European Society of Anaesthesiology.

Intensivists and other physicians involved in the evaluation of patients with presumed PRES must be aware of the clinical spectrum of the associated conditions, the diagnostic modalities, and the correct treatment.

The increasing number of opioid users among chronic pain patients, and opioid abusers among the general population, makes perioperative pain management challenging for health care professionals. Anesthesiologists, surgeons, and nurses should be familiar with some pharmacological phenomena which are typical of opioid users and abusers, such as tolerance, physical dependence, hyperalgesia, and addiction. Inadequate pain management is very common in these patients, due to common prejudices and fears. The target of preoperative evaluation is to identify comorbidities and risk factors and recognize signs and symptoms of opioid abuse and opioid withdrawal. Clinicians are encouraged to plan perioperative pain medications and to refer these patients to psychiatrists and addiction specialists for their evaluation. The aim of this review was to give practical suggestions for perioperative management of surgical opioid-tolerant patients, together with schemes of opioid conversion for chronic pain patients assuming oral or transdermal opioids, and patients under maintenance programs with methadone, buprenorphine, or naltrexone.

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Although we describe a clinical situation that most likely occurs in hundreds of operatory rooms in the world, we report this case as provocation. It concerns an unexpected awakening from an appropriate depth of anesthesia, although the BIS monitor showed a BIS index of less than 50 for a prolonged period before and after the event. Approximately 30 min after induction of anesthesia, the patient had a hypothetic sudden arousal of consciousness, with spontaneous movements, facial muscle activation, intolerance to the tracheal tube, and tearing. After immediate intravenous administration of midazolam (4 mg), the patient returned to a depth of anesthesia status, and surgery was completed uneventfully. The patient had no recall of the event when questioned during the episode, at emergence, or at 24 h, 36 h, and 7 days after surgery. Were these events spinal reflexes to pain or stimulation although the cortex was still anesthetized? Maybe this is the more rational explanation. Was the patient awake but not aware? Is it possible that our patient experienced only a transient arousal from consciousness, and that he did not have recall because the arousal time was short and we blocked memory consolidation? The latter hypothesis provides an opportunity to discuss the evidence that at the moment there is no device to assess the depth of anesthesia. We also focus on the possibility of interfering with memory processing under anesthesia.

It is well known that deep vein thrombosis of the upper extremities is linked to high morbidity/mortality, resulting in 12-20% of all documented pulmonary embolism; however, there are few data about thromboembolism originating from a vein and/or a branch of a superficial vein of the upper extremities. Pulmonary embolism secondary to upper limb superficial vein thrombosis (not combined with upper extremities deep vein thrombosis) is a very rare clinical manifestation with few cases reported in the literature. We report a rare case of thrombophlebitis in departure from a superficial branch of the cephalic vein of the right arm, complicated by cardiac arrest secondary to a massive pulmonary embolism in a patient who underwent major surgery for ovarian cancer. We discuss on the numerous thrombotic risk factors, triggering a cascade of reactions and resulting in a potential fatal clinical manifestation.

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