Richard Dutton

Posts by Richard Dutton:

Hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs): are they a substitute for blood transfusions?

October 9, 2014 By Richard Dutton in Cardiovascular Anesthesiology Tags: HBOC

There was a lot of interest, particularly in the 1990s, in hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs) as a substitute for blood transfusions. HBOCs eliminate the need for cross-matching prior to use, they don’t require refrigeration, and they have a longer shelf life than banked blood. However, these cell-free hemoglobin oxygen substitutes have been shown to be […]

Improving quality and safety in the cardiovascular OR: SCA efforts

September 29, 2014 By Richard Dutton in Cardiovascular Anesthesiology

For more than ten years, the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists (SCA) has realized the need to make quality and safety a priority. Dr. Atilio Barbeito, Department of Anesthesiology, Duke University Medical Center, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues from throughout the United States describe the SCA’s 10-year effort to improve patient safety […]

Perioperative Goal-Directed Fluid Therapy for Colorectal Surgery

September 11, 2014 By Richard Dutton in Technology, Computing, and Simulation Tags: colorectal, fluids, gastrectomy, small bowel resection

It’s not always clear how much fluid to give intraoperatively. Blood pressure and heart rate are two monitors to help determine how much fluid should be given, though the differential diagnosis for variations in each does not only include fluid volume. Dr. David Pestaña, originally from the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Hospital Universitario […]

Epidural Analgesia and Postpartum Depression

August 13, 2014 By Richard Dutton in Obstetric Anesthesiology

Postpartum depression is triggered by childbirth and possibly additionally by the intensity of pain experienced during childbirth. If epidural anesthesia is used, is the incidence of postoperative depression affected? Dr. Dong-Xin Wang, Department of Anesthesiology and Surgical Intensive Care, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China, and colleagues report on a cohort of 214 nulliparous women […]

Patterns of pathogen transmission in a simulated OR environment

June 30, 2014 By Richard Dutton in Ahead of print

Anesthesiologists serve a pivotal function in the operating room. Through close contact with body fluids (e.g., blood, airway secretions, saliva, urine), anesthesia providers may contaminate the OR environment and spread pathogens. Dr. David J. Birnbach, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, and his colleagues examined patterns of transmission in […]

What evidence do we need to show that quantitative EMG neuromuscular monitoring should be a standard of care?

June 13, 2014 By Richard Dutton in Technology, Computing, and Simulation

How do you perform electromyographic (EMG) monitoring intraoperatively? Do you use a device you find in the drawer of the anesthesia machine, or do you use quantitative EMG neuromuscular monitoring? Readers of this journal might recall the publication of an editorial titled “Neuromuscular Monitoring: What Evidence Do We Need to Be Convinced?” in 2010, wherein […]