[Effect of pre-emptive pregabalin on pain intensity and morphine requirement after hysterectomy].

Background: Pregabalin, an antiepileptic and chronic pain medication, has been used by various authors for preoperative analgesia. We have assessed the effect of pre-emptive administration of the drug to patients scheduled for elective abdominal hysterectomy.

Methods: Seventy-four ASA I and II patients were included in this prospective, double blind study.

A randomised controlled trial on the efficacy and side-effect profile (nausea/vomiting/sedation) of morphine-6-glucuronide versus morphine for post-operative pain relief after major abdominal surgery.

Morphine is the first choice of treatment of severe post-operative pain, despite the occurrence of often discomforting (post-operative nausea or vomiting (PONV)) and sometimes dangerous (sedation, respiratory depression) side effects. Literature data indicate that morphine's active metabolite, morphine-6-glucuronide (M6G), is a powerful analgesic with a possibly more favourable side-effect profile. In this multi-centre randomised controlled clinical trial patients undergoing major abdominal surgery were randomised to M6G or morphine treatment.

Synergistic interaction of gabapentin with tiagabine in the hot-plate test in mice: an isobolographic analysis.

This study was aimed at determining the analgesic effect of gabapentin and tiagabine, two antiepileptic drugs that were administered alone and in combination at a fixed ratio of 1:1, in the acute thermal pain model (hot-plate test) in mice. Linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the dose-response relationships between logarithms of antiepileptic drug doses and their resultant maximum possible antinociceptive effects in the mouse hot-plate test. From linear equations, we calculated doses that increased the antinociceptive effect by 50% (ED(50) values) for gabapentin, tiagabine and their combination.

Synergistic interaction of gabapentin with tiagabine in the formalin test in mice: an isobolographic analysis.

The aim of this study was to determine the analgesic effect of gabapentin and tiagabine - two antiepileptic drugs, administered alone and in combination at the fixed-ratio of 1:1, in two phases of the formalin test in mice. Log-probit analysis was used to evaluate dose-response effects and calculate the ED(50) values for gabapentin, tiagabine, and their combination at the fixed-ratio of 1:1 in the phases I and II of the formalin test in mice. The types of interactions between both antiepileptic drugs were characterized using the isobolographic analysis.

[Haemodynamics during gynaecological laparoscopy].

Background: Gynaecological laparoscopic (GL) surgery can be prolonged and may be associated with significant cardiovascular compromise. Recent experimental studies suggest that prolonged pneumoperitoneum can cause cardiac depression and a decrease in cardiac index. The goal of the study was to compare haemodynamics before and after CO2 desufflation, performed at the end of surgery.

Effects of thiopental and propofol on heart rate variability during fentanyl-based induction of general anesthesia.

Anesthetics depress the autonomic nervous system. The effects of thiopental and propofol on heart rate variability (HRV) during fentanyl-based induction of general anesthesia were studied in one hundred patients. We observed different effects of fentanyl, thiopental and propofol on HRV.

Effect of topiramate on mechanical allodynia in neuropathic pain model in rats.

Topiramate, unlike gabapentin, lamotrigine and tiagabine, resembles phenytoin and carbamazepine since it had been used as an antinociceptive drug in empirical treatment of neuropathic pain in humans, before its systemic and planned research was conducted in animal models of pain. Chronic administration of topiramate, at the dose of 50 mg/kg/day, significantly diminished the mechanical sensitivity and shortened the period of allodynia in the Seltzer mononeuropathy model in rats.

Evaluation of interaction between gabapentin and baclofen in the formalin test in mice.

Gabapentin and baclofen at doses not affecting motor performance, produced dose-dependent inhibition of both phases in the formalin test in mice. Isobolographic analysis revealed an additive interaction between the studied drugs in the second phase of the formalin test. Gabapentin given at doses effective in both phases of the formalin test significantly potentiated baclofen-induced motor impairment.

Successful treatment with recombinant factor VIIa for intractable bleeding at pelvic surgery.

Background: Postoperative bleeding may be complicated by failure to identify the site of bleeding, multiple bleeding points, and persistent hemorrhage despite surgical intervention.

Case: Activated recombinant factor VII was used successfully in a patient with life-threatening postsurgical bleeding after resection of two large extraperitoneal pelvic sarcomas.

Conclusion: In severe hemorrhage, hemostasis can be achieved with activated recombinant factor VII.