Lateral trans-biceps popliteal block for elective foot and ankle surgery performed after induction of general anesthesia.

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine safety and efficacy of lateral transtendinous popliteal blocks performed after induction of general anesthesia for intraoperative and postoperative pain control in elective foot and ankle surgery.

Methods: The charts of 475 consecutive patients were retrospectively reviewed. The technique was a lateral transtendinous popliteal block under nerve stimulator direction (described in the text).

Subanesthetic ketamine infusion therapy: a retrospective analysis of a novel therapeutic approach to complex regional pain syndrome.

Unlabelled: Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a disorder that can be accompanied by severe pain that is often both chronic and resistant to conventional therapy. Harbut and Correll previously reported the successful treatment of a 9-year case of intractable Type I CRPS with an intravenous inpatient infusion of ketamine in an adult female patient.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to ascertain if indeed the use of subanesthetic inpatient infusions of ketamine provide meaningful improvements in pain scores, and thus, quality of life, in patients suffering from CRPS.

Epidural hematoma associated with dextran infusion.

The authors describe a case of epidural hematoma in association with dextran infusion in a patient who had undergone a peripheral vascular operation with epidural analgesia. Possible mechanisms for the anticoagulant effect of dextran and guidelines for the use of anticoagulant therapy in patients undergoing epidural anesthesia are discussed.

Sustained-release niacin for prevention of migraine headache.

Considerable advances in the diagnosis and treatment of migraine headache have occurred during the past decade, but treatment options for acute migraine attacks have expanded at a faster rate than those for prophylaxis. We describe a patient whose migraine headaches responded dramatically to sustained-release niacin as preventive treatment. Niacin is not generally considered to be effective for migraine prevention.