https://medicalxpress.com/anesthesiology-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Anaesthesiology Low back pain is the single leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. For people with chronic low back pain (cLBP) lasting more than 12 weeks, a sudden pain flare triggered by movement can often worsen the condition. Pain signals originate in the brain, but scientists still don't fully understand the specific neural circuitry that sparks this movement-based pain. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-chronic-pain-personal.html Tue, 06 Oct 2026 12:00:14 EDT news710504461 A sedative developed for cats and dogs is turning up in Scotland's illicit drug supply. Medetomidine has been found in a fifth of heroin samples in Scotland, and there is no proven antidote if someone overdoses. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-medetomidine-dangerous-animal-sedative-scotland.html Mon, 05 Oct 2026 09:20:16 EDT news710407621 In the United Kingdom, 2.9% of patients undergoing anesthesia reported receiving glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs), according to a study published online Sept. 16 in Anaesthesia to coincide with the annual meeting of the Association of Anaesthetists, held Sept. 16–18 in Liverpool, England. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-aa-pulmonary-aspiration-regurgitation-anesthesia.html Fri, 02 Oct 2026 22:40:02 EDT news710164712 Every day, hundreds of thousands of people undergo general anesthesia, trusting they'll drift into unconsciousness and wake safely after surgery. Yet despite decades of use, scientists still don't fully understand how anesthetic drugs reshape the brain's electrical activity to produce unconsciousness. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-stem-cell-derived-brain-window.html Fri, 02 Oct 2026 11:20:07 EDT news710156041 New research from University of Kentucky College of Medicine faculty member Helen Wei, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor in acute care surgery, trauma and surgical critical care, is shedding light on the working relationship between surgeons and anesthesiologists. It's a critical but often overlooked factor in patient care. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-roadmap-surgical-teamwork-patient-safety.html Wed, 30 Sep 2026 14:40:15 EDT news709991162 A new synthesis of global evidence, published in Anaesthesia finds that chronic postsurgical pain after cesarean delivery is associated with substantial impairment in women's quality of life and everyday functioning in the months and years after giving birth. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-chronic-pain-cesarean-delivery-linked.html Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:10:02 EDT news709465137 Substantially reduced intraoperative crystalloid fluid administration is not associated with worse patient-centered surgical outcomes, according to a study published online Sept. 15 in JAMA Network Open. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-intraoperative-crystalloid-fluid-worse-surgical.html Wed, 23 Sep 2026 13:20:06 EDT news709383818 Most local anesthetics used in medicine last only eight to 12 hours, or a day at most. Now, Boston Children's Hospital researchers have formulated a more effective slow-release injectable drug delivery system that achieved pain-numbing anesthetic effects lasting two to three weeks in rats, compared with a commercial formulation lasting about four to eight hours. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-drug-delivery-slowly-pain-relieving.html Wed, 23 Sep 2026 05:00:07 EDT news709292102 New research presented at the Association of Anaesthetists Annual Meeting in Liverpool, UK (Sept. 16–18), and published in the journal Anaesthesia, shows that among patients undergoing surgical procedures under the care of an anesthetist, the rate of a complication known as regurgitation is 11 times higher among patients taking the new class of diabetes and obesity medications glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) than among patients not taking those drugs—although the absolute risk of this complication remains small. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-glp-drugs-linked-higher-regurgitation.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 18:10:01 EDT news708777061 Scotland is the first country in the world to use evidence gathered during the pandemic to transform its guidelines on reducing the spread of respiratory disease in health care settings. The new approach has been influenced by findings from a University of Bristol and Bristol NHS Foundation Trust study. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-scottish-infection-guidelines-evidence-aerosol.html Mon, 14 Sep 2026 22:40:02 EDT news708611261 For anesthesiology residents working 24-hour shifts, providing brief, scheduled "nap opportunities" may lead to better clinical performance, reports a clinical trial in the October 2026 issue of Anesthesiology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-power-naps-clinical-deprived-anesthesiology.html Thu, 10 Sep 2026 16:00:14 EDT news708267632 For something so familiar to human experience, consciousness is still a mystery. Each day, people cycle through wakefulness and sleep, from a higher level of consciousness to a lower one. What's more, some people alter their conscious experience with drugs such as psychedelics or have unconsciousness induced by anesthesia. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-psychedelics-anesthetics-mirror-image-patterns.html Wed, 09 Sep 2026 16:20:05 EDT news708186484 Facing major surgery is stressful, but for older adults, unaddressed anxiety and depression can impede physical recovery. A clinical trial led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that starting an intervention before surgery—one that combines mental health coaching with optimization of medications that may increase risks for older adults—reduces postsurgery anxiety and depression. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-clinical-trial-adding-mental-health.html Wed, 09 Sep 2026 11:00:01 EDT news708003481 Ketamine, a drug approved for medical use in 1970 as a short-acting anesthetic, including during the Vietnam War for battlefield surgery, is still a pharmacological mystery. For a long time, scientists knew that ketamine, which is highly valued for treating severe pain and treatment-resistant depression, primarily works by blocking NMDARs, major receptors in the brain. However, this didn't fully explain why ketamine provides rapid pain and depression relief while drugs with similar actions didn't. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-3d-atomic-snapshots-reveal-ketamine.html Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:00:03 EDT news707399589 Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have found new evidence that BRAF, a protein commonly involved in cancer, plays a key role in developing, amplifying and maintaining chronic pain caused by nerve damage. BRAF inhibitors reduced pain sensitivity in preclinical models, suggesting the therapeutic potential of this approach for treating chronic nerve pain. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-preclinical-cancer-drugs-treatments-chronic.html Sat, 29 Aug 2026 08:00:06 EDT news706968270 UVA Health researchers have discovered how a form of delirium that often strikes older patients after surgery may set the stage for dementia—and identified a drug that could reverse the underlying brain changes. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-dementia-discovery-link-delirium-surgery.html Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:20:06 EDT news706263902 Opioids can be highly effective at relieving moderate to severe pain, whether it comes from surgery, an injury or conditions such as cancer. They work by activating opioid receptors in the brain and body, which block pain signals and reduce the feeling of pain. These benefits also come with a serious downside. Opioid misuse and abuse have become a major public health problem worldwide. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-experimental-pill-nerve-pain-pathway.html Mon, 17 Aug 2026 11:40:03 EDT news706178027 Deep at the base of the brain, a tiny cluster of nerve cells serves as the body's natural pain reliever, dialing down pain signals traveling up the spinal cord. But nerve damage can flip this system into a hyperactive engine for chronic pain. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-brain-receptors-biological-chronic-pain.html Mon, 17 Aug 2026 11:00:10 EDT news705857402 Combining ketamine and psychotherapy is a safe and feasible approach with promising benefits for people experiencing chronic neuropathic pain, according to a new study by researchers at St. Michael's Hospital, the University of Toronto and York University. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-ketamine-psychotherapy-combined-approach-chronic.html Thu, 13 Aug 2026 17:00:02 EDT news705851341 Women carrying breech babies have a better chance of avoiding a cesarean delivery (C-section) when spinal or epidural anesthesia is used during external cephalic version (ECV), a procedure used to turn the baby head-down before labor, according to the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-epidural-breech-babies-section.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 19:00:04 EDT news705767761 In a new Annals "Beyond the Guidelines" feature, a general internal medicine physician and a cardiologist discuss how to evaluate and manage perioperative cardiovascular risk in an older patient with multiple chronic conditions who is preparing for noncardiac surgery. Using the 2024 American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology guideline, which emphasizes a stepwise patient-centered and team-based approach to preoperative cardiac assessment, the experts explore how clinicians can balance the need for preoperative testing with the risks of unnecessary procedures and surgical delays. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-heart-surgical-delays-complex-preoperative.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 08:40:01 EDT news705647582 During ketamine anesthesia, the brain's nerve cells fall silent—as consciousness returns, they begin to reconnect. For the first time, researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) have shown that immune cells in the brain play a critical role in this process—with differences between female and male brains. The findings were published in Science Advances. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-microglia-reveal-sex-specific-brain.html Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:00:08 EDT news704554981 A new position paper from researchers at the University of Aberdeen warns that opioid use disorder in the U.K. is a "large and probably underestimated" problem, and that without urgent action, opioid addiction and opioid-related deaths will continue to rise. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-urgent-overhaul-pain-opioid-crisis.html Thu, 30 Jul 2026 21:20:01 EDT news704622234 Many people feel that the worst part of surgery happens after they wake up. Countless patients who undergo general anesthesia worry about nausea and vomiting, common side effects after surgery. A clinical trial by Yale School of Medicine's Department of Anesthesiology finds that a small dose of olanzapine, an inexpensive antipsychotic medication, could curb those symptoms. The treatment could also ensure a smoother postsurgical recovery. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-clinical-trial-dose-olanzapine-nausea.html Fri, 24 Jul 2026 09:00:02 EDT news704100722 A hospital's overall experience with general anesthesia (GA) or conscious sedation (CS) may influence how anesthesia choice affects patient outcomes during mechanical thrombectomy, according to research presented at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery (SNIS) 23rd Annual Meeting. The findings suggest that the effectiveness of an anesthesia strategy depends not only on the technique itself but also on the institutional protocols and experience supporting its use. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-center-anesthesia-patient-outcomes-mechanical.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 21:40:01 EDT news704018532 Black and Asian doctors in the UK are up to 30 times less likely to be offered medical training posts in some specialties than white candidates, data published exclusively by The BMJ today show. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-black-asian-doctors-specialties.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 18:30:08 EDT news703314686 Having an epidural during labor is not associated with clinically significant increased risks of harm to newborn babies, including brain injury, severe breathing problems, sepsis and death, or cerebral palsy later in childhood, according to a study published in The BMJ. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-epidurals-linked-newborns-children.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 18:30:06 EDT news703314795 Nerve blocks—local anesthetic injections that block pain signals—are a valuable opioid-sparing technique for controlling pain after surgery. However, some patients experience temporary sharp increases in pain as the nerve block wears off. This phenomenon, often termed "rebound pain," does not result from nerve hypersensitivity to painful testing (e.g., heat, pressure, punctate pain), reports a healthy volunteer study in the August issue of Anesthesiology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-dont-blame-block-nerve-blocks.html Tue, 14 Jul 2026 09:00:06 EDT news703140818 General anesthesia, once the default choice in spine surgeries, is increasingly giving way to local and spinal anesthesia as the preferred option for eligible patients. Since 2024, surgeons at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) have successfully performed more than 200 spine surgeries with patients remaining awake. While it might sound daunting, this new approach may be a safer option, especially for elderly patients and those with multiple or complex health conditions. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-conscious-choice-local-spinal-anesthesia.html Mon, 13 Jul 2026 13:20:05 EDT news703159648 Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Birkbeck, University of London, have identified a site where a commonly used anesthetic binds to sodium ion channels, revealing a molecular mechanism that may explain how these drugs dampen communication between neurons. Ion channels are proteins that regulate the flow of charged particles across cell membranes, enabling neurons to generate electrical signals. By reducing this signaling, inhaled anesthetics help suppress brain activity, producing unconsciousness and immobility during surgery. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-demystifying-molecular-mechanisms-general-anesthesia.html Sun, 12 Jul 2026 09:00:02 EDT news702808913