Does adding muscle relaxant make post-operative pain better? a narrative review of the literature from US and European studies.

Centrally acting skeletal muscle relaxants (CASMR) are widely prescribed as adjuncts for acute and chronic pain. Given the recent interest in multimodal analgesia and reducing opioid consumption, there has been an increase in its use for perioperative/postoperative pain control. The mechanism of action, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacokinetics of these drugs vary.

The Impact of Surgery duration and Surgery End Time on Postoperative Sleep in Older Adults.

Objectives/background: Sleep disruption is prevalent in older patients. No previous studies have considered the impact of surgery duration or surgery end time of day on postoperative sleep disruption. Accordingly, we examined the duration of surgery and surgery end times for associations with postoperative sleep disruption.

COVID-Activated Emergency Scaling of Anesthesiology Responsibilities Intensive Care Unit.

In response to the rapidly evolving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the potential need for physicians to provide critical care services, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) has collaborated with the Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists (SOCCA), the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), and the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) to develop the COVID-Activated Emergency Scaling of Anesthesiology Responsibilities (CAESAR) Intensive Care Unit (ICU) workgroup. CAESAR-ICU is designed and written for the practicing general anesthesiologist and should serve as a primer to enable an anesthesiologist to provide limited bedside critical care services.

Mask ventilation, hypocapnia, and seizure duration in electroconvulsive therapy.

Study Objective: To compare the Mapleson D circuit and the bag-valve-mask device for mask ventilation of patients undergoing electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

Design: Cross-over study.

Setting: Single-center academic medical center.