The Fifth Annual
Always Available Online @ AnesthesiologyNews.com
accompanies this issue
THE INDEPENDENT MONTHLY NEWSPAPER FOR ANESTHESIOLOGISTS AnesthesiologyNews.com • A u g u s t 2 0 1 2 • Volume 38 Number 8
40th Anniversary 1972-2012
Fully Robotic Nerve Blocks on the Horizon
Fujii Inquiry Finds Fraud In at Least 172 Studies
I
Only three of 212 papers with real data; rest uncertain
t sounds like a snarky joke some surgeons might tell, but administering regional anesthesia may no longer require a brain—or even hands. Canadian inventors have created a robotic, ultrasound-guided system for delivering nerve blocks. In a recent study, they said, the robot, called Magellan, scored a 100% success rate for blocks when clinicians assisted with the procedure. But the researchers are developing a computer algorithm that can eliminate the need for human interaction. “This study and this device are world firsts,” Thomas Hemmerling, MD, lead developer of the robotic system, told
J
apanese investigators have concluded that Yoshitaka Fujii, MD, an expert in postoperative nauseea and vomiting whose findings ddrew scrutiny in 2000 but who coontinued to publish prolifically for a decade after, fabricated his results in n at least 172 published studies. An inquiry by the Japanese Society oof A Anesthesiologists ( JSA) has determin ned that Dr. Fujii, who in February was firred from his post at Toho University, fallsified data in 172 of 212 papers publiisheed between 1993 and 2011.
see magellan page 12
see fujii page 16
OB Anesthesia Gains Pedigree With Fellowships
INSIDE
A
46 | PAIN MEDICINE
subspecialty is being born. As of April, 11 of the nation’s three dozen obstetric anesthesiology fellowships have received official recognition from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The fellowships received initial accreditation at a meeting of the council’s Residency Review Committee in anesthesiology, making obstetric anesthesia the fifth subspecialty. Obstetric anesthesiology training has been available without accreditation for decades. The program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Boston, for instance, which is applying for 2013 accreditation, has been in place for more than 25 years. But over the past 10 years the push for accreditation has
09 | CLINICAL ANESTHESIOLOGY Leaky valves linked to post-op success.
taken place, said McCallum Hoyt, MD, MBA, assistant professor of anesthesiology at the Brigham and president of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP), which led the effort. “Choosing to become accredited was based on the recognition that we did have a unique body of knowledge,” she said. “Now we can standardize what it is we’re offering when we say ‘OB fellowship.’” Michael G. Richardson, MD, who directs the obstetric anesthesiology fellowship at Vanderbilt see ob fellow page 14
During spinal surgery, monitor the cord for signs of trouble.
56 | COMMENTARY Inside the OIG’s fee-sharing dictate.
58 | AD LIB Sweet kisses and hammer blows—a history of self-experimentation in anesthesia (Part 2).
CME: PREANESTHETIC ASSESSMENT Lesson 299: PreAnesthetic Assessment of the Patient With Acute Ischemic Stroke, see page 50.
Corporate ANNUAL Profiles begins on page 17
NEW PRODUCTS
LMA Supreme from LMA North America, Inc., see page 12.
Uniblocker by LMA® from LMA North America, Inc., see page 16.
ULTRAPORT™ zer0 from B. Braun see page 45.