Teresa Sacco

Factors affecting acute pain perception and analgesics consumption in patients undergoing bariatric surgery

BACKGROUND Previous studies performed in non-obese patients undergoing elective surgery have revealed that psychological factors may affect postoperative analgesic requirements. The aim of this observational prospective study was to investigate the extent to which psychopathological dimensions, including anxiety, depression and alexithymia, may influence postoperative pain intensity and analgesics consumption using patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) in patients undergoing bariatric surgery. METHODS 120 patients, aged 18-60years, with an ASA physical status I-II, undergoing gastric bypass were enrolled. Anxiety and depression Hamilton scales, and Toronto Alexithymia scale, were administered to patients on the day before surgery. General anesthesia was standardized. After awakening, a PCA pump with intravenous tramadol was immediately made available for a 36-hour postoperative analgesia. Visual analog scale at rest (VASr) and after coughing (VASi), and effective PCA requests number were postoperatively recorded. Pearsons correlations, Anova analyses and multiple linear regression were used for statistical purpose. RESULTS Positive correlations were found between anxiety, depression, alexithymia and all pain indicators (p<0.01). Analyses of variance showed that anxious (p<0.001), depressed (p<0.001) and alexithymic (p<0.05) patients had high pain indicators. VASr and VASi were predicted by anxiety and depression (p<0.05), but not by alexithymia; effective PCA requests number was predicted by anxiety, depression and alexithymia (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Obese patients with high depression, anxiety and alexithymia levels rated their pain as more intense and required a larger amount of tramadol. Pain perception intensity was predicted by anxiety and depression but not by alexithymia, whereas analgesics consumption was predicted by all the investigated psychopathological dimensions.

Suction catheter guided insertion of ProSeal laryngeal mask airway: Experience by untrained physicians.

Background: The use of suction catheter (SC) has been shown to improve success rate during ProSeal laryngeal mask airway (PLMA) insertion in expert users. Aims: The aim of this study was to compare insertion of PLMA performed by untrained physicians using a SC or the digital technique (DT) in anaesthetised non-paralysed patients. Methods: In this prospective randomised double-blind study, conducted in the operating setting, 254 patients (American Society of Anaesthesiologists I-II, aged 18-65 years), undergoing minor surgery were enrolled. Exclusion criteria were body mass index >35 kg/m 2 , laryngeal or oesophageal varices, risk of aspiration or difficult face mask ventilation either referred or suspected (Langeron′s criteria ≥2) and modified Mallampati classification score >2. Participants were randomly allocated to one of the two groups in which PLMA was inserted using DT (DT-group) or SC (SC-group). Statistical Analysis: Chi-square test with Yates′ correction, Mann-Whitney U-test or Student′s t-test were carried-out as appropriate. Results: The final insertion success rate was greater in SC-groupcompared with DT-group 90.1% (n = 109) versus 74.4% (n = 99) respectively (P = 0.002). Mean airway leak pressure was higher in SC-group compared to DT-group (23.7 ± 3.9 vs. 21.4 ± 3.2 respectively; (P = 0.001). There were no differences in insertion time, post-operative airway morbidity and complications. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that SC-technique improves the success rate of PLMA insertion by untrained physicians.