Intrathecal Morphine for Cardiac Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Cardiac surgeries often result in significant postoperative pain, leading to considerable use of opioids for pain management. However, excessive opioid use can lead to undesirable side effects and chronic opioid use. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate whether preoperative intrathecal morphine could reduce postoperative opioid consumption in patients undergoing cardiac surgery requiring sternotomy.

Echocardiographic Evidence of Cardiac Atrophy in the Critically Ill.

Unlabelled: The purpose of this explorative study is to determine if critically ill patients experience cardiac atrophy that can be quantified as a loss of left ventricular mass (LVM) and thus detected by echocardiography.

Design: Retrospective single-center cohort study.

Setting: Patients admitted to a tertiary medical center in Boston, MA.