Anesthesiology News featured a study by HSS research fellow Lukas Pichler, MD, who found that ambulatory knee arthroscopy can be performed successfully under regional anesthesia with or without the use of a supplemental audiovisual device.

"This was a pilot study, and it was not designed to demonstrate the superiority of audiovisual distraction. Therefore, future studies should use greater sample sizes to determine if audiovisual distraction can reduce the requirement for sedatives and improve postoperative outcomes," Dr. Pichler explained.

According to the article, the investigators are enrolling patients for a larger trial to study the use of audiovisual devices in patients with obstructive sleep apnea undergoing surgery.

This article appeared in the October 2018 print issue.