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One of the Sunday symposia at this year’s Euroanaesthesia was an intriguing session on new indications for old molecules.

The first talk was on the role of cannabinoids for pain control, given by Caterina Aurilio, Professor in Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine, University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”, Naples, Italy.

She said: “Cannabis has been used for millennia to reduce pain and other somatic and psychological symptoms. Cannabinoids today have been studied in depth. They are a group of chemical compounds that activate cannabinoid receptors; they include the phytocannabinoids

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One of the popular pro-con debates at this year’s Euroanaesthesia took place during Sunday’s program, with the motion: sedation is routinely used in patients having surgery under regional anaesthesia.

Arguing for the motion was Dr Imad Awad, Staff Anesthesiologist and Assistant Professor, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto Canada.

“Regional anesthesia provides multiple benefits to patients such as superior pain control, faster recovery, opioid sparing and reduction in

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New guidelines to deal with the in-flight emergency of cardiac arrest in a passenger or crew member were proposed at this year’s Euroanaesthesia meeting (abstract 10AP02-4) at this year’s Euroanaesthesia. The task force that has created the guidelines was led by Professor Jochen Hinkelbein, University of Cologne, Germany and President of the German Society for Aerospace Medicine (DGLRM).

Approximately 3 billion people worldwide travelled by commercial air transport in 2016. A calculation based on the number of passengers transported shows that between 1 out of 14,000 to 1 out of 50,000 passengers will

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Due to huge demand in 2016, the Ultrasound workshops in Euroanaesthesia 2017 were expanded to cover all three days of the congress.

With the advent of ultrasound guidance there is renewed and increasing interest in regional anaesthesia, explained by alleged improved success rates and fewer complications. However, a lot remains to be done in terms of acquisition of a new skill set by both existing specialists and novices in anaesthesia.

One set of Ultrasound Workshops were chaired by Dr Eric Albrecht, Attending

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One of the Sunday’s sessions at this year’s Euroanaesthesia discussed the issues of anaemia and blood loss and the various preoperative strategies available to minimise the problem. The session began with a talk on ‘Preoperative strategies to own red cell mass’ by Dr Jens Meier, Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Kepler University Hospital, Linz, Austria.

As Dr Meier pointed out: “Preoperative anaemia is a common problem. Depending on the country and the surgical intervention, 25% of patients are anaemic.” The situation is further complicated by the fact that most of these patients are not even aware that they have a problem since their anaemia is of mild or moderate severity, and may not present

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