The Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesiology and Critical Care (SNACC) incoming president Dr. Deepak Sharma shares his thoughts as we approach the new year. Some valuable input to bring with us into the holidays. Read his newsletter here.
This month’s edition of Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology is replete with neuro-topics, ranging from awake craniotomy to complex spinal surgery and anaesthesia for stroke thrombectomy. Well worth a read, this collection of articles provides (often excellent) summaries of evidence and current practice in numerous fields relevant to the neuroanaesthetist.
Our Danish colleagues have recently issued updated guidelines on spinal stabilisation of adult trauma patients (open-access in the Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine). As expected, the evidence base is fairly limited as robust randomised studies on this topic are rare and often hard to conduct. The group does provide a strong recommendation… Continue reading New Danish Guidelines on Spinal Stabilisation in Trauma
The optimal hyperosmotic agent for treatment of intracranial hypertension following TBI has been an inexhaustible subject of debate. Scant evidence underlies these discussions despite widespread and long-standing use of both agents. In this article Anstey et al. retrospectively analysed data from 14 different centres to compare outcomes in mannitol-only and hypertonic saline-only cohorts. They excluded… Continue reading Mannitol vs. Hypertonic Saline in TBI – A Retrospective Study
SNACC’s article of the month for July is an excellent narrative review on the pharmacodynamics of vasopressors in health and in the setting of brain injury. The review is preceded by an introductory commentary by neuroscand.com contributor Dr. Riikka Takala.
The landmark 2016 ATACH II trial compared aggressive blood pressure lowering (110-139 mmHg) with standard BP-targets (140-180) in patients with spontaneous ICH, and found no difference between the groups. The main endpoints were mortality and functional neurological outcome (modified Rankin scale). The only discernible difference was a tendency towards less haematoma expansion in the intervention… Continue reading ATACH II Follow-up Subgroup Analysis: Intensive BP Reduction Reduces Expansion of Deep ICH, But No Difference in Functional Outcome
Intracerebral haemorrhage is associated with a number of haemodynamic consequences. These are not just limited to arrhythmias. Lele and colleagues have summarised the most common and important ones in this review in the Journal of Neurosurgical Anesthesiology.
Just a quick update on two recent trials on pharmacological treatment for status epileptics in children: Both articles were published in the Lancet this spring. ConSEPT and EcLiPSE, both high-quality trials, found levetiracetam and phenytoin to be equally effective in seizure control and similar in safety profile. The findings were be remarkably consistent across the… Continue reading ConSEPT and EcLiPSE Trials: Levetiracetam Equal to Phenytoin in Efficacy for Convulsive Status Epilepticus in Children
The ever-increasing use of direct (or novel) oral anticoagulants (DOACs) has had a profound effect on primary and secondary prevention of thromboembolic events, especially in the elderly. Whilst many patients benefit from switching over to these newer drugs from older anticoagulants like warfarin, thus foregoing such nuisances as INR-guided dosing, they have also inevitably led… Continue reading Impact of DOACs in TBI in the over 60s
From our quality-focused colleagues at the Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesiology and Critical Care (SNACC) comes this set of guidelines for management of the most common emergencies encountered in neuroanaesthetic practice. Conceived with the purpose of addressing complex emergent issues in a concise, goal-directed and simplified manner, these cognitive aids are clear-cut and based on… Continue reading SNACC – How to Handle Neuroanaesthetic Emergencies
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