Perioperative aspirin management after POISE-2: some answers, but questions remain.

Aspirin constitutes important uninterrupted lifelong therapy for many patients with cardiovascular (CV) disease or significant (CV) risk factors. However, whether aspirin should be continued or withheld in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery is a common clinical conundrum that balances the potential of aspirin for decreasing thrombotic risk with its possibility for increasing perioperative blood loss. In this focused review, we describe the role of aspirin in treating and preventing cardiovascular disease, summarize the most important literature on the perioperative use of aspirin (including the recently published PeriOperative ISchemic Evaluation [POISE]-2 trial), and offer current recommendations for managing aspirin during the perioperative period.

Efficacy of facemask ventilation techniques in novice providers.

Study Objective: To determine which of two facemask grip techniques for two-person facemask ventilation was more effective in novice clinicians, the traditional E-C clamp (EC) grip or a thenar eminence (TE) technique.

Design: Prospective, randomized, crossover comparison study.

Setting: Operating room of a university hospital.

Erythromycin accelerates gastric emptying in a dose-response manner in healthy subjects.

Study Objectives: To evaluate whether a dose-response curve exists for erythromycin, determine the lowest effective dose of erythromycin needed to improve gastric motility, and compare erythromycin's effectiveness with that of metoclopramide in improving gastric emptying.

Design: Randomized, crossover, multiintervention trial.

Setting: Inpatient clinical research center.