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New research suggests that for some hospitalized ICU patients on mechanical ventilators, using headphones to listen to their favorite types of music could lower anxiety and reduce their need for sedative medications. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-music-therapy-anxiety-sedatives-patients.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 20 May 2013 14:00:04 EST news288273926 (HealthDay)—For patients with advanced cancer in hospices, providing parenteral saline (1 liter per day) does not improve symptoms associated with dehydration, quality of life, or overall survival compared with placebo, according to a study published online Nov. 19 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-parenteral-hydration-benefit-cancer-hospices.html Cancer Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:26:51 EST news273338737 For the first time, Bochum clinicians have been able to show on the basis of a large sample, that it is possible to examine children's heads in the MRI scanner without general anaesthesia or other medical sedation. In many cases it was sufficient to prepare the young patients for the examination in an age-appropriate manner in order to take away their fear of the tube. And the results speak for themselves: of the 2461 image sequences recorded with 326 patients, the participating radiologists classified 97 percent as "diagnostically relevant". http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-magnetic-resonance-scanner-cuddly-toy.html Other Fri, 16 Nov 2012 09:39:07 EST news272281135 Physicians at Boston Medical Center (BMC) have developed a training video for health care providers about how to effectively use capnography to monitor ventilation and carbon dioxide levels for patients under anesthesia or conscious sedation. This is the sixth video published in the New England Journal of Medicine's Videos in Clinical Medicine section produced by BMC. It highlights the importance of using capnography to increase patient safety. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-capnography-video-bmc-published-england.html Other Thu, 08 Nov 2012 13:15:52 EST news271602943 For critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation, daily sedation interruption did not reduce the duration of mechanical ventilation or appear to offer any benefit to patients, and may have increased both sedation and analgesic use and nurse workload, according to a study appearing in JAMA. The study is being published early online to coincide with its presentation at the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine Annual Congress. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-daily-sedation-critically-ill-patients.html Other Wed, 17 Oct 2012 09:20:01 EST news269675759 (Medical Xpress)—A new study is shedding light on the use of sedative drugs in hospitals and has proven certain clinically used drug combinations to be faster and more effective in sedating highly aggressive patients in the emergency department (ED). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-antipsychotics-patient-sedation.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 09 Oct 2012 07:26:49 EST news268986398 Sitting still is tough for children, which makes MRI scans a challenge. The scans require that patients remain motionless for extended periods. Findings from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital showed that a brief, targeted intervention dramatically increases the likelihood that children as young as 5 years old will be able to undergo testing without sedation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-intervention-children-sickle-cell-disease.html Pediatrics Fri, 31 Aug 2012 12:59:59 EST news265636782 A novel non-invasive device which separates healthy and damaged heart muscle and restores ventricle function improves 3 year outcomes in patients with ischemic heart failure, according to research presented at the ESC Congress 2012. The findings were presented by Professor William T. Abraham at an ESC press conference on 25 August and by Dr Marco Costa at an ESC Congress scientific session on 27 August. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-heart-device-year-outcomes-failure.html Cardiology Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:40:03 EST news265280308 Genetics play a significant role in determining which patients will suffer the most from the disturbing side effects of opiates, commonly prescribed painkillers for severe to moderate pain, according to a new Stanford University School of Medicine study, which pinpoints nausea, slowed breathing and potential for addiction as heritable traits. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-opiates-side-effects-rooted-patients.html Medical research Wed, 20 Jun 2012 08:46:31 EST news259400592 Researchers report that unsedated transnasal endoscopy is a feasible, safe, and well-tolerated method to screen for esophageal disease in a primary care population. This study is the largest reported experience with transnasal endoscopy in the United States. The study appears in the May issue of GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-screening-esophageal-disease-unsedated-transnasal.html Cancer Thu, 10 May 2012 13:03:29 EST news255873797 Between 2003 and 2009, the use of anesthesia services to provide sedation during endoscopies and colonoscopies increased substantially, according to a study in the March 21 issue of JAMA. The authors also found that most of the gastroenterology anesthesia use was for low-risk patients, and that there was considerable regional variation in use. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-anesthesiologists-sedation-endoscopies-colonoscopies.html Other Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:28:30 EST news251479689 The results of two randomized trials indicate that among intensive care unit (ICU) patients receiving prolonged mechanical ventilation, use of the sedative dexmedetomidine was not inferior (outcome not worse than treatment compared to) to the standard sedatives midazolam and propofol in maintaining light to moderate sedation; also, dexmedetomidine reduced the duration of mechanical ventilation compared with midazolam, and improved patients' ability to communicate pain compared with the other drugs, according to a study in the March 21 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-sedative-duration-mechanical-ventilation-comfort.html Other Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:27:03 EST news251479594 In a small, preliminary trial, patients with infected necrotizing pancreatitis (severe form of the disease involving devitalized pancreatic tissue) who received a less-invasive procedure, endoscopic transgastric necrosectomy (removal of the pancreatic tissue), had an associated lower risk of major complications and death compared to patients who had surgical necrosectomy, according to a study in the March 14 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-endoscopic-procedure-result-outcomes-patients.html Inflammatory disorders Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:00:07 EST news250869095 Physicians take two types of approaches to palliative sedation, either mild sedation or deep sedation from the start, and it is important to understand the reasons behind each approach, states an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-physician-approaches-palliative-sedation.html Other Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:16:10 EST news248361355 (AP) -- Doctors sometimes call the anesthesia drug by its nickname - milk of amnesia. Patients are calling it the "Michael Jackson drug." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-docs-michael-jackson-drug.html Medications Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:49:04 EST news238340936 (Garrison, NY) Shedding light on a question that has baffled research ethics review boards, a new analysis of the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in pediatric clinical trials finds that the risks of physical and psychological harm associated with this procedure are no greater than the risks that healthy children face from everyday activities, such as playing soccer or riding in motor vehicles. However, adding an intravenous contrast dye or sedation to an MRI increases the odds of harm and makes them unacceptably high. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-mri-pose-minimal-pediatric.html Other Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:56:51 EST news236951801 Day after day, Hazel Eng sat on her couch, a blank stare on her face. The powerful antipsychotics she was taking often cloaked her in sedation. And when they didn't, the 89-year-old lashed out at her nursing home's aides with such anger and frequency her daughter wondered if her mother would be better off dead. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-underway-drugs-dementia-patients.html Medications Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:32:02 EST news235233102 Coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) has excellent image quality and diagnostic confidence for the entire spectrum of pediatric patients, with significant reduction of risk with recent technological advancements, according to a study to be presented at the Sixth Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) in Denver, July 14-17. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-techniques-cardiac-ct-safer-children.html Cancer Sun, 17 Jul 2011 12:36:55 EST news230124993