Ultraviolet laser induced periodic surface structures positively influence osteogenic activity on titanium alloys.

Background/objective: Endoprostheses might fail due to complications such as implant loosening or periprosthetic infections. The surface topography of implant materials is known to influence osseointegration and attachment of pathogenic bacteria. Laser-Induced Periodic Surface Structures (LIPSS) can improve the surface topography of orthopedic implant materials.

Pain management in the critically ill obstetric patient.

Safe and successful pain management in pregnant women requires an understanding of the normal physiologic changes of pregnancy. Some hemodynamic changes of labor and delivery are attenuated by effective epidural analgesia. The ideal analgesic agent for laboring parturients should produce a rapid onset of analgesia that lasts throughout labor without any adverse effect on the mother or fetus.

Plasma concentration profile of epidural alfentanil. Bolus followed by continuous infusion technique in the parturient: effect of epidural alfentanil and fentanyl on fetal heart rate.

Background And Objectives: A combined bolus and continuous epidural infusion technique of opioid and bupivacaine mixture has been described, although no pharmacokinetic data for this technique exists. The study documents the plasma concentration profile of epidural alfentanil in parturients using this technique, and evaluates the fetal heart rate tracing for associated changes following opioid administration.

Methods: Twenty-four subjects were randomized to receive epidural alfentanil 500 micrograms in 10 mL 0.

The addition of epinephrine to subarachnoid administered hyperbaric bupivacaine with fentanyl for cesarean delivery: the effect on onset time.

Background And Objectives: This study examines the effect of epinephrine on the time to achieve a T4 sensory level when added to a hyperbaric bupivacaine-fentanyl mixture for spinal anesthesia.

Methods: Sixty-nine healthy parturients scheduled for elective cesarean delivery were randomly assigned to three groups. All patients were given 9 mg hyperbaric 0.

Continuous spinal blockade: an old technique revisited.

In this paper we describe a technique for continuous spinal anesthesia, first described at the turn of the 20th century and long thought to have become obsolete. We discuss reasons for discontinuance and neglect of the technique, as well as its indications, applications, and specific advantages, and we report a significant illustrative case.

Management of burns in pregnant women.

Although few women sustain thermal injuries during pregnancy, when pregnancy is complicated by thermal injury a clear management scheme plus a team approach is needed to provide optimal care to both the fetus and mother. The clinical courses of 11 pregnant women treated at the Louisiana State University Medical Center after sustaining thermal injuries were reviewed and combined with 29 other instances from the literature. Fetal survival before 28 weeks of gestation appears to be dependent upon maternal survival.

Hypnoanesthesia in the morbidly obese.

The advent of chemical anesthesia relegated hypnosis to an adjunctive role in patients requiring major operations. Anesthesia can be utilized with acceptable risk in the great majority of patients encountered in modern practice. But an occasional patient will present--such as one with morbid obesity--who needs a surgical procedure and who cannot be safely managed by conventional anesthetic techniques.