San Francisco—Use of beta blockers in the perioperative period as an opioid-sparing technique can have positive short- and long-term effects, a study has concluded.
A study examining the use of esmolol for sympathetic blockade, as part of a multimodal approach to pain management in patients undergoing arthroscopic shoulder procedures with continuous brachial plexus blockade, has shown significant improvement in several outcome measures. When fentanyl was replaced with esmolol in an