Anesthesia for the patient with a recently diagnosed concussion: think about the brain!

Some patients require emergent, urgent, or elective surgery in the time period immediately following diagnosis of concussion. However, changes in brain homeostatic mechanisms following a concussion and concern for secondary brain injury can complicate the decision as to whether or not a surgery should proceed or be postponed. Given the paucity of available evidence, further evaluation of the use of anesthesia in a patient with concussion is warranted.

Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesiology & Critical Care (SNACC) Neuroanesthesiology Education Milestones for Resident Education.

Background: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has introduced competency-based assessments (milestones) for resident education. However, the existing milestones for Anesthesiology are not specific to Neuroanesthesiology. The Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesiology & Critical Care (SNACC) commissioned a task force to adapt the ACGME anesthesiology milestones for use in Neuroanesthesiology training, and to provide recommendations for implementing milestones.

Chronic Skull Base Erosion from Temporomandibular Joint Disease Causes Generalized Seizure and Profound Lactic Acidosis.

This report displays a rare presentation of lactic acidosis in the setting of status epilepticus (SE). The differential diagnosis of lactic acidosis is broad and typically originates from states of shock; however, this report highlights an alternative and rare etiology, SE, due to chronic skull base erosion from temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disease. Lactic acidosis is defined by a pH below 7.

Prevalence of discordant elevations of state entropy and bispectral index in patients at amnestic sevoflurane concentrations: a historical cohort study.

Background: Processed electroencephalogram (EEG) monitors help assess the hypnotic state during general anesthesia or sedation. Maintaining the bispectral index (BIS) or state entropy (SE) between 40 and 60 has been recommended to mitigate anesthesia awareness. Nonetheless, SEs > 70 were frequently observed at end-tidal sevoflurane concentrations unlikely to allow awareness.

Awake intubating laryngeal mask airway placement in a morbidly obese patient with ankylosing spondylitis and unstable thoracic spine.

Intubating laryngeal mask airways can be used to provide continuous ventilation throughout intubation. This is a case of a morbidly obese (body mass index = 58) 65-year-old woman with T10 and T11 compression fractures. Optimal positioning for airway management was hindered by her unstable spine, minimal neck range of motion, and extreme pain with any movement.

Transient bilateral brainstem dysfunction caused by topical administration of papaverine.

Papaverine has been associated with transient cranial nerve dysfunction after topical application during craniotomy. The authors report similar dysfunction after the use of papaverine affected brainstem structures. Two patients undergoing craniotomy for clipping of an aneurysm experienced bilateral depression of cortical somatosensory evoked potentials to both median and tibial nerve stimulation after administration of papaverine.

The Stealth Station Image Guidance System may interfere with pulse oximetry.

Purpose: Interference on pulse oximetry can come from many sources. We found an additional source of interference from the Stealth Station. This article gives an overview of sources of pulse oximeter interference so that clinicians can better prevent them.

The effect of body inclination during prone positioning on intraocular pressure in awake volunteers: a comparison of two operating tables.

Visual loss is a rare, but catastrophic, complication of surgery in the prone position. The prone position increases intraocular pressure (IOP), which may lead to visual loss by decreasing perfusion of the anterior optic nerve. We tested whether the reverse Trendelenburg position ameliorates the increase in IOP caused by prone positioning.