Sara Fonseca

Centro Hospitalar Universitário de São João · Anestesia

Despite technical and pharmacological advancements in recent years, including optimized therapies and personalized medicine, postoperative pain management remains challenging and sometimes undertreated. This review aims to summarize and update how genotype-guided therapeutics within personalized medicine can enhance postoperative pain management. S...

Chronic pain is an important cause of disability with a high burden to society. Quantitative sensory testing (QST) is a noninvasive multimodal method used to discriminate the function of nerve fibers. The aim of this study is to propose a new, reproducible, and less time-consuming thermal QST protocol to help characterize and monitor pain. Addition...

The use of neuraxial procedures, such as spinal and epidural anaesthesia, has been linked to some possible complications. In addition, spinal cord injuries due to anaesthetic practice (Anaes-SCI) are rare events but remain a significant concern for many patients undergoing surgery. This systematic review aimed to identify high-risk patients summari...

Background: Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and total hip arthroplasty (THA) are associated with moderate to severe postoperative pain (POP). POP is theoretically predictable and may be influenced by sociocultural differences. This study aimed to identify the relationship between POP and the sociocultural level of the patient undergoing THA or TKA....

Background and Aims When integrated in a multimodal, opioid-sparing strategy, regional analgesic techniques present clear advantages specially in critically ill patients1,2. Prevalence of coagulopathy, hypocoagulation and/or anti-aggregation and multi-organ dysfunction in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) represent additional difficulties to regional t...

Background and Aims Neuraxial techniques are highly-effective to improve multimodal analgesia. Serious complications are rare, more common with epidural, particularly epidural hematoma(EH) and coagulopathy¹. Complication rates after failed neuraxial techniques are less known. Methods 78-years-old woman submitted to open Whipple procedure with atri...

Background Regional anesthesia has been increasingly used. Despite its low number of complications, they are associated with relevant morbidity. This study aims to evaluate the incidence of complications after neuraxial block and peripheral nerve block. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted, and data related to patients submitted to n...

Cerebrospinal fluid cutaneous fistula is a rare but potentially serious complication of epidural analgesia. We report the case of a patient submitted to total knee arthroplasty under subarachnoid block and placement of lumbar epidural catheter for post-operative analgesia. The epidural catheter was found exteriorised on the fourth post-operative da...

We describe a case of an epidural catheter entrapment without knotting, kinking, shearing or breakage confirmed by CT scan and how to manage it. A patient was admitted for tibial fracture repair under general anesthesia with an epidural. At discharge day, multiple attempts to retrieve the catheter were made. Contrast CT scan showed the catheter anc...

We describe a case of an epidural catheter entrapment without knotting, kinking, shearing or breakage confirmed by CT scan and how to manage it. A patient was admitted for tibial fracture repair under general anesthesia with an epidural. At discharge day, multiple attempts to retrieve the catheter were made. Contrast CT scan showed the catheter anc...

A artroplastia total de joelho e a artroplastia total de quadril estão associadas ao desenvolvimento de dor crônica. Dentre os estudos que avaliam os fatores perioperatórios para a dor crônica, poucos abordam as diferenças que podem surgir do tipo de anestesia feita durante a cirurgia.

In this case report we highlight the uniqueness of aphonia as, to the best of our knowledge, cases of aphonia related to interscalene brachial plexus block (IBPB) are not described in the literature. Although hoarseness is a common complication of IBPB, aphonia is not. Therefore, we think it is important to publicize the first case of aphonia after...

Background and objectives: Total knee arthroplasty and total hip arthroplasty are associated with chronic pain development. Of the studies focusing on perioperative factors for chronic pain, few have focused on the differences that might arise from the anesthesia type performed during surgery. Methods: This was a prospective observational study pe...

Background: Several conditions related to injury severity (trauma load) and systemic inflammatory response (SIRS) after major trauma could affect the outcome. The aim of this study was to assess the influence in the outcome of variables related to trauma and to systemic inflammation after major trauma. Materials and Methods: Prospective cohort stud...

Introduction: Severity and outcome assessments are crucial in trauma. Our aim was to describe the role of a group of cytokines (TNFα, IL-6, IL-10, and HMGB-1) and ICAM-1 as severity and outcome assessment tools and their kinetics in the first 72 h after severe trauma. Materials and methods: Authors designed a prospective cohort study of severe p...

Introduction: HMGB-1 is a nuclear protein that acts as an alarmin to tissue repair in sepsis and is one of multiple mediators in the systemic inflammatory response (SIRS). Its role in clinical models of severe trauma is less well studied. Objectives: The aim of this study was to study the release pattern of HMGB-1 in the first 72 hours after severe...

Relativamente a este relato de caso destacamos a sua singularidade, uma vez que não se encontram descritos na literatura, tanto ou quanto os autores puderam investigar, casos de afonia após uma anestesia combinada com bloqueio do plexo braquial via interescalénica (BPBI). Embora a rouquidão seja uma complicação frequente do BPBI, a afonia não o é....

Introdução: A organização e desenvolvimento dos sistemas de Trauma na assistência pré-hospitalar e pós-admissão (VMER, ATLS e UCI) teve uma repercussão positiva nas taxas de mortalidade primária (muito ligadas ao TCE grave e choque hemorrágico) e aumentou a sobrevivência de doentes Politraumatizados (PTZ) em estado muito grave. Associado à gravidad...

The improvement rescue and transport of politrauma patients (PTP) increases the number of patients admitted to the Emergency departments in very severe conditions. The early prediction of later complications and bad outcomes is paramount for a good strategy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the severity of PTP in the Trauma Room (TR) of a Leve...

Purpose: Rhabdomyolysis is a syndrome caused by musculoskeletal tissue damage that leads to the release of large amounts of intracellular elements, which particularly affect renal function. The most common causes are severe trauma, ischemia, surgical procedures, and drug abuse. We aimed to determine the incidence of rhabdomyolysis by measuring mus...

The improvement rescue and transport of politrauma patients (PTP) increases the number of patients admitted to the Emergency departments in very severe conditions. The early prediction of later complications and bad outcomes is paramount for a good strategy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the severity of PTP in the Trauma Room (TR) of a Leve...