Anesthetics News and Research

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Labour, delivery health professionals lack clear understanding of anesthesiologist's role: Study

Today, one in four or five women in Ontario will give birth through a cesarean or "C-section." A new study, led by researchers from St. Michael's Hospital and The Wilson Centre for Research in Education and the Department of Anesthesia, University of Toronto, has found that many labour and delivery health professionals lack a clear understanding of the anesthesiologist's role as a physician with specialized skills in the management of seriously unwell pregnant patients.

21 May 2011

Evidence of damaged baby brains & inadequate anesthetic induced sleep: Conference updates

According to new studies commonly used anesthetics may be causing brain damage in people, especially babies who receive them while their brains are still developing.

15 May 2011

ASA survey shows more than 90% of respondents experience anesthesia drug shortage

The American Society of Anesthesiologists today announced the findings from its nationwide Drug Shortages Survey. Results showed that more than 90 percent of anesthesiologist respondents are currently experiencing a shortage of at least one anesthetic.

10 May 2011

Anesthetia does not appear to influence children's brain

Young children exposed to a brief, single anesthetic did not show any evidence of adverse long-term effects on the brain, according to a new Danish study published in the May issue of Anesthesiology.

28 Apr 2011

NEJM features pulse oximetry training video

A pulse oximetry training video produced by Rafael Ortega, MD, the vice-chair of academic affairs for the department of anesthesiology at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and professor of anesthesiology at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), and his colleagues is featured in this week's New England Journal of Medicine.

21 Apr 2011

Nuvo Research to acquire ZARS Pharma

Nuvo Research Inc., a pharmaceutical company dedicated to building a portfolio of products primarily for the treatment of pain, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire ZARS Pharma, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

18 Apr 2011

UH conducts first ever pilot study to test heat therapy for treatment of PE

University Hospitals Case Medical Center is conducting the first ever pilot study to test a new procedure using "heat therapy" or local radiofrequency energy to treat premature ejaculation.

9 Mar 2011

U.S.-Chile collaborate to study new long-acting local anesthetic derived from algae

A U.S.-Chile collaboration is bringing surgical patients closer to having a long-acting local anesthetic. In a randomized, double-blind trial, patients given neosaxitoxin, a new local anesthetic derived from algae, had significantly less postoperative pain and recovered about two days sooner than those given the commonly used local anesthetic bupivacaine.

25 Feb 2011

New 'closed-loop' system can provide tightly controlled anesthesia in patients undergoing surgery

A new 'closed-loop' system can precisely adjust levels of anesthetics and analgesic drugs in patients undergoing surgery, reports a study in the March issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society.

25 Feb 2011

Phase III study shows tapentadol ER relieves chronic pain associated with DPN

New research has been published indicating that patients suffering from a painful complication of diabetes may experience a significant improvement in their pain as measured by a pain intensity scale when using an investigational pain medication.

29 Jan 2011

Nitrous oxide anesthesia may lead to increased risk of myocardial infarction: Study

Patients receiving nitrous oxide as part of general anesthesia for surgery may be at increased long-term risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack), reports a study in the February issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society.

29 Jan 2011

General anaesthesia brings reversible coma and not sleep: Study

Anaesthesia has been one of the greatest gifts of science and use of general anaesthesia is a routine part of surgical operations at hospitals and medical facilities around the world. However precise biological mechanisms of the drugs’ effects on the brain are only now being analyzed. In a review article published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists have tried to analyze a range of disciplines, including neuroscience and sleep medicine to understand how anaesthesia actually works.

2 Jan 2011

Ketamine tried on college students in experiments sparks outrage

Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge University designed experiments to investigate treatment methods for schizophrenia. Like schizophrenics who sometimes believe that external objects have become part of their body, injection of ketamine – an anesthetic agent also produces similar feelings. Ketamine is a hallucinogenic drug.

22 Dec 2010

Interleukin-1 plays major role in wound healing

Anesthesiologists are playing a leading role in research into the molecular factors affecting inflammation, pain, and healing of surgical incisions, as illustrated by papers published in the December issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

7 Dec 2010

Journal of Alzheimer's Disease highlights latest scientific studies of AD

A supplement to the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease on "Anesthetics and Alzheimer's Disease" provides the platform to bring the latest scientific studies to the AD research and clinical communities.

15 Nov 2010

New noninvasive technique to detect methemoglobin level

Potentially harmful levels of methemoglobin which can build up in patients receiving certain anesthetics are detectable using a new, noninvasive monitoring technique called pulse CO-oximetry, reports a study in the November issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

4 Nov 2010

DENTSPLY 2010 third quarter net sales increases 2.0% to $541.8 million

DENTSPLY International Inc. today announced sales and earnings for the three months ended September 30, 2010.

28 Oct 2010

Blocking receptor contributing to memory deficits may prevent memory loss after anesthesia

Memory loss after anesthesia is a common adverse event upon awakening from surgery. Unfortunately the cause of such memory loss is unknown and there are no known treatments or prevention strategies. A study published in the November 2010 issue of Anesthesiology indicates that this memory loss could be prevented by blocking a receptor thought to contribute to memory deficits. Such a treatment may be able to solve the feeling of mental confusion that surgical patients so often feel shortly after coming out of anesthesia.

27 Oct 2010

Doctors, nurses and urgent care centers address increasing demand

The (Lynchburg, Va.) News and Advance reports on doctor shortages in Virginia: "Attracting more physicians to the area, and keeping them, is a challenge that has become more urgent. So much so that Centra is in the midst of creating a formal Physician Recruiting Office, where staff will work to convince physicians to consider coming to Lynchburg for their residency or to practice.

26 Oct 2010

Inguinal lymph node dissection with spinal anesthesia improves prognosis in patients with malignant melanoma

A study presented at this year's American Society of Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting offers evidence that patients with malignant melanoma who undergo inguinal lymph node dissection with spinal anesthesia (a regional anesthetic) have a better prognosis than patients who undergo the same surgery with general anesthesia.

20 Oct 2010