Analgesic efficacy of equimolar 50% nitrous oxide/oxygen gas premix (Kalinox®) as compared with a 5% eutectic mixture of lidocaine/prilocaine (EMLA®) in chronic leg ulcer debridement.

Chronic foot and leg ulcers are a common health problem worldwide. A mainstay of chronic ulcer therapy is sharp mechanical wound debridement requiring potent analgesia. In this prospective, controlled, single-centre, crossover design study, patients were assigned to either the administration of topical analgesia with 5% lidocaine/prilocaine cream or the inhalation of an analgesic 50% N O/O gas premix.

Perinatal neuroprotection by muscle relaxants against hypoxic-ischemic lesions: is it a possible hypothesis?

The incidence of neurological disabilities ascribable to hypoxia-ischemia in the perinatal period (HIPP) is rising. Glutamate plays a key role in the development of cerebral damage related to HIPP: it triggers the excitotoxic cascade by overactivating N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDA), implicated as important mediators of both learning and neuronal development. Laudanosine is the metabolite of the neuromuscular blocking drugs, atracurium and cisatracurium, administered as part of obstetric general anesthesia.