Anesthesiology studies

The department of Anesthesiology has grown extensively in the last year and currently consists of 13 anesthesiologists. The anesthesiologists perform over 7,000 peripheral nerve blocks per year and therewith the most of all hospitals in the Netherlands and maybe also in Europe.

Anesthesiology research has only been integrated within OrthoResearch since 2009.
The emphasis is optimizing patient care, with lines of research focusing mainly on peripheral nerve blocks, blood management and chronic pain treatment.

Different aspects of peripheral nerve blocks are subject of research at the moment. For example the use of a stimulating catheter for continuous nerve blocks after shoulder surgery, the pharmacokinetics of a long acting local anesthetic for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction and the influence of volume on the duration of axillary brachial plexus block using ultrasound guidance.

A list of the anesthesiology studies follows:  

• Electrical current and efficacy of stimulating catheters
• Pharmacokinetics of high dose ropivacaine with and without epinephrine
• Duration of single shot axillary brachial plexus block
• Quality assessment of peripheral nerve blocks
• The influence of spinal cord stimulation on balance and locomotion
• Efficacy of the pain pill organizer for patients in day care
• Quality of filtered shed blood with or without leukocyte reduction filter