Retentissements de la douleur postopératoire,bénéfices attendus des traitements

Physiological responses to postoperative acute pain may impede organ functions (cardiovascular, pulmonary, coagulation, endocrine, gastrointestinal, central nervous system, etc). Pain alleviation improves patient's comfort, but also may minimise perioperative stress response, physiological responses and postoperative organ dysfunction, assist postoperative nursing and physiotherapy, enhance clinical outcome, and potentially shorten the hospital stay. Potent postoperative analgesia, especially by epidural route, may be associated with reduction in incidence and severity of many perioperative dysfunctions. Peridural analgesia using local anaesthetics is the best technique for decreasing postoperative stress after lower abdominal or lower limb surgery. Analgesia using either epidural or high doses of morphine may improve some cardiac variables such as tachycardia and ischaemia, but does not change the incidence of severe cardiac complications. For patients undergoing vascular or orthopaedic surgery, epidural analgesia can improve clinical outcome by preventing the development of arterial or venous thromboembolic complications. However, in comparative studies, the control groups did not receive adequate prophylactic treatment for thromboembolic complications. Epidural analgesia can hasten the return of gastrointestinal motility and shorten the hospital stay. Postoperative mental dysfunction is decreased using intravenous PCA morphine in the elderly. Epidural analgesia with local anaesthetics improves postoperative respiratory function but, for unknown reasons, these benefits are not associated with a decrease in respiratory complications. On balance, the mode of acute pain relief decreases adverse physiological responses and many intermediate outcome variables; however, there is inconclusive evidence that it affects clinical outcome. Major advances in postoperative recovery can be achieved by early aggressive perioperative care, including potent analgesia, early mobilisation and oral nutrition. As a result, the hospital stay may be shortened.     

Analgésie par la buprénorphine sublinguale dans la lithotritie extracorporelle rénale

The efficacy of sublingual buprenorphine given for premedication was assessed in 287 consecutive patients scheduled for extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL). The patients were randomly assigned to three groups. They were given 45 min before starting ESWL 5 mg midazolam orally in group 1 (n = 97), and 5 mg midazolam orally and 0.2 mg sublingual buprenorphine in group 2 (n = 97), and 5 mg midazolam orally and 0.4 mg sublingual buprenorphine in group 3 (n = 93). Analgesia was assessed with a simple three step verbal scale : no pain, moderate pain treated with simple analgesies (Spasfon®, Viscéralgine®), and exquisite pain requiring general anaesthesia. Sublingual buprenorphine provided good analgesia in 87 % of group 2 patients, and 88 % of group 3 patients (NS) whereas 70 % of group 1 patients experienced no pain (p < 0.05). The incidence of side-effects during the 12 h following ESWL, such as nausea, vomiting and drowsiness, was higher in group 3 (31 patients) than in group 2 (13 patients) (p > 0.01). No clinical respiratory depression occurred, although 11 patients in group 3 complained of drowsiness. It is concluded that premedication with 0.2 mg of sublingual buprenorphine provides efficient analgesia for ESWL and few side-effects.     

Complication rare de la transplantation rénale : la pyélonéphrite emphysémateuse

Emphysematous pyelonephritis is a necrotizing infection of the renal parenchyma and peri-renal tissues, characterized by the presence of air within the parenchyma of the urinary tract and peri-renal space. This is a severe complication, which involves the functional prognosis of the kidney and the patient's prognosis. The emphysematous pyelonephritis is a rare complication of renal transplantation. Its gravity is linked particularly to the fragility of immunosuppressed patients. The authors report the case of an emphysematous pyelonephritis having occurred 9 months after transplantation in a patient 58 years. The evolving risks and therapeutic modalities will be outlined and discussed.     

Prévention de la douleur postopératoire

The pre-emptive analgesia concept suggests that pre-administration of analgesics may enhance the efficacy of these drugs. This review has selected the data from the literature according to two types of methodological criteria: Sackett's criteria, and those specific of pre-emptive analgesia studies. Infiltration, spinal and peripheral nerve blocks using local anaesthetic drugs do not seem to produce pre-emptive analgesia. The few positive results have limited clinical significance. The results concerning opioids are contradictory and the clinical significance is limited. Preoperative oral administration of non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) offers no benefit. Intravenous pre-administration has a limited advantage, but enhances perioperative bleeding. Kétamine, an NMDA receptor antagonist, may have some pre-emptive analgesic properties according to the few studies available. In conclusion, pre-administration of analgesic drugs represents the usual strategy for the anaesthesiologist (spinal or peripheral block, infiltration, opioids). In other cases (NSAIDs, kétamine), pre-administration represents a change in usual practice. This is not justified for NSAIDs; NMDA receptor antagonists may offer an interesting research area. Data concerning pre-emptive analgesia for chronic pain syndrome such as phantom limb pain are quite limited.     

Dermatose fibrosante néphrogénique : de la clinique à la microscopie

Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis is a rare entity occurred in patients with renal failure. It is related to toxicity to gadolinium, which is used as a contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging. Clinic manifestations are variable. They begin by a thickening of the skin in the lower limbs and extending to the upper limbs. We report a new case of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis where cutaneous lesions begin in the upper right limb as indurated and ulcerated nodules. The diagnosis is histological.     

Techniques de la décortication

Decortication is a surgical procedure that consists in restoring the ventilatory function of the lung by removing the constricting membrane that compresses it over the mediastinum. The constricting membrane is the last stage of loculated and complicated pleural effusions: haemothorax, empyemas, pleural tuberculosis, various other pleural diseases and sequellae of earlier collapsotherapeutic procedures. Decortication typically involves removal of the entire complicated pleural disease, freeing the visceral pleura (decortication strico sensu) and the parietal pleura (pleurectomy). After decortication the lung can expand again and improved functioning can be expected. Multiple technical procedures are available. When the pleural thickening is induced by underlying lung disease, it may be necessary to resect the underlying diseased parenchyma during the same intervention. In chronic parapneumonic empyemas, the current availability of video-assisted procedures allows to avoid thoracotomy for decortication.     

Approche paléo-épidémiologique de la maladie hyperostosique

A paleoepidemiological study of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis. — Objective. To investigate the prevalence of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) in ancient populations. Materials and methods. We studied 38 women and 61 men aged at least 30 years at death, whose remains were recovered from four cemeteries of the High Middle Ages (VIth to VIIIth century) located in Lorraine (eastern France). Criteria previously developed by Crubézy and Crubézy—Ibanez for paleopathological studies were used to determine whether the skeletal remains exhibited definite, possible, probable, or no DISH. Results. Definite DISH with flowing ossification along the thoracic spine and ossification of peripheral enthesopathies was seen in 2.8 to 3.7 % of the subjects from two cemeteries and in none from the other two cemeteries. Identical figures were found for possible DISH. The prevalence and male predominanc (9 of 13 subjects in any DISH category were males) were similar to those reported in contemporary studies and in other paleopathological studies. Conclusion. In the absence of clinical data on the metabolic status of the study subjects, our results suggest that DISH in our subjects was a marker for older age at death.     

Épidémiologie de la douleur postopératoire

Postoperative pain, as all types of pain, is a complex phenomenon including sensory, emotional and behavioural factors. The incidence and severity of postoperative pain is very variable between patients and is rather unpredictable. Patients characteristics as well as the types of surgery and anaesthesia will be of importance. Health professionnals have a major role to play for improving effectiveness of pain management as well as safety.