Dexmedetomidine Sedation in Magnetic Resonance-Guided Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy: A Case Series of 3 Patients.

Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy is an innovative minimally invasive treatment for medication-resistant tremor in patients with essential tremor and Parkinson disease. Sedation with common hypnotic agents is discouraged because the patient's cooperation is required during the procedure, and these drugs interact with the patient's tremor, interfering with the results of intraprocedural neurological evaluations. Dexmedetomidine may be the best choice for sedation during magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy, which can be prolonged and poorly tolerated by the awake patient.

Ultrasonography and Italian anesthesiology: a national cross-sectional study.

Purpose: In recent years, ultrasound has seen a rapid development with numerous applications in anesthesia, intensive-care medicine, and pain medicine, increasing efficacy and safety of procedures. We investigated the prevalence of ultrasound use among Italian anesthetists.

Methods: A cross-sectional prevalence study was carried out on a sample of 735 anesthetists.

Including cannabinoids in the treatment of painful schwannomatosis.

A 47‐year‐old man, affected by Schwannomatosis, presented a very severe pain (10/10, NRS) with paroxysmal shooting episodes, allodynia, paresthesia, and dysesthesia; in parallel, the patient had lost weight (from 70 to 49 kg) and experienced fatigue and deep depression. The previous pain prescription, including opioids and antineutopathic drugs, was fully ineffective. We progressively substituted this therapy with 15 drops, 3 times/daily, of THC/CBD in a concentration ratio 5:1, equal to 15 mg of active substance each time, reaching improvement in pain intensity (6/10) and in several other aspects as mood and quality of life

Effective method to control catastrophic hemorrhage during redo sternotomy.

Redo sternotomy is a challenging surgical procedure performed with increasing frequency; catastrophic hemorrhage is a rare but highly lethal complication. We report our experience in treating this complication in 3 cases of 307 reoperations and propose a simple method to control catastrophic hemorrhage during sternal reentry.

Shaping a vascular graft for total aortic arch replacement.

Aortic arch replacement extended to the ascending and/or descending thoracic aorta with a single vascular graft may cause kinking of the prosthesis. We propose an artifact to obtain a curved prosthesis from a straight one for total aortic arch replacement without the risk of kinking.