ABSTRACT
Objective: Demand for complementary medicine, in particular, acupuncture, has increased over the past few years but widespread acceptance has been limited, in part, by the lack of high-quality studies, including lack of blinding. Acupuncture studies traditionally have difficulty with blinding as sham acupuncture can have up to a 40%-50% analgesic effect. This study randomized patients between Acupuncture and No Acupuncture (standard of care) without using sham needles. The primary outcome was adequate blinding of electro-auricular acupuncture in the intraoperative setting with secondary outcomes of pain/nausea control. Materials and Methods: Forty patients undergoing anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction were enrolled. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive acupuncture (Enhanced Electro-Auricular Trauma Protocol) or No Acupuncture during their surgeries. All patients received spinal anesthesia and intravenous midazolam, ketamine, and propofol for sedation. 1000 mg of intravenous (IV) acetaminophen and up to 30 mg of IV ketorolac were given at closure. No opioids or peripheral nerve blocks were administered intraoperatively. Results: Bang's Blinding indices were 0.2 (95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.02, 0.42) in the Acupuncture group, and 0.11 (95% CI: -0.10, 0.31) in the No Acupuncture group on postoperative day 1. Both groups had adequate blinding. There were no differences in pain scores, nausea/vomiting incidence, opioid consumption 0-24 hours, or patient satisfaction. Five patients in the No Acupuncture group received rescue blocks, while no patients in the Acupuncture group needed a rescue block (Fisher's exact test: p = 0.047). Conclusions: This study proved the primary hypothesis that adequate blinding of intraoperative acupuncture can be performed when patients are under sedation and neuraxial anesthesia. This research is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov as Clinical Trial Registration #: NCT03711734.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is regarded as a risk factor for perioperative complications in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: The objective of this retrospective case-control study was to evaluate the adverse outcomes of pulmonary hypertension patients undergoing elective unilateral hip replacements. METHODS: We performed a retrospective case-control study of total hip replacement patients with pulmonary hypertension (cases) and without pulmonary hypertension (control). From the years 2003 to 2008, we identified a total of 132 patients undergoing primary total hip replacements with a diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension (right ventricular systolic pressure >35). The primary outcome assessed was the incidence of adverse events that occurred during the postoperative hospital stay. Secondary outcomes studied included length of hospital stay, mortality, and ability to reach certain physical therapy milestones. RESULTS: The PH group had significantly more adverse events than the control group. Nonlethal cardiac dysrhythmias comprised the most common adverse outcome among the PH group. Overall, the PH group had a morbidity rate of 34.7% while the control had a rate of 21%. The PH group had longer hospital stay (6.7 days vs. 5.9). Both groups had zero mortality during the hospital stay. The PH group had comparable rehabilitation recovery times than the control group. CONCLUSION: This retrospective case-control study demonstrates that pulmonary hypertension patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty are more prone to adverse outcomes, especially cardiac dysrhythmias, and longer hospital stays.
