Nutraceuticals: potential roles and potential risks for pain management.

Over the past 2 decades, the world health market has been flooded with over the counter herbal products, also known as nutraceuticals. Although many of these products are neither recommended nor prescribed by conventional medical practitioners, an increasing number of people are taking these products on a daily basis. A recent survey at Texas Tech University School of Medicine in Lubbock, Texas concluded that 32% of patients scheduled for elective surgery or pain procedures were taking one or more herbal supplements; however, 70% did not disclose these during a routine anesthetic assessment.

Cervical spinal cord neoplasm in a patient with an implanted cervical spinal cord stimulator: the controversial role of magnetic resonance imaging.

Objective: To discuss the diagnostic relevance and safety concerns of performing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the presence of an implanted spinal cord stimulator (SCS).

Case Report: A 39-year old man with CRPS I and major depression fell and fractured his humerus. A cervical SCS had been placed several years earlier.

Anesthetic considerations in the patient with a heart transplant.

As programs to increase the awareness of organ donation grow, more patients undergo cardiac transplantation. Because immunosuppressive therapy and postoperative care are improved, the 1-year survival rate of these patients has increased to more than 80%. Not surprisingly, these patients may, either coincidentally or as a result of medications, require other procedures using anesthesia, frequently at hospitals other than the highly specialized institution that performed the transplant.