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29 active trials for Neuromuscular Blockade

Understanding the Cognition and Decision Making of Community Anesthesiologists

The investigators are interested in studying why experienced clinicians make specific decisions regarding the monitoring of patients' physiological states and why clinicians might make decisions that are contrary to current best practices or known evidence. More generally, the program objective is to refine and validate a novel methodology to delineate clinicians' decision-making strategies. More specifically, the investigators will study the decision to reverse neuromuscular blockade at the end of an anesthetic. This clinical decision will be studied in this project because: 1) it has been well documented that a substantial percentage of practitioners do not follow best practices; 2) the variables are relatively circumscribed and well described; and 3) it can be framed as a binary decision. The investigators propose to conduct an observational mixed-methods study developing and using clinical vignettes and cognitive interviews to better understand the decision-making approaches and preferences of clinically active anesthesia providers with regard to their decision-making during clinical anesthesia cases. After developing clinical vignettes and related questions, the investigators will first obtain detailed demographic and clinical practice variables from the participants via a survey. Participants will then review multiple vignettes that present different clinical situations that focus on decisions to reverse neuromuscular blockade and/or extubate the patient. Each participant will provide their decisions for each vignette. The investigators will then conduct an audiotaped interview, using cognitive task analysis methods, to ascertain the factors that played a role in these decisions.

Start: March 2021
Bleeding in Laparoscopic Liver Surgery

Blood loss during liver resection surgery affects patients morbidity, short and long-term mortality. Among non-surgical interventions to minimize intraoperative blood loss and perioperative blood products transfusion, maintaining conditions of low central venous pressure is considered as standard of care. In animals undergoing laparoscopic hepatectomy, reducing airway pressures represents a minimally invasive measure to reduce central venous pressure and therefore bleeding from the hepatic vein. Neuromuscular blocking agents are usually administered during anesthesia to facilitate endotracheal intubation and to improve surgical conditions: a deep level of neuromuscular blockade has already been shown to reduce peak airway pressures and plateau airway pressures in non-abdominal procedures. Such airway pressures reduction can potentially limit bleeding from hepatic veins during transection phase in liver surgery. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the impact of deep neuromuscular blockade on bleeding (as a consequence of reduced airway peak pressure and plateau pressure) in hepatic laparoscopic resections. Patients undergoing laparoscopic liver resection will be randomized to achieve, using intravenous Rocuronium, either a deep neuromuscular blockade (post-tetanic count = 0 and/or = 1 and train of four count = 0) or moderate neuromuscular blockade (train of four count ? 1 and/or post-tetanic count > 5) during surgery. Neuromuscular blockade measurements will be performed every 15 minutes. The primary endpoint is to assess the total blood loss at the end of the resection phase.

Start: October 2020
Evaluation of the NeuroMuscular Junction Using the Single Fiber Electromyography and Reliability of Train-Of-Four in Critically Ill Patients.

Patients suffering from critical illnesses who are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) are often affected by multiple organ failure. Among those dysfunctions, it is very important to mention the neuromuscular system failure, known as Intensive Care Unit-Acquired Weakness (ICU-AW). In non-cooperative patients, the simplified electromyography (called Peroneal Nerve Test, PENT) allows diagnosing the Critical Illness Polyneuropathy (CIP) and/or the Critical Illness Myopathy (CIM), which are two causes of ICU-AW. The ICU-AW can involve both nerves and muscles, but so far there has been no evidence about the involvement of the third element of the neuromuscular system: the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). The gold standard technique to study the function of the NMJ is the Desmedt test, a particular type of Electroneurography (ENG); the Single Fiber Electromyography (SF-EMG ) might be a valid and more sensitive technique for this analysis. The spreading use of Neuromuscular Blocking Agents (NMBAs) has led to the introduction of the Train-Of-Four acceleromyography (TOF) monitoring in ICU; however, there is a lack of information on its reliability in critically ill patients. Some conditions related to critical illness, like the ICU-AW, could make TOF monitoring unreliable. The aims of the study are: To estimate the prevalence of NMJ disorders acquired during critical illnesses using SF-EMG. To assess the reliability of TOF in critically ill patients. The study will evaluate patients with critical illnesses hospitalised in the General Intensive Care Unit (UOC Anestesia e Rianimazione 2, Spedali Civili di Brescia). To diagnose CIP and/or CIM, PENT will be performed after 72 hours from the admission in the ICU and every 72 hours. To evaluate NMJ disorders, SF-EMG will be performed in patients with an abnormal PENT. To evaluate the reliability of TOF, the test will be performed before, during and after NMBAs treatment and in all studied patients, independently from NMBAs administration; the presence of neuromuscular blockade will be evaluated clinically and/or using instrumental tests like Desmedt test. Statistical analysis will be performed to represent the prevalence of NMJ disorders in the general intensivistic population and the reliability of TOF in terms of specificity and sensitivity for the diagnosis of the neuromuscular blockade.

Start: February 2018