Adjuvant analgesics in spinal surgery.

Peri- and postoperative pain control can present a challenge to any doctor, particularly in the setting of spinal surgery. The use of adjuvant pain agents and multimodal analgesia is changing the face of modern anaesthesia and offering clinicians more avenues to control perioperative pain. This article discusses the use of adjuvant medications and some of the evidence surrounding their use in spinal surgery.

Advancing Nursing Practice: Management of Neuropathic Pain With Capsaicin 8% Without Physician Supervision.

Purpose/aims: The purpose of this study was to examine the management of patient's neuropathic pain with capsaicin 8% in a nurse-led clinic when administered by 1 registered advanced nurse practitioner without physician supervision.

Design: A longitudinal, single-group, descriptive research design was used to assess pain scores and quality of life 3 times over 3 months after treatment.

Methods: Patients with a diagnosis of neuropathic pain were assessed and treated with capsaicin 8% by 1 advanced nurse practitioner with prescriptive authority in a nurse-led clinic.

Left ventricular diastolic filling characteristics are not impaired but systolic performance was augmented in the early hours of experimental endotoxemia in humans.

This study was performed to determine whether endotoxemia causes diastolic cardiac dysfunction. Eleven healthy volunteers, 30 +/- 6 years of age, underwent comprehensive transthoracic echocardiographic assessment including two-dimensional, M-mode transmitral and tissue Doppler of systolic and diastolic function at baseline and at 3 and 5 h after intravenous administration of purified Escherichia coli endotoxin (4 ng/kg). Data were analyzed by analysis of variance; P values of less than 0.