British Journal of Anaesthesia 107 (3) (2011)

doi:10.1093/bja/aer257

IN THIS ISSUE

In the September 2011 BJA . . .

Caesarean sections
Two articles in this months journal deal with different aspects of the anaesthetic management of Caesarean sections. The efcacy of using lower doses of bupivacaine for Caesarean sections is reviewed and analysed by Arzola and Wieczorek (pages 308 18). They conclude that lower doses are associated with fewer adverse effects but more interventions for additional peroperative analgesia. The use of intraoperative cell salvage in obstetric surgery has been hindered by concerns over fetal cell and amniotic uid contamination. In a series of 70 patients (Ralph et al., pages 404 8) found a very low incidence of antibody formation and a median fetal cell contamination volume of , 1 ml. Of interest to obstetric anaesthetists, there is also a laboratory based evaluation of 4-D ultrasound for epidural catheter insertion (Belavy et al., pages 438 45). The authors found both advantages and disadvantages for 4-D compared with 2-D ultrasound.

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Critical care
Several aspects of the care of critically ill patients are addressed in this months issue. A prospective study of over 330 trauma patients (Tauber et al., pages 378 87) concluded that ROTEMw assays were useful in the diagnosis and treatment of trauma induced coagulopathy. A laboratory study of acute lung injury (Spieth et al., pages 388 97) compared an open lung approach with the ARDSnet one and found the former resulted in better oxygenation and perfusion. Fungal infections in ICU patients are a serious problem. An Editorial (Philips, pages 299 302) provides a timely review of current recommendations and practice. The use of NSAIDs following neurosurgical operations is controversial. An RCT of 100 patients given either paracoxib or placebo following craniotomy (Williams et al., pages 398 403) found no increase in adverse effects with paracoxib but also no additional analgesic benet. The role of NSAIDs in intracranial surgery is discussed in an accompanying Editorial (Kelly et al., pages 302 5).

Assessing academic performance

The academic performance of journals is assessed annually by the Impact Factor (IF) and the BJA team is pleased to note increase in the journals IF to 4.224. Assessment of the performance of an individual academic is often based on the number of publications and the IF of the journals they are published in. There have been several other methods proposed for the evaluation of an individuals academic worth. Of these the h-index has gained the most currency. Two studies in this months journal assess the use of the h-index in UK academic department members (Moppett and Hardman, pages 351 6) and in Board members of international anaesthesia journals (Pagel and Hudetz, pages 35761). Both studies are generally supportive of the index. The subject of academic assessment, including the h-index, is addressed in an accompanying Editorial (Webster, pages 3067).

& The Author [2011]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Journal of Anaesthesia. All rights reserved.
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