[Significance of chronic opioid medication for dental treatment].

The number of patients undergoing chronic opioid therapy has steadily increased in Switzerland in recent years. Impatience, anxiety and inadequate care play a significant role in the care of some of these clients. It is advisable to actively liaise with the patient's somatic and psychiatric co-treaters in order to achieve better coordination, e.

Post-traumatic changes in energy expenditure and body composition in patients with acute spinal cord injury.

Study Design: Prospective cohort study.

Objective: To investigate the changes in resting energy expenditure and body composition over time in a cohort of patients with spinal cord injury during acute treatment, rehabilitation, and 2 years after the end of rehabilitation.

Methods: Adult patients admitted for acute treatment and rehabilitation after traumatic spinal cord injury were recruited.

Increased mortality in critically ill patients with mild or moderate hyperbilirubinemia.

Purpose: Increased bilirubin concentrations may be related to outcome, but this has not been well studied. We evaluated the relationship between total serum bilirubin levels and outcome in critically ill patients.

Materials And Methods: Data were analyzed from adult critically ill patients included in a 1-day international prevalence study after excluding those with an obvious underlying cause of hyperbilirubinemia.

Impact of infection on the prognosis of critically ill cirrhotic patients: results from a large worldwide study.

Background: Infections are a leading cause of death in patients with advanced cirrhosis, but there are relatively few data on the epidemiology of infection in intensive care unit (ICU) patients with cirrhosis.

Aims: We used data from the Extended Prevalence of Infection in Intensive Care (EPIC) II 1-day point-prevalence study to better define the characteristics of infection in these patients.

Methods: We compared characteristics, including occurrence and types of infections in non-cirrhotic and cirrhotic patients who had not undergone liver transplantation.

Incidence and prognosis of dysnatraemia in critically ill patients: analysis of a large prevalence study.

Background: The objective of this study is to assess the impact of dysnatraemia on mortality among intensive care unit (ICU) patients in a large, international cohort.

Material And Methods: Analysis of the Extended Prevalence of Infection in Intensive Care (EPIC II) study, a 1-day (8 May 2007) worldwide multicenter, prospective point prevalence study. Hyponatraemia was categorized as mild (130-134 mM/L), moderate (125-129 mM/L) or severe (< 125 mM/L).

Evaluation of a single preoperative dose of etoricoxib for postoperative pain relief in therapeutic knee arthroscopy: a randomized trial.

Unlabelled: BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Analgesics can have undesirable effects. We assessed whether a single preoperative dose of 120 mg etoricoxib reduces the need for additional opioids after therapeutic arthroscopic knee surgery. METHODS A double-blind, placebo-controlled study was performed at a single center.

Changes in the use of the methylprednisolone protocol for traumatic spinal cord injury in Switzerland.

Study Design: A retrospective cohort study.

Objective: To examine the differences in the use of the methylprednisolone protocol for traumatic spinal cord injury before and after the publication of new guidelines in Switzerland.

Summary Of Background Data: The use of the methylprednisolone protocol for traumatic spinal cord injury changed after the publication of new guidelines.

Increased mortality associated with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in the intensive care unit: results from the EPIC II study.

Controversy continues regarding whether the presence of meticillin resistance increases mortality risk in Staphylococcus aureus infections. In this study, we assessed the role of meticillin resistance in survival of patients with S. aureus infection included in the EPIC II point-prevalence study of infection in critically ill patients performed on 8 May 2007.

Percutaneous lumbar discectomy using the Dekompressor system under CT-control.

In recent years, new minimally invasive therapies for the treatment of radicular pain associated with contained disc herniation have been introduced. These techniques have changed the field of interventional pain management. In a prospective, nonrandomized case study, we treated patients using the Dekompressor system guided by computed tomography instead of fluoroscopy.

The effects of local anesthetics on bile flow, potassium equilibrium and oxygen consumption in the perfused rat liver.

Amide local anesthetics mainly undergo hepatic metabolism. Specific applications, such as catheter application for long-term pain therapy, may result in large plasma concentrations. As it is unknown whether local anesthetics influence liver function, we examined the influence of lidocaine, bupivacaine, and ropivacaine in concentrations of 1 and 10 microg/mL on the metabolic activity of the perfused rat liver.

Anesthesia as therapy for persistent hiccups.

Chronic hiccups may be a serious therapeutic problem. Pharmacological treatment with increasing dosages of baclofen, carbamazepine, or gabapentin is not always successful. In this paper, the use of general anesthesia with positive-pressure ventilation and muscle relaxation for the termination of chronic hiccups is described.

Continuous blockade of both brachial plexus with ropivacaine in phantom pain: a case report.

A 39-year-old patient developed phantom pain after amputation of both upper arms following a burn injury. The pain did not respond to naproxen, morphine, carbamazepine, amitriptyline, calcitonin or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). At the 39th post-operative day an axillary catheter was placed on the right side, as well as an interscalene catheter on the left.