Editor's Note Reports of spontaneous backup battery failure in Dreager Inc.’s Perseus A500 anesthesia workstation and multiple failures in InfuTronix, LLC’s Nimbus infusion pump systems prompted the FDA to classify manufacturer recalls as class 1, the most serious categorization indicating risk of serious harm or death. According to an April…

Read More

Editor's Note Over the last 10 years, private equity has taken over many of the nation’s health care facilities—from hospitals to nursing homes to physician practices—spending $1 trillion and instituting changes designed to rapidly increase profits, NBC News reported April 9. Studies have found that these takeovers can have serious…

Read More

Editor's Note By putting the patient into deeper sedation during colonoscopy, propofol could help doctors find difficult-to-spot, potentially cancerous “serrated” polyps, according to a study published April 17 in Anesthesiology. As an alternative to moderate, “conscious” sedation, propofol facilitates a more thorough exam that is more likely to identify serrated…

Read More

Editor's Note There are certain patients and clinical situations that may require anesthesiologists to say no to performing surgery in the outpatient/ambulatory setting, Anesthesiology News April 4 reports. At the 2023 annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), BobbieJean Sweitzer, MD, a professor of medical education at the…

Read More

Editor's Note Although the use of propofol for colonoscopy has been rising due to beliefs that deep sedation leads to greater patient comfort, a recent systematic review and meta-analysis of nearly 1,500 patients from nine randomized controlled trials shows this view is not supported by available evidence. Published March 8…

Read More

Editor's Note Popular weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro could lead to complications in surgical procedures, according to study published March 6 in the journal JAMA Surgery.  The study focused on drugs known as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) which are used to treat diabetes and obesity. The drugs, which…

Read More

The promise of quicker recovery and fewer complications from sedation, anesthesia, and pain management have drawn clinicians and patients alike to procedures performed in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and other outpatient settings. However, sedation, anesthesia, and analgesia add their own risks to those of the procedure itself. Understanding the latest…

Read More

Editor's Note Citing research from Dolman Law Group, a March 11 article in Becker’s ASC Review notes that surgeons have the second-most stressful job of any profession in the US. Anesthesiology was third most stressful, while paramedic was fourth. Steelworker topped the list. The Dolman Law Group research examined data…

Read More

Editor's Note Patients with a history of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have a higher risk of delirium after high-complexity surgeries but not after those of moderate complexity, according to findings published in the March issue of Anesthesia and Analgesia.   The study included 46,352 hospital patients older than 60 years who…

Read More

Editor's Note A new study finds that the same cells that are involved in preventing damage to the central nervous system – called microglia – help to awaken the brain following anesthesia. The findings appeared January 4 in the journal Nature.  Using electron-microscopy-based synaptic reconstruction, the researchers could see the…

Read More