Health and Social Care

Methods Patients undergoing routine cataract surgery under general and local (peribulbar) anesthesia were randomized to those given general anesthetic with and without the use of ketamine and those having local anesthesia. Aqueous and serum levels of cytokines were ...

During the last decade, estimates of electroencephalogram (EEG) entropy has gained interest for use in several applications during in-tensive care on newborns, such as detection of hy-poxia and prediction of outcome. It is clear that entropy is affected by various conditions, but little is however said about robustness and normality for the entropy estimates.

Purpose To determine the effect of intraocular surgery and anesthesia on aqueous and serum cytokines. Methods Patients undergoing routine cataract surgery under general and local (peribulbar) anesthesia were randomized to those given general anesthetic with and without the use of ketamine and those having local anesthesia. Aqueous and serum levels of cytokines were collected at commencement of surgery and were determined by an immunoassay using multi-analyte biochip array technology at 18 h post-operatively. Results At 18 h postoperative, all patients (37) showed significant and many fold increases in their aqueous levels of interleukin (IL)-1α, IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interferon (IFN)-γ, epidermal growth factor (EGF), and monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1. There was little to no increase in IL-2 and IL-10. Significant increases in some cytokines (EGF, IL-6, and IFN-γ) in the serum were also found (p=0.038...

In this paper, we investigate the effect of sedation using low-dose propofol on patient reported outcome measures (PROMS) in patients undergoing cataract surgery. This is a randomised, single-blinded observational prospective study. Patients undergoing elective cataract surgery using peribulbar anaesthesia over consecutive cataract lists were selected for this trial. Patients were randomised to receive either no sedation or low-dose propofol (20 to 30 mg followed by 10 mg increments until the patient developed slurred speech alone) prior to the administration of local anaesthesia. Pain, satisfaction, anxiety, needle recall, pulse, and blood pressure (BP) were measured. A total of 97 patients were included, 50 of whom received propofol. There were 4 senior surgeons and anaesthetists. There were no ocular or systemic complications and all patients had uncomplicated surgery. Anxiety (p = 0.026), needle recall (p < 0.001), difference in systolic BP (p = 0.043), and pulse (p = 0.046) ...