Considering the functional role of red blood cells (RBC) in maintaining oxygen supply to tissues, RBC transfusion can be a life-saving intervention in situations of severe bleeding or anemia. RBC transfusion is often inevitable to address intraoperative massive bleeding; it is a key component in safe perioperative patient management. Unlike general medical resources, packed RBCs (pRBCs) have limited availability because their supply relies entirely on voluntary donations. Additionally, excessive utilization of pRBCs may aggravate prognosis or increase the risk of developing infectious diseases. Appropriate perioperative RBC transfusion is, therefore, crucial for the management of patient safety and medical resource conservation. These concerns motivated us to develop the present clinical practice guideline for evidence-based efficient and safe perioperative RBC transfusion management considering the current clinical landscape. This guideline was obtained after the revision and refinement of exemplary clinical practice guidelines developed in advanced countries. This was followed by rigorous evidence-based reassessment considering the healthcare environment of the country. This guideline covers all important aspects of perioperative RBC transfusion, such as preoperative anemia management, appropriate RBC storage period, and leukoreduction (removal of white blood cells using filters), reversal of perioperative bleeding tendency, strategies for perioperative RBC transfusion, appropriate blood management protocols, efforts to reduce blood transfusion requirements, and patient monitoring during a perioperative transfusion. This guideline will aid decisions related to RBC transfusion in healthcare settings and minimize patient risk associated with unnecessary pRBC transfusion.

Safe and effective sedation depends on various factors, such as the choice of sedatives, sedation techniques used, experience of the sedation provider, degree of sedation-related education and training, equipment and healthcare worker availability, the patient’s underlying diseases, and the procedure being performed. The purpose of these evidence-based multidisciplinary clinical practice guidelines is to ensure the safety and efficacy of sedation, thereby contributing to patient safety and ultimately improving public health. These clinical practice guidelines comprise 15 key questions covering various topics related to the following: the sedation providers; medications and equipment available; appropriate patient selection; anesthesiologist referrals for high-risk patients; pre-sedation fasting; comparison of representative drugs used in adult and pediatric patients; respiratory system, cardiovascular system, and sedation depth monitoring during sedation; management of respiratory complications during pediatric sedation; and discharge criteria. The recommendations in these clinical practice guidelines were systematically developed to assist providers and patients in sedation-related decision making for diagnostic and therapeutic examinations or procedures. Depending on the characteristics of primary, secondary, and tertiary care institutions as well as the clinical needs and limitations, sedation providers at each medical institution may choose to apply the recommendations as they are, modify them appropriately, or reject them completely.

Jung-Eun Cha, Sung Wook Park, Young In Choi, In Duk Oh, Hee Yong Kang, Sang Hyub Lee, and Jeong-Hyun Choi. Anesth Pain Med 2018;13:40-6. https://doi.org/10.17085/apm.2018.13.1.40

Background: We aimed to evaluate whether the administration of remimazolam as a maintenance agent for general anesthesia affects the occurrence of hypotension compared with sevoflurane when switching to the beach chair position (BCP). Methods: We conducted a prospective randomized controlled trial from June 2023 to October 2023 in adult patients undergoing orthopedic surgery under general anesthesia in the BCP. A total of 78 participants were randomly allocated to the remimazolam (R) or sevoflurane (S) groups. The primary outcome was the incidence of hypotension that occurred immediately after switching to a BCP. The secondary outcomes included differences between the study groups in perioperative blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), endotracheal tube extubation time, postoperative complications, and hospital length of stay (LOS). Results: The incidence of hypotension immediately after switching to a BCP was significantly higher in the S group. The risk factors associated with hypotension included sevoflurane administration and a high baseline systolic BP. In the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis for the occurrence of hypotension after the transition to a BCP, the cutoff value for systolic BP was 142 mmHg. The perioperative BP and HR were higher in the R group at several timepoints. Postoperative endotracheal tube extubation time was shorter in the R group. There were no significant differences in the postoperative complications or hospital LOS between the two groups. Conclusions: Remimazolam should be considered as an anesthetic agent to prevent hypotension when switching to BCP, and hypotension may occur frequently in patients with high baseline BP.

Noninvasive continuous arterial pressure monitoring may be clinically useful in patients who require continuous blood pressure monitoring in situations where arterial catheter placement is limited. Many previous studies on the accuracy of the noninvasive continuous blood pressure monitoring method reported various results. However, there is no research on the effectiveness of noninvasive arterial pressure monitoring during one-lung ventilation. The purpose of this study was to compare arterial blood pressure obtained through invasive method and noninvasive method by using ClearSight during one-lung ventilation. In this retrospective observational study, a total of 26 patients undergoing one-lung ventilation for thoracic surgery at a single institution between March and July 2019 were recruited. All patients in this study were cannulated on their radial artery to measure continuously invasive blood pressures and applied ClearSight on the ipsilateral side of the cannulated arm. We compared and analyzed the agreement and trendability of blood pressure recorded with invasive and noninvasive methods during one-lung ventilation. Blood pressure and pulse rate showed a narrower limit of agreement with a percentage error value of around 30%. In addition, the tracking ability of each measurement could be determined by the concordance rate, all of which were below acceptable limits (92%). In noninvasive arterial blood pressure monitoring using ClearSight, mean blood pressure and pulse rate show acceptable agreement with the invasive method.

Background: Dexmedetomidine is an effective sedative during spinal anesthesia. However, it requires a loading dose, which can result in transient hypertension, hypotension, bradycardia, and/or sinus arrest. In addition, the time required to reach an appropriate depth of sedation may cause anxiety to the patients. Therefore, we examined whether an intravenous bolus of midazolam could replace the loading dose of dexmedetomidine for sedation during surgery in elderly patients who received spinal anesthesia. Methods: Patients aged over 60 years who scheduled to undergo total knee arthroplasty under spinal anesthesia were enrolled in this study. The patients were randomized into 2 groups. Patients in dexmedetomidine group (group D) (n = 20) were administered a loading dose of dexmedetomidine (1.0 μg/kg over 10 min) intravenously followed by dexmedetomidine maintenance (0.5 μg/kg/h). Patients in group MD (n = 20) were administered an intravenous midazolam (0.05 mg/kg) followed by dexmedetomidine maintenance (0.5 μg/kg/h) intravenously. Heart rate (HR), mean arterial blood pressure (MBP), peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO₂), and patient state index (PSI) were recorded. Ramsay sedation scale (RSS) scores were evaluated at 10 minutes after drug administration and the end of surgery. Results: A total of 40 subjects were enrolled in the present study. At baseline, there was no between-group difference in HR. Ten minutes after drug administration, group D had lower HR than group MD (62.1 ± 9.4 versus 69.6 ± 13.4, P = .047). PSI was significantly lower in group MD at 10 minutes after drug administration (82.8 ± 13.0 versus 72.0 ± 16.0, P = .024); there was no between-group difference at 30 and 60 minutes, and lower values in group D at the end of surgery (70.2 ± 22.6 versus 79.7 ± 10.9, P = .011). The RSS score showed statistically significantly deeper sedation in group MD 10 minutes after drug administration, but no difference at the end of surgery. Conclusions: An intravenous bolus of midazolam is a viable alternative to dexmedetomidine loading for sedation during surgery in elderly patients who received spinal anesthesia. This is especially effective for patients who are at high risk for bradycardia or who want a faster sedation.