RESUMO
A incidência de pacientes dependentes de drogas está aumentando. As substâncias ilícitas de consumo mais comuns são cocaína, maconha, álcool e heroína, embora o uso do crack tenha se tornado cada vez mais frequente, tornando-se um problema comum nos hospitais que atendem emergências. O efeito agudo e a longo prazo do abuso de drogas pode complicar o manejo anestésico. Muitas vezes esses pacientes não sãoidentificados no pré-operatório, por tratar-se de cirurgia de emergência ou omissão de informação. Esses pacientes demandam vigilância contínua e perspicácia do anestesiologista para evitar sérias complicações perioperatórias. Neste artigo são apresentados os principais problemas relacionados ao uso da cocaína e do crack, bem como a melhor abordagem perioperatória. Durante o procedimento anestésico são utilizados vários medicamentos de ação central que interagem com outras substâncias como a cocaína, tornando predizer o tipo de resposta apresentado pelos pacientes que fazem uso desse tipo de droga. Isso torna a anestesia nesses pacientes um verdadeiro desafio para o anestesiologista que, portanto, deve conhecer as alterações fisiopatológicas para melhor abordar esses pacientes e diminuir a morbimortalidade.
The incidence of drug dependent patients is increasing. The most common consumption among illicit substances includes cocaine, marijuana, alcohol, and heroin, however, the use of crack has become increasingly frequent and a common problem in hospitals that tend to emergencies. The acute and long-term effects of drug abuse can complicate the anesthetic management. These patients are often not identified preoperatively because they are in need of emergency surgery or due to information omission. These patients require continuous vigilance and insight from the anesthesiologist to avoid serious perioperative complications. This article presents the main problems related to the use of cocaine and crack, as well as the best perioperative approach. During the anesthetic procedure, several centrally acting medications that interact with other substances like cocaine is used making it difficult to predict the type of responses from the patients who make use of these drugs. Thus, anesthesia in these patientsis a real challenge to the anesthesiologist who must therefore be aware of the pathophysiological alterations to best address these patients and decrease morbidity and mortality.
RESUMO
STUDY OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of single-injection femoral nerve block (FNB) in postoperative pain after total knee replacement (TKR) and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, double-blind study. PATIENTS: 96 ASA physical status I, II, and III patients, scheduled for TKR or ACL reconstruction. INTERVENTIONS: All patients received a standard spinal anesthetic, then were randomly divided into three treatment groups as follows: Group B (n = 30) received an FNB with 40 mL of 0.25% bupivacaine containing epinephrine, 1:200,000; Group R (n = 32) received an FNB with 40 mL of 0.25% ropivacaine; and Group C (n = 28) received no FNB. MEASUREMENTS: The following clinical outcomes were assessed at up to 6 hours (T1), 6 to 10 hours (T2), and 10 to 24 hours (T3) after spinal anesthesia was given: visual analog scale (VAS) for pain, both at rest and on movement (no or mild pain, moderate pain, or severe pain); morphine use; sensory block in the femoral, obturator, and lateral femoral cutaneous nerve dermatomes; and motor block of the femoral and obturator nerves. MAIN RESULTS: Except for VAS during rest and on movement at time T3, there were more Group C patients who experienced moderate or severe pain than those who had no pain or mild pain, when compared with Groups R and B. Sensory block in the femoral and lateral femoral cutaneous nerve dermatomes did not differ between Groups R and B at any times. However, sensory block in the obturator nerve dermatome was lower in Group R than Group B only at T3. We observed a lower, significant use of morphine at T2 when comparing Groups R and B with Group C. No Group R patient and about 30% of Group B patients remained with motor block of femoral and obturator nerves at T3. Except for frequency of nausea, which was highest in Group C, the frequency of other side effects was similar among the three groups. CONCLUSIONS: Femoral nerve block using 0.25% ropivacaine or 0.25% bupivacaine is an effective method of postoperative analgesia after TKR and ACL reconstruction, particularly for the first 10 hours after spinal anesthesia.