Comparison of the effects of general and regional anesthesia on mortality and hospital length of stay in geriatric hip fractures.

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we sought to compare the effects of general and regional anesthesia techniques on the length of hospital stay and morbidity-mortality in geriatric patients who have had hip fractures and underwent surgical treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 331 patients who were 65 or older and had had surgical treatment for elective or urgent hip fractures were classified into two groups; regional and general anesthesia. Recorded variables were: age, sex, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, comorbid disease, length of stay at the clinic, mortality, morbidity, intraoperative loss of blood, the necessity of blood transfusion, and type of fracture. These variables were compared in the control groups and evaluated retrospectively. RESULTS: For the regional anesthesia group, length of stay in the clinic, loss of blood, and necessity of blood transfusion were significantly lower compared to the general anesthesia group (p<0.05). Additionally, we found general anesthesia mortality and morbidity rates were significantly higher than regional anesthesia (p<0.05). Finally, we determined that increased age and number of comorbid diseases increased the morbidity and mortality rates significantly (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study evaluated regional anesthesia's advantages over general anesthesia when treating geriatric hip fractures. This includes reduced morbidity-mortality rates, bleeding, and shorter length of hospital stay.

Effect of Remote Ischemic Preconditioning in Total Knee Arthroplasty on Thiol-Disulfi de Balance: a Randomized Controlled Study.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of this study was to minimize tourniquet-induced ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgery using the remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) model, as well as to assess antioxidant balance with thioldisulfi de homeostasis (TDH). The secondary goal is to evaluate the impact of RIPC on TKA clinical outcomes. MATERIAL AND METHODS Patients in the ASA I-III group who underwent elective TKA were enrolled in this prospective, randomized, double-blind clinical research. TDH parameters were measured individually in groups with (Group I) and without (Group K) RIPC at the following times: preoperative (T0), right before the pneumatic tourniquet was opened (T1), 1 (T2), 6 (T3), and 24 (T4) hours after it was opened. In addition, at 3-hour intervals, the postoperative pain level was assessed using a visual analog scale (VAS). RESULTS This study included 60 cases (Group K; n=30, Group I; n=30). Both groups had equal native thiol, total thiol, disulfi de levels, disulfi de/native thiol, disulfi de/total thiol, and native thiol/total thiol ratios (p>0.05 for each). The change in native thiol, total thiol, and disulfi de values at T0 and T4 periods, however, was not statistically signifi cant for Group K (p=0.049, p=0.047, p=0.037, and p=0.217, p=0.191, p=0.220, respectively). At the 15th hour, VAS values in group I were considerably lower than in Group K (p=0.002). DISCUSSION This prospective, randomized, controlled trial examined how RIPC affected tourniquet-induced IRI-induced oxidative stress in TKA surgery. Lower native, total, and disulfi de levels at each postoperative time point were signifi cant. RIPC may reduce tourniquet-induced IRI-induced oxidative stress and TDH in TKA surgery. RIPC also reduced postoperative discomfort. CONCLUSIONS Our fi ndings suggest that RIPC may protect against the oxidative stress caused by IRI during limb surgery with a tourniquet and improve postoperative clinical outcomes. Key words: remote ischemic preconditioning, ischemia-reperfusion injury, thiol-disulfi de balance, oxidative stress, total knee arthroplasty.