'Donde West Likely Killed by Need to Control Postop Pain After Cosmetic Surgery,' States Dr. Barry Friedberg, a Globally Recognized Leader in Cosmetic Surgery Anesthesia.

CORONA DEL MAR, Calif., Nov. 19 The autopsy results forDonde West, mother of rapper Kanye West, were reported as inconclusive. Whatdoes 'inconclusive' mean? There were no physical findings to explain herdeath.

West was reportedly found not breathing (respiratory arrest) aftercosmetic surgery that included two major procedures: abdominoplasty ('tummytuck') and breast reduction.

Narcotics (opioids) like codeine or Vicodin (synthetic codeine) arecommonly used to manage postop pain. The worst side effect of thesemedications is a stoppage of breathing when too high a blood level is reachedafter too much pain medicine is taken.

"If West had sleep apnea as a pre-existing condition, even average dosesof narcotics could easily prove fatal. The pending toxicology study of herblood levels might then be reported as within 'reasonable' levels for patientswithout sleep apnea," claims Dr. Barry Friedberg.

On rare occasions, patients having abdominoplasty with breast reductionhave been admitted to a hospital for continuous intravenous (IV) narcotictherapy to control postop pain.

"For cosmetic surgery, I pioneered BIS-monitored, propofol ketamine IVsedation known as minimally invasive anesthesia (MIA)(R). MIA mimics generalanesthesia but, because of the lesser drug trespass, is safer and simpler. Nodeaths or hospital admissions have occurred with MIA in a decade," saysFriedberg.

"Unlike general anesthesia, MIA prevents the pain of the local anestheticinjection from reaching the brain. This phenomenon is called pre-emptiveanalgesia. No patients, including those having abdominoplasty and breastreduction, under MIA have needed narcotics (IV or oral) for postop pain in 10years," states Friedberg.

"It was unlikely that either the two surgeries or the 8 hour surgerycaused West's death. More likely, it was the manner in which the surgery wasperformed; i.e. under general anesthesia which does not reliably producepre-emptive analgesia and, therefore, often necessitates postop narcotics tomanage pain," claims Friedberg.

Barry L. Friedberg, M.D., a board certified anesthesiologist, has beenexclusively practicing office-based anesthesia for cosmetic surgery since1992. In 2004, he was chosen first among 40,000 US anesthesiologists to writeAnesthesia in Cosmetic Surgery, the first textbook in the field.

More information can be found @ http://www.cosmeticsurgeryanesthesia.com,a patient oriented, non-commercial web site.(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070803/FRIEDBERG ) Examples of physical findings are: 1) blood clot in the lung veins 2) heart attack 3) vomit in the breathing tubes 4) fluid in the lung tissue

SOURCE Cosmetic Surgery Anesthesia