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Drug selection of rapid acting fentanyl formulations in the treatment of breakthrough pain in patients with cancer is performed by the System of Objectified Judgement Analysis method. All seven available formulations were included in the analysis. The following selection criteria were used: number of available strengths, variability in the rate of absorption, interactions, clinical efficacy, side effects, ease of administration and documentation. No direct double-blind comparative studies between two or more formulations were identified and the clinical documentation of all formulations is limited. The most distinguishing criterion was ease of use. This led to slightly higher scores for Abstral, Instanyl and PecFent than for the other formulations. The pros and cons of each formulation should be discussed with the patient, and the most suitable formulation selected for each individual patient.

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PURPOSE: Regional anesthesia is gaining popularity with anesthesiologists as it offers superb postoperative analgesia. However, as the sole anesthetic technique in high-risk patients in whom general anesthesia is not preferred, some regional anesthetic possibilities may be easily overlooked. By presenting two cases of very old patients with considerable comorbidities, we would like to bring the mental nerve field block under renewed attention as a safe alternative to general anesthesia and to achieve broader application of this simple nerve block. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Two very old male patients (84 and 91 years) both presented with an ulcerative lesion at the lower lip for which surgical removal was scheduled. Because of their considerable comorbidities and increased frailty, bilateral blockade of the mental nerve was considered superior to general anesthesia. As an additional advantage for the 84-year-old patient, who had a pneumonectomy in his medical history, the procedure could be safely performed in a beach-chair position to prevent atelectasis and optimize the ventilation/perfusion ratio of the single lung. The mental nerve blockades were performed intraorally in a blind fashion, after eversion of the lip and identifying the lower canine. A 5 mL syringe with a 23-gauge needle attached was passed into the buccal mucosa until it approximated the mental foramen, where 2 mL of lidocaine 2% with adrenaline 1:100.000 was injected. The other side was anesthetized in a similar fashion. RESULTS: Both patients underwent the surgical procedure uneventfully under a bilateral mental nerve block and were discharged from the hospital on the same day. CONCLUSION: A mental nerve block is an easy-to-perform regional anesthetic technique for lower lip surgery. This technique might be especially advantageous in the very old, frail patient.

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A 63-year-old man underwent an exploratory laparotomy because of rectal carcinoma. The operation was performed under general anaesthesia in combination with epidural anaesthesia. Since the operation the patient complained of a headache. Eight weeks after the operation he was hospitalized because of worsening of the headache and also drowsiness. A physical examination showed a slight tendency to incline to the left. A CT scan showed a subdural haematoma, which was relieved with surgery. We suspected that accidental puncture of the dura caused the haematoma. The incidence, causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of this rare complication are discussed.

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A method for simultaneous pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) population analysis using an Iterative Two-Stage Bayesian (ITSB) algorithm was developed. The method was evaluated using clinical data and Monte Carlo simulations. Data from a clinical study with rocuronium in nine anesthetized patients and data generated by Monte Carlo simulation using a similar study design were analysed by sequential PK-PD analysis, PD analysis with nonparametric PK data and simultaneous PK-PD analysis. Both PK and PD data sets were 'rich' with respect to the number of measurements per individual. The accuracy and precision of the estimated population parameters were evaluated by comparing their mean error (ME) and root mean squared error (RMSE), respectively. The influence of PD model misspecification on the results was also investigated. The simultaneous PK-PD analysis resulted in slightly more precise population parameter estimates than the sequential PK-PD analysis and the nonparametric PK method. In the presence of PD model misspecification, however, simultaneous analysis resulted in poor PK parameter estimates, while sequential PK-PD analysis performed well. In conclusion, ITSB is a valuable technique for PK-PD population analysis of rich data sets. The sequential PK-PD method is better suited for the analysis of rich data than the simultaneous analysis.

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