Uncategorized

Whether ketamine is as effective as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) among patients with major depressive episode remains unknown.

The administration of methylprednisolone (MP) is a component of perioperative multimodal analgesia that mitigates the potentially deleterious effects of postoperative pain and opioid consumption. However, a systematic evaluation of the efficacy and safety of MP is lacking. The present systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to quantify the potential clinical benefits and risks of perioperative MP in lung surgery.

We questioned whether the triple analgesic pathways procedure via local infiltration analgesia (LIA), peripheral nerve blocks, and intrathecal morphine (ITM) is superior to LIA only for controlling pain after Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA).

Chronic pain, depression, and substance use are common among people living with HIV (PLWH). Physical activity can improve pain and mental health. Some substances such as cannabis may alleviate pain, which may allow PLWH to participate in more physical activity. However, risks of substance use include poorer mental health and HIV clinical outcomes. This cross-sectional analysis examined the relationships of self-reported substance use (alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine use), gender, and age with self-reports of walking, moderate physical activity, and vigorous physical activity, converted to Metabolic Equivalent of Task Units (METs), among 187 adults living with HIV, chronic pain, and depressive symptoms in the United States. Women reported less walking, vigorous activity, and total physical activity compared to men. Individuals who used cannabis reported more vigorous physical activity relative to those who did not use cannabis. These findings were partially accounted for by substance use*gender interactions: men using cannabis reported more vigorous activity than all other groups, and women with alcohol use reported less walking than men with and without alcohol use. Research is needed to increase physical activity among women who use substances and to evaluate reasons for the relationship between substance use and physical activity among men.

A pneumorrhachis (PR) is a rare phenomenon in which air is found in the spinal canal. There are multiple etiologies, including iatrogenic, nontraumatic, and traumatic. Most traumatic PR are asymptomatic and resolve on their own, but a subset are symptomatic and require urgent surgical intervention. This case describes a traumatic PR in which a headache was the primary symptom.

Lupus anticoagulant-hypoprothrombinemia syndrome is a rare cause of hemorrhage. In this syndrome, antiphospholipid antibodies bind to the FII epitope in its carboxy-terminal portion and form antigen-antibody complexes that are rapidly cleared by the reticuloendothelial system, conditioning hypoprothrombinemia and thus a bleeding tendency. Lupus anticoagulant-hypoprothrombinemia syndrome is associated with autoimmune diseases, mainly systemic lupus erythematosus, and less frequently with primary antiphospholipid syndrome, discoid lupus, drugs, celiac disease, and haemato-oncological diseases. Immunosuppressants, mainly steroids, are the mainstay treatment, nevertheless, there is still a concern about the right treatment for this entity since there have been described less than 200 cases around the world. We describe the case of a male patient with a history of primary antiphospholipid syndrome that comes to our hospital with a severe headache due to intracranial hemorrhage, secondary to Lupus anticoagulant-hypoprothrombinemia.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) with suicidal symptoms is common in adolescents. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is highly effective in the treatment of MDD. We have described its use and outcome in a case series of adolescents with depression and suicidal symptoms receiving ECT.

Interscalene brachial plexus blocks are a commonly performed procedure to reduce pain following total shoulder arthroplasty. Liposomal bupivacaine has been purported to prolong the duration of brachial plexus blocks for up to 72 hours; however, there has been controversy surrounding the analgesic benefits of this drug. Our hypothesis was that an interscalene block performed with bupivacaine alone would be non-inferior to a combination of liposomal bupivacaine and bupivacaine with respect to opioid consumption following total shoulder arthroplasty.

To assess the comparative effectiveness of computed tomography and invasive coronary angiography in women and men with stable chest pain suspected to be caused by coronary artery disease.