Assessment for the Quality of Recovery from General Anesthesia in Patients with Gynecologic Surgery / 대한마취과학회지

BACKGROUND: Quality of recovery, assessed by patients, is related to patients' satisfaction, and even to quality of life. Of numerous patient-based measures to evaluate the quality of recovery, a '40-item-quality of recovery (QoR-40)' has proved to be valid and reliable. Using this questionnaire, we evaluated the quality of recovery in the gynecological patients and tried to identify factors affecting the quality of recovery. METHODS: Patients undergoing gynecological surgery were asked to fill a questionnaire 8 to 9 p.m the day after the completion of anesthesia. Questionnaires were prepared after translation to Korean from 40-item-quality of recovery. From the anesthetic and recovery room records we collected data about patient's age, surgery types, anesthetic and surgical duration, recovery room stay, main anesthetic agents, and recovery room complications. RESULTS: A total of 383 patients completed the questionnaires. Patients aged under 40 got significantly lower QoR-40 scores than those aged over 40, especially in the dimension of pain (P < 0.05). Patients who had undergone laparoscopic surgery got higher scores than those had undergone non-laparoscopic surgery (P < 0.05). Patients who answered the questionnaires in more than 30 hours after the completion of anesthesia showed lower total scores than those who did in less than 30 hours, especially in the dimensions of emotional state and pain (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In gynecological patients, laparoscopic surgery improved quality of recovery. Quality of recovery was affected by age and survey time. Postoperative pain contributed to the decrease of the quality of recovery.

Pulsed Radiofrequency of the Sphenopalatine Ganglion for Treatment of a Cluster Headache: A case report / 대한통증학회지

A cluster headache is characterized by the occurrence of strictly unilateral and periocular pain with no side shift and ipsilateral oculofacial autonomic symptoms such as conjunctival injection, lacrimation, rhinorrhea and miosis. Cluster headache involves the activation of parasympathetic nerve structures located within the sphenopalatine ganglion, and blockade of the sphenopalatine ganglion has been shown to be effective at the treatment of cluster headaches that are resistant to conventional therapy. Herein, we describe a case of a 50-year-old male with a cluster headache that could not be controlled by conventional treatments who showed improvement after being treated with sphenopalatine ganglion pulsed radiofrequency.