Perioperative use of ketamine infusion versus dexmedetomidine infusion for analgesia in obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery: a double-blinded three-armed randomized controlled trial.

Background: Bariatric surgery depends on the development of novel anesthetic techniques to reduce the incidence of complications and improve postoperative outcomes. Ketamine and dexmedetomidine have been used for perioperative analgesia and we hypothesized that they would decrease postoperative morphine requirements. The objective of this trial is to study whether choice of ketamine or dexmedetomidine infusion would affect postoperative total morphine consumption.

The role of intra-articular injection of autologous platelet-rich plasma versus corticosteroids in the treatment of synovitis in lumbar facet joint disease.

Objectives: To compare the efficacy between platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and corticosteroids (CS) in improving magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-detected synovitis in correlation with clinical complaints among patients with lumbar facet joint (FJ) disease.

Methods: This study was carried out at Eldemerdash Hospital, Cairo, Egypt between September 2019 and January 2021. A prospective, randomized, comparative, single blinded study included 30 patients with lumbar FJ disease, divided into 2 equal groups, received PRP and CS injections.

The COVID-19 Cytokine Storm; What We Know So Far.

COVID-19 is a rapidly spreading global threat that has been declared as a pandemic by the WHO. COVID-19 is transmitted via droplets or direct contact and infects the respiratory tract resulting in pneumonia in most of the cases and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in about 15 % of the cases. Mortality in COVID-19 patients has been linked to the presence of the so-called "cytokine storm" induced by the virus.

Evaluation of thoracolumbar interfascial plane block for postoperative analgesia after herniated lumbar disc surgery: A randomized clinical trial.

Background: Thoracolumbar interfascial plane (TLIP) block involves injection of local anesthetics between multifidus and longissimus muscles at the 3 lumbar vertebral level assuming that it can block the dorsal rami of thoracolumbar nerves.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the analgesic effects gained after performing TLIP block (analogous to the transversus abdominis plane [TAP] block, but intended for the back) in patients undergoing lumbar discectomy.

Methodology: This was a prospective, randomized, double-blinded, controlled clinical trial.