A lmost 70% of operative procedures in North America are currently performed in an ambulatory setting.1 Despite advances in surgical techniques and modern methods of analgesia, 45% of patients suffer pain at home after ambulatory surgery, 2 and moderate to severe pain intensity at home is reported by 30% of ambulatory patients.3 Inadequate relief of pain after ambulatory surgery increases morbidity and health care costs and reduces patients' quality of life.4,5 To improve postoperative pain relief, an integrative approach combining pharmacologic methods and various complementary nonpharmacologic analgesic techniques has been recommended.6 Auricular acupuncture holds promise, as it is an easily performed technique that might be effective for treatment of both preoperative anxiety and postoperative pain in patients undergoing ambulatory surgery.7,8 However, there are reasonable doubts in the scientific community concerning the specificity of acupuncture, 9 because the large randomized trials on auricular acupuncture for treatment of cocaine and alcohol dependence have found no difference between treatment and invasive needle control. 10,11Thus, after refining the methodology in a pilot study, 12 we performed a randomized controlled trial to compare the postoperative analgesic effect of auricular acupuncture with invasive needle control in patients after ambulatory knee surgery. MethodsThis prospective, patient-and evaluator-blinded, controlled study was performed between August 2003 and September 2004 at the Ambulatory Orthopedic Surgery Center of the Ernst Moritz Arndt University, Greifswald, Germany. The study was approved by the university's ethics committee. Consecutive patients scheduled for arthroscopic ambulatory knee surgery under general anesthesia (without premedication) were enrolled in the study. Exclusion criteria were age younger than 18 years or older than 70 years; American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status III (severe systemic disease with functional limitation); history of opioid, sedative or hypnotic medication or excess alcohol use; inability to understand the consent form or how to use a visual analogue scale for pain measurement; local auricular infection or significant auricular deformation; or presence of prosthetic cardiac valves. Patients were withdrawn from the study if it was necessary to change the perioperative analgesia scheme, if the arthroscopic procedure was turned into open knee surgery or if the patient was unexpectedly admitted to hospital after the procedure.On the day before surgery the patients were told that they would receive auricular acupuncture at specific points or Auricular acupuncture for pain relief after ambulatory knee surgery: a randomized trial Background: Auricular acupuncture is a promising method for postoperative pain relief. However, there is no evidence for its use after ambulatory surgery. Our aim was to test whether auricular acupuncture is better than invasive needle control for complementary analgesia after ambulatory knee surgery. Methods:O...
Millimetre wave therapy (MWT) is a promising complementary method for pain relief, however rigorous investigations of its effectiveness are needed. The purpose of this study was to examine if MWT can reduce opioid requirement compared to sham procedure applied for relief of acute pain in patients after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Eighty patients undergoing TKA were randomly assigned to receive MWT or sham procedure. Patients and evaluators were blinded to the group allocation. MWT consisted of six sessions, each session of 30 min duration. During each session the knee wound was exposed to electromagnetic waves with frequency 50-75 GHz and power density 4.2 mW/cm(2). Postoperative analgesia with piritramide, a weak opioid with 0.7 potency of morphine delivered via patient-controlled analgesia pump, was directed to achieve pain intensity of less than 40 on a 100 mm visual analogue scale (VAS). The primary outcome measure was postoperative piritramide requirement for three days after surgery. Secondary outcome measures were: total ibuprofen requirement from the fourth postoperative day to discharge; success of patients' blinding; patients' satisfaction with pain relief; incidence of analgesia-related side effects; heart rate and blood pressure. Piritramide requirement was similar in both groups whereby all patients reported adequate pain relief measured on a VAS. Secondary outcome measures were also comparable in both groups. The majority of patients in both groups believed they had received true MWT and wanted to repeat it in future. Millimetre waves applied to surfaces of surgical wounds did not reduce opioid requirement compared to the sham procedure after TKA.
The spectrum of chronic interstitial lung disease in children includes a large and heterogeneous group of rare disorders. This paper reviews these disorders by focussing on basic pathophysiological mechanisms, and by discussing the difficulties in the classification of these diseases. Diagnostic and therapeutic approaches are also listed. The overall prognosis is dubious and mortality remains high.
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