Pain is a subjective and multidimensional experience that is often inadequately managed in clinical practice. Effective control of postoperative pain is important after anesthesia and surgery. A systematic review was conducted to identify the independent predictive factors for postoperative pain and analgesic consumption. The authors identified 48 eligible studies with 23,037 patients included in the final analysis. Preoperative pain, anxiety, age, and type of surgery were four significant predictors for postoperative pain. Type of surgery, age, and psychological distress were the significant predictors for analgesic consumption. Gender was not found to be a consistent predictor as traditionally believed. Early identification of the predictors in patients at risk of postoperative pain will allow more effective intervention and better management. The coefficient of determination of the predictive models was less than 54%. More vigorous studies with robust statistics and validated designs are needed to investigate this field of interest.

At the conclusion of a total knee arthroplasty with cement, topical application of tranexamic acid directly into the surgical wound reduced postoperative bleeding by 20% to 25%, or 300 to 400 mL, resulting in 16% to 17% higher postoperative hemoglobin levels compared with placebo, with no clinically important increase in complications being identified in the treatment groups.

Purpose Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may lead to lifethreatening problems if it is left undiagnosed. Polysomnography is the ''gold standard'' for OSA diagnosis; however, it is expensive and not widely available. The objective of this systematic review is to identify and evaluate the available questionnaires for screening OSA. Source We carried out a literature search through MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL to identify eligible studies. The methodological validity of each study was assessed using the Cochrane Methods Group's guideline. Principal findings Ten studies (n = 1,484 patients) met the inclusion criteria. The Berlin questionnaire was the most common questionnaire (four studies) followed by the Wisconsin sleep questionnaire (two studies). Four studies were conducted exclusively on ''sleep-disorder patients'', and six studies were conducted on ''patients without history of sleep disorders''. For the first group, pooled sensitivity was 72.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 66.0-78.0%; I 2 = 23.0%) and pooled specificity was 61.0% (95% CI: 55.0-67.0%; I 2 = 43.8%). For the second group, pooled sensitivity was 77.0% (95% CI: 73.0-80.0%; I 2 = 78.1%) and pooled specificity was 53.0% (95% CI: 50-57%; I 2 = 88.8%). The risk of verification bias could not be eliminated in eight studies due to insufficient reporting. Studies on snoring, tiredness, observed apnea, and high blood pressure (STOP) and STOP including body mass index, age, neck circumference, gender (Bang) questionnaires had the highest methodological quality. ConclusionThe existing evidence regarding the accuracy of OSA questionnaires is associated with promising but inconsistent results. This inconsistency could be due to studies with heterogeneous design (population, questionnaire type, validity). STOP and STOP-Bang questionnaires for screening of OSA in the surgical population are suggested due to their higher methodological quality and easyto-use features. RésuméObjectif L'apne´e obstructive du sommeil (AOS) peut provoquer des proble`mes de sante´fatals si elle n'est pas diagnostique´e. La polysomnographie est «l'e´talon or» du diagnostic de l'AOS; cependant, cette me´thode est one´reuse et n'est pas disponible partout. L

Purpose The literature was reviewed to determine the risks or benefits of short-term (less than four weeks) smoking cessation on postoperative complications and to derive the minimum duration of preoperative abstinence from smoking required to reduce such complications in adult surgical patients. Source We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, and other relevant databases for cohort studies and randomized controlled trials that reported postoperative complications (i.e., respiratory, cardiovascular, woundhealing) and mortality in patients who quit smoking within six months of surgery. Using a random effects model, meta-analyses were conducted to compare the relative risks of complications in ex-smokers with varying intervals of smoking cessation vs the risks in current smokers. Principal findings We included 25 studies. Compared with current smokers, the risk of respiratory complications was similar in smokers who quit less than two or two to four weeks before surgery (risk ratio [RR] 1.20; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.96 to 1.50 vs RR 1.14; CI 0.90 to 1.45, respectively). Smokers who quit more than four and more than eight weeks before surgery had lower risks of respiratory complications than current smokers (RR 0.77; 95% CI 0.61 to 0.96 and RR 0.53; 95% CI 0.37 to 0.76, respectively). For wound-healing complications, the risk was less in smokers who quit more than three to four weeks before surgery than in current smokers (RR 0.69; 95% CI 0.56 to 0.84). Few studies reported cardiovascular complications and there were few deaths. Conclusion At least four weeks of abstinence from smoking reduces respiratory complications, and abstinence of at least three to four weeks reduces wound-healing complications. Short-term (less than four weeks) smoking cessation does not appear to increase or reduce the risk of postoperative respiratory complications.Author contributions Jean Wong was involved in data abstraction, interpretation of data, drafting and revising, and final approval of the article. David Paul Lam was involved in data abstraction and drafting of the article. Amir Abrishami was involved in drafting and revising the article, data analysis, and interpretation of the data. Matthew Chan revised and approved the final version of the article. Frances Chung was involved in the conception and design, revising, and final approval of the article. (RR: 0,77; IC a`95 %: 0,96 et RR: 0,53; IC a9 5 %: 0,76, respectivement). Concernant les complications lie´es a`la cicatrisation, le risque a e´te´plus faible chez les fumeurs ayant cesse´plus de trois a`quatre semaines avant l'intervention que chez les fumeurs actifs (RR: 0,69; IC a`95%: 0,56-0,84). Peu d'e´tudes ont de´crit des complications cardiovasculaires et il n'y a eu que peu de de´ce`s. Conclusion Un minimum de quatre semaines d'abstinence du tabagisme diminue le risque de complications respiratoires et un minimum de trois a`quatre semaines re´duit le risque de complications lie´es a`la cicatrisation. L'arreˆt à court terme (moins de quatre semaines) du tab...

TXA significantly reduced the estimated and calculated total amount of perioperative blood loss in adult patients having elective posterior thoracic/lumbar instrumented spinal fusion surgery.

Sugammadex was shown to be effective in reversing rocuronium-induced neuromuscular blockade. This review has found no evidence of a difference in the instance of unwanted effects between sugammadex, placebo or neostigmine. These results need to be confirmed by future trials on larger patient populations and with more focus on patient-related outcomes.

Pain perception to minor physical stimuli has been hypothesized to be related to subsequent pain ratings after surgery. The objective of this systematic review was to evaluate the correlation between preoperative pain sensitivity and postoperative pain intensity. After a literature search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and meeting abstracts, we identified 15 studies (n = 948 patients) with univariate and/or multivariate analysis on the topic. In these studies, three types of pain stimuli were applied: thermal, pressure, and electrical pain. The intensity of suprathreshold heat pain (i.e., pain beyond patient threshold) was most consistently shown to correlate with postoperative pain. The most common limitation of the included studies was the method of statistical analysis and lack of multivariate analysis. More research is required to establish the correlation of other pain sensitivity variables with postoperative pain outcomes.

In a large number of trials, patient satisfaction has been evaluated using overall satisfaction or nonvalidated questionnaires. Only a few studies have developed questionnaires with rigorous psychometric methods to measure patient satisfaction with anesthesia care. At this time, there is still no valid or reliable questionnaire for measuring patient satisfaction in ambulatory anesthesia. Further study should be conducted to develop standardized instruments to measure this outcome.