http://www.AnesthesiologyNews.com/descriptionen-ushttp://www.anesthesiologynews.com/index.asp?srv=rss&section_id=21&show=dept&article_id=14724Tue, 3 Mar 2010About 30,000 elderly nursing home residents undergo major gastrointestinal operations each year, and their risk for death is more than three times higher than community-dwelling seniors, according to a study presented at the 2009 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons.http://www.anesthesiologynews.com/index.asp?srv=rss&section_id=220&show=dept&article_id=14725Tue, 3 Mar 2010A low-resistance membrane oxygenator may serve as a life-sustaining bridge for critically ill patients awaiting lung transplantation, according to a new study.http://www.anesthesiologynews.com/index.asp?srv=rss&section_id=449&show=dept&article_id=14723Mon, 2 Mar 2010Earlier this year, a member of the Texas legislature launched a broadside against the relatively new exclusive agreement, and its provisions for stipend support, between Pinnacle Anesthesia Consultants and the Baylor Health Care System in Houston. The lawmaker’s claim: Exclusive contracts are noncompetitive and drive up the cost of health care.http://www.anesthesiologynews.com/index.asp?srv=rss&section_id=3&show=dept&article_id=14722Fri, 6 Mar 2010Patients are not the only people being monitored in hospitals anymore: An increasing number of institutions are enacting policies that keep eyes—both human and electronic—on health care workers as well.http://www.anesthesiologynews.com/index.asp?srv=rss&section_id=8&show=dept&article_id=14720Fri, 6 Mar 2010Anesthesiologists must be among the most tech-savvy clinicians, spending their working hours surrounded by all manner of monitors and automated devices. But as much as technology makes clinical life easier—and patients safer—it’s far from failsafe. The ECRI Institute has compiled a list of its Top 10 tech-related concerns in the operating room (ECRI journal, Health Devices, Nov. 2009).http://www.anesthesiologynews.com/index.asp?srv=rss&section_id=1&show=dept&article_id=14721Fri, 6 Mar 2010Despite growing recognition that daily interruption of sedation saves lives, reduces coma as well as the duration of mechanical ventilation and time spent in the intensive care unit, the adoption of the “wake up and breathe” protocol at hospitals remains slow and inconsistent.http://www.anesthesiologynews.com/index.asp?srv=rss&section_id=175&show=dept&article_id=14743Thu, 5 Mar 2010Six studies published in three journals that assessed properties of fospropofol disodium have been retracted because of unresolved assay problems that produced flawed pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data in company-sponsored, early-stage clinical trials.http://www.anesthesiologynews.com/index.asp?srv=rss&section_id=443&show=dept&article_id=14741Thu, 5 Mar 2010Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is an autosomally inherited disorder characterized by an increase in heart rate, respiratory rate, body temperature, and muscle rigidity when the patient is exposed to potent volatile anesthetic gases and succinylcholine. The prevalence and incidence of MH are difficult to determine because patients display no characteristic signs until anesthetized with one of the triggering agents, and even then do not always develop the disorder. This article discusses the clinical presentation of MH, treatment using Dantrium® IV, and provides information on educational resources such as the Malignant Hyperthermia Association of the United States.http://www.anesthesiologynews.com/index.asp?srv=rss&section_id=342&show=dept&article_id=14744Thu, 5 Mar 2010http://www.anesthesiologynews.com/index.asp?srv=rss&section_id=161&show=dept&article_id=14742Thu, 5 Mar 2010OSCAR DE LEON-CASASOLA, MD