had complete medical data which were analyzed. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: One hundred and ninety-three variables of 6 categories of patients' characteristics, chronic disease, acute illness, physiologic variables, therapy and miscellaneous were studied. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used. The SICU and hospital mortality was 8.1 and 14.6 per cent, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified seven variables as independent risk factors for mortality (p < 0.05): chronic renal failure (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 7.5; 95% CI, 3.0 to 19.0; p = 0.000), coma (AOR, 11.7; 95% CI, 2.4 to 57.4; p = 0.002), Staphylococcus aureus infection (AOR, 15.4; 95% CI, 1.6 to 147.6; p = 0.018), diagnosis of systemic inflammatory response (AOR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.2 to 7.1; p = 0.017), mechanical ventilation (AOR, 11.2; 95% CI, 2.0 to 61.4; p = 0.005), having received adrenaline (AOR, 7.1; 95% CI, 2.3 to 22.2; p = 0.001) and diuretic (AOR, 3.3; 95% CI, 1.4 to 8.1; p = 0.008). Besides weight (AOR, 0.9; 95% CI, 0.9 to 1.0; p = 0.002) and having received H2-blocker (AOR, 0.2; 95% CI, 0.1 to 0.5; p = 0.001) were two independent protective factors for mortality. CONCLUSION: Knowing the risk factors of SICU mortality will help physicians to improve patient care, educate patients and their families, optimize ICU resource planning and may decrease health care costs.