Ain-Shams Journal of Anesthesiology

General anesthesia and regional anesthesia are the anesthetic techniques of choice for cesarean delivery. These anesthetic techniques have their effects on both the fetus and mother. The choice of anesthetic techniques for cesarean delivery depends on several factors including physiological presentation of the patient, experience level of the practitioner, availability of drugs, and equipment, among others. However, whichever technique is used is chosen because of its safety profile and benefit to both mother and fetus. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effects of general anesthesia against regional anesthesia on fetal and maternal outcomes for cesarean delivery.

Search methods were conducted on PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Cochrane library to identify eligible studies using the keywords, MeSH terms, and filters. Two review authors independently assessed the included studies for quality, bias, and accuracy. A total of fourteen (14) studies (1924 women) contributed data for this review. Findings showed that the 1st and 5th minute Apgar scores were higher in regional anesthesia than in general anesthesia while the 1st minute Apgar scores < 7 were more in general anesthesia. On the other hand, fetal umbilical arterial blood pH was lower in regional anesthesia. Also, intraoperative hypotension was more in regional anesthesia while heart rate and estimated blood loss significantly higher in general anesthesia.

In conclusion, regional anesthesia emerges as a better option evidenced by its better fetal and maternal outcomes. However, both regional anesthesia and general anesthesia are still used for cesarean delivery.

To investigate the effects of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) in patients undergoing gynecologic surgery on length of hospital stay, pain management, and complication rate.

The length of hospital stay was reduced in ERAS groups when compared with the control groups (3.46 days vs 2.28 days; P < 0.0001; CI − 1.5767 to − 0.7833 for laparotomy groups and 2.18 vs 1.76 days; P = 0.0115; CI − 0.7439 to − 0.0961 for laparoscopy groups respectively). Intraoperative fluid use was reduced in both ERAS groups compared to the two control groups (934 ± 245 ml and 832 ± 197 ml vs 1747 ± 257 ml and 1459 ± 304 respectively; P < 0.0001) and postoperative fluid use was also less in the ERAS groups compared to the control groups (1606 ± 607 ml and 1210 ± 324 ml vs 2682 ± 396 ml and 1469 ± 315 ml respectively; P < 0.0001). Pain score using visual analog scale (VAS) on postoperative day 0 was 4.8 ± 1.4 and 4.1 ± 1.2 (P = 0.0066) for both laparotomy control and ERAS groups respectively, while in the laparoscopy groups, VAS was 3.8 ± 1.1 and 3.2 ± 0.9 (P = 0.0024) in control and ERAS groups respectively.

Implementation of ERAS protocols in gynecologic surgery was associated with significant reduction in length of hospital stay, associated with decrease intravenous fluids used and comparable pain control without increase in complication rates.

Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide. It is believed that hemostatic imbalance secondary to release of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and subsequent hyperfibrinolysis plays a major role in PPH pathogenesis. Antifibrinolytic drugs such as tranexamic acid (TXA) are widely used in hemorrhagic conditions associated with hyperfibrinolysis. TXA reduced maternal death due to PPH and its use as a part of PPH treatment is recommended, and in recent years, a number of trials have investigated the efficacy of prophylactic use of TXA in reducing the incidence and the severity of PPH.

The study is aiming to assess the efficacy of tranexamic acid in reducing blood loss throughout and after the lower segment cesarean section and reducing the risk of postpartum hemorrhage.

The amount of blood loss was significantly lower in the study group than the control group (416.12±89.95 and 688.68±134.77 respectively). Also the 24-h postoperative hemoglobin was significantly higher in the study group (11.66±0.79 mg/dl) compared to the control group (10.53±1.07mg/dl), and the 24-h postoperative hematocrit value was significantly higher in the study group (34.99±2.40) compared to control (31.62±3.22).

Prophylactic administration of tranexamic acid reduces intraoperative and postoperative bleeding in cesarean section and the incidence of postpartum hemorrhage.

Perioperative hypothermia is an unintended decrease in the core temperature of patients. Hypothermia has many proven complications. The aim of this study is to investigate the perioperative temperature monitoring rates and the difficulties encountered during monitoring, particularly in patients undergoing neuraxial anesthesia.

Two hundred anesthesiologists were included in the study who work in Turkey and actively work in an operating room. A questionnaire was applied to the participants via printed form or e-mail.

In Turkey, the overall temperature monitoring ratio was measured as 5.5%. Temperature monitoring was the most frequently used for cardiovascular surgery patients group. In neuraxial anesthesia, temperature monitoring was only 1.5%. The most common reason for not using a temperature monitor was the lack of appropriate equipment (45%). The most common temperature monitoring area was the axillary zone (48%).

Participants were aware of the importance of temperature monitoring but concluded that it was not sufficient in practice. Where and how to measure core temperature in awake patients is a controversial issue. Furthermore, the accuracy of measurements in neuraxial anesthesia should be discussed. Interestingly, raising awareness about this issue was not effective in the resolution of the problem. Still, in order to keep this issue up to date, the importance of perioperative temperature monitoring should be emphasized more frequently in anesthesia meetings and education programs.

Low back pain after spinal anesthesia is of concern in lithotomy position. During our study, low back pain in both midline and paramedian approaches after spinal anesthesia in lithotomy position was compared.

Spinal anesthesia was performed by two approaches of midline and paramedian by an expert. The midline at middle line and paramedian at 1 cm inferior and 1 cm lateral to the spinous process performed with the needle type of Quincke 25G. The severity of back pain in patients was measured with numerical rating scale method by an anesthesiology assistant 24 and 72 h and a week after surgery.

A total of 139 patients were studied. After 24 h, back pain in the midline group was 21% and in the paramedian group was 25.4%, respectively. There were no significant differences between them. In the first 24 h, the only significant variable was the number of tries. In patients with ≥ 2 times of tries for performing spinal anesthesia, multivariate analysis of patients showed back pain to be 4.7 times more common compared to single try (OR 4.70, CI 1.79–10.18; p = 0.001).

There were no significant differences between the two methods of midline and paramedian approaches after spinal anesthesia in the incidence of back pain. However, two or more times of tries compared with one time try had increased risk of low back pain.

Comparison of serratus anterior plane block to different analgesic methods for anterolateral thoracic wall incisions. Meta-analysis was used to address this concern. Authors systemically searched the MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, and Cochrane databases to identify all published randomized and prospective clinical trials, comparing the SAPB with other methods that used for analgesia in different thoracic surgical procedures and trauma.

Ten studies were identified for inclusion in this study, involving a total of 735 patients. Meta-analysis showed that, compared with thoracic wall analgesia and PCA methods, the SAPB group resulted in a significant decrease in pain scores, significant decrease in consumption of analgesic drugs, and a significant decrease in the incidence of nausea and vomiting with no difference in the rate of hypotension.

The use of SAPB in cardiothoracic surgery and trauma is a safe and effective option for thoracic analgesia.

Finding adjuvants to local anesthetic used in interscalene block that could efficiently extend the analgesia duration has recently been the focus of researchers. The aim of the work was to determine whether the addition of perineural dexamethasone to bupivacaine in-ultrasound guided interscalene block would prolong the duration of sensory analgesia in patients undergoing shoulder surgery.

This prospective, randomized, double-blinded study comprised 50 patients. They were randomly subdivided into 2 groups: group C [control] and group D [dexamethasone]. We noted a significant difference regarding the timing for the first rescue analgesia being shorter in group C than in group D with a P value < 0.001. Regarding postoperative analgesia, higher Ketolac consumption was noticed in group C than in group D. Patients from both groups showed excellent analgesic effects with VAS score less than 2 points up to 6 h postoperative then patients in group C had a higher VAS score compared to group D, and the difference was statistically significant (P value < 0.05). We also noticed an increase in the heart rate and mean arterial blood pressure in group C than in group D at 12 h and 24 h postoperatively.

We concluded that the addition of 8 mg of perineural dexamethasone to 30 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine showed improvement in the postoperative analgesia in shoulder surgery without obvious complications.