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Affichage des articles du octobre, 2014

Perioperative Fluids: An Evidence-Based Review

Many questions have arisen and much controversy has emerged regarding how much fluid should be given perioperatively, which fluids should be given, when they should be given, and whether outcomes can be influenced. It’s been called the “Great Fluid Debate.” In fact, one might ask whether the anesthesiologist can even make a difference in the long run. Several goals of fluid administration have been identified: Tissue perfusion should be optimized; and heart rate, stroke volume, hemoglobin, and oxygen saturation should be appropriately manipulated. But just how to achieve these end points, and whether they can be done by fluid administration, remains unclear. Our current standard therapy—cannulate a vein, give fluids to maintain blood pressure, and make up for supposed losses—has been challenged for almost a century. Canon noted that fluids administered before operative control of an injury were ineffective, 1  an observation emphasized by Bickell and others some 70 years later. 2,3

Death by prescription painkiller

The number of deaths involving commonly prescribed painkillers is higher than the number of deaths by overdose from heroin and cocaine combined, according to researchers at McGill University. In a first-of-its-kind review of existing research, the McGill team has put the spotlight on a major public health problem: the dramatic increase in deaths due to prescribed painkillers, which were involved in more than 16,000 deaths in 2010 in the U.S. alone. Currently, the U.S and Canada rank #1 and #2 in per capita opioid consumption. “Prescription painkiller overdoses have received a lot of attention in editorials and the popular press, but we wanted to find out what solid evidence is out there,” says Nicholas King, of the Biomedical Ethics Unit in the Faculty of Medicine. In an effort to identify and summarize available evidence, King and his team conducted a systematic review of existing literature, comprehensively surveying the scientific literature and including only reports with quant