Local anesthetic effects on human neutrophil priming and activation.

Background: The anti-inflammatory effects of local anesthetics (LAs) are well documented. Local anesthetics in micromolar concentrations inhibit extracellular oxygen release in isolated neutrophils; the underlying mechanism seems to be an inhibition of leukocyte priming. It remains unclear, however, if first, these effects also can be observed in whole blood, and second, if the priming of other neutrophil functions is similarly attenuated by LAs.

Local anesthetics time-dependently inhibit staphylococcus aureus phagocytosis, oxidative burst and CD11b expression by human neutrophils.

Background And Objectives: Local anesthetics have been shown to modulate neutrophil functions in a time-dependent manner, which might help to prevent inflammatory injury to the organism. However, if host defense mechanisms are affected similarly, the ability to eliminate bacteria might be reduced. We hypothesized that local anesthetics have time-dependent effects on phagocytosis of S.

Efficacy of ketamine in anesthetic dosage for the treatment of refractory complex regional pain syndrome: an open-label phase II study.

Objective: Advanced complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) remains very difficult to treat. While subanesthetic low-dose ketamine has shown promise in early localized CRPS, its use in advanced CRPS has not been as effective. Since ketamine's analgesic potency and duration of effect in neuropathic pain are directly dose-dependant, we investigated the efficacy of ketamine in anesthetic dosage in refractory CRPS patients that had failed available standard therapies.

A pilot open-label study of the efficacy of subanesthetic isomeric S(+)-ketamine in refractory CRPS patients.

Objective: Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a severe neuropathic pain state that is often disproportionate to the initial trauma. Associated features are autonomic dysregulation, swelling, motor dysfunction, and trophic changes to varying degrees. Despite a multitude of treatment modalities, a subgroup of CRPS patients remain refractory to all standard therapies.

The neurocognitive effects of 5 day anesthetic ketamine for the treatment of refractory complex regional pain syndrome.

Background: Complex regional pain syndrome I (CRPS) is characterized by severe neuropathic pain that exceeds the severity of an injury and is refractory to traditional treatments. Recent experimental interventions include ketamine infusion therapy.

Objective: We sought to evaluate the physical, neurocognitive, and emotional effects of extended treatment with anesthetic doses of ketamine in refractory CRPS I patients.

Complete recovery from intractable complex regional pain syndrome, CRPS-type I, following anesthetic ketamine and midazolam.

Objective: To describe the treatment of an intractable complex regional pain syndrome I (CRPS-I) patient with anesthetic doses of ketamine supplemented with midazolam.

Methods: A patient presented with a rapidly progressing contiguous spread of CRPS from a severe ligamentous wrist injury. Standard pharmacological and interventional therapy successively failed to halt the spread of CRPS from the wrist to the entire right arm.

Dose-dependent influence of barbiturates but not of propofol on human leukocyte phagocytosis of viable Staphylococcus aureus.

Objective: Deep sedation with barbiturates or propofol is a standard therapy for patients with critically elevated intracranial pressure. Such patients are prone to infectious complications, especially to pneumonias, which are most commonly caused by Staphylococcus aureus. Although various immunomodulatory effects of barbiturates have been described in vitro, their influence on the phagocytosis of viable S.

A placebo-controlled randomized crossover trial of the N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor antagonist, memantine, in patients with chronic phantom limb pain.

Unlabelled: In the present study we investigated the effect of the N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor antagonist memantine (30 mg/d) on the intensity of chronic phantom limb pain (PLP) and cortical reorganization. In 8 patients with chronic PLP, memantine was tested in a placebo-controlled double-blinded crossover trial of 4 wk duration per trial. The intensity of PLP was rated hourly by the patients on a visual analog scale during baseline and both treatment periods.

Local anesthetics impair human granulocyte phagocytosis activity, oxidative burst, and CD11b expression in response to Staphylococcus aureus.

Background: With invasion of bacteria, the host defense system is activated by a complex cascade of various mechanisms. Local anesthetics previously were shown to interact with diverse components of the immune response, such as leukocyte adherence on endothelial monolayers, oxidative burst, or crosstalk within lymphocyte subset populations. However, effects of newer local anesthetics like bupivacaine and ropivacaine on antibacterial host defense-primarily phagocytosis activity, oxidative burst, or CD11b expression-still remain unclear.