Effect of ankle versus thigh tourniquets on post-operative pain in foot and ankle surgery.

Background: Tourniquets are commonly used in elective extremity orthopaedic surgery to reduce blood loss, improve visualization in the surgical field, and to potentially reduce surgical time. There is a lack of consensus in existing guidelines regarding the optimal tourniquet pressure, placement site, and duration of use. There is a paucity of data on the relationship between the site of a tourniquet and postoperative pain in foot and ankle surgery.

Effectiveness of ESPITO analgesia in enhancing recovery in patients undergoing open radical cystectomy when compared to a contemporaneous cohort receiving standard analgesia: an observational study.

Objectives: Bowel dysfunction is a major complication following open surgery for invasive cancer of the bladder that results in significant discomfort; complications and can prolong the length of stay. The incidence of postoperative ileus following open radical cystectomy has been reported as 23-40%. The median length of hospital stay after this surgery in the United Kingdom is 11 days.

Ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia in foot and ankle surgery.

The use of regional anaesthesia in foot and ankle surgery is becoming well recognised, particularly in patients who prefer to stay awake during the procedure and for better post-operative analgesia. Its use is ideal for patients with multiple co-morbidities, in whom general anaesthesia (GA) otherwise would could be challenging. The procedures performed with landmark/anatomical guidance alone carry a relatively higher risk of complications, risk of inadvertant injection into the intarvascualr space leadinf to local anaesthetic toxicity, the majority of which complications are caused by incorrect placement of the needle.

Breathing Pattern Interpretation as an Alternative and Effective Voice Communication Solution.

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems tend to rely on the interpretation of purposeful gestures for interaction. Existing AAC methods could be cumbersome and limit the solutions in terms of versatility. The study aims to interpret breathing patterns (BPs) to converse with the outside world by means of a unidirectional microphone and researches breathing-pattern interpretation (BPI) to encode messages in an interactive manner with minimal training.

Audit of postoperative pain management after open thoracotomy and the incidence of chronic postthoracotomy pain in more than 500 patients at a tertiary center.

Study Objective: To evaluate the quality of postoperative pain relief during the first 3 days after surgery and to evaluate with the incidence of persistent pain at 6 months after surgery.

Design: Retrospective single-center audit.

Setting: University hospital.

Four quadrant transversus abdominis plane block and continuous transversus abdominis plane analgesia: a 3-year prospective audit in 124 patients.

Study Objective: Transversus abdominis plane (TAP) blocks have been reported to be an effective method of providing analgesia after abdominal surgery. To perform a prospective audit on the effectiveness of a novel technique of providing continuous transversus abdominis plane (TAP) analgesia in patients undergoing emergency and elective abdominal surgery.

Design: Prospective single center audit over a 3-year period.