A&A practice
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Case Reports
Perioperative Autonomic Dysfunction in a Patient With Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease: A Case Report.
Autonomic dysfunction can lead to unexpected hemodynamic instability during surgery, and best practices for the perioperative care of patients with this condition are not well-defined. We report the case of a 63-year-old woman with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease who experienced perioperative autonomic dysfunction characterized by severe fluctuations in blood pressure while under spinal anesthesia. However, <1 month later, a second hip surgery performed under general anesthesia with special precautions resulted in an uncomplicated perioperative course, with only mild fluctuations in blood pressure.
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Case Reports
Undiagnosed Factor VII Deficiency in Cardiac Surgery Complicated by Bleeding: A Case Report.
Rare bleeding disorders in the perioperative period call for targeted resuscitation strategies. Factor VII deficiency, for instance, is often corrected with exogenous administration of recombinant factor VIIa. ⋯ This article describes the management of a cardiothoracic surgical patient with undiagnosed isolated factor VII deficiency who experienced significant postoperative bleeding which subsided after the administration of recombinant factor VIIa. In this case, EXTEM failed to detect a clotting factor deficiency.
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Auto-brewery syndrome (ABS) is a rare condition in which ethanol is endogenously fermented by fungi in the gut following a carbohydrate-rich meal, resulting in intoxication. We present a case of a patient with ABS successfully undergoing general anesthesia for symptomatic wisdom tooth extraction. During previous anesthetics, the patient had experienced postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) and awareness under anesthesia. Patients with ABS can be optimized for anesthesia by assessing hepatic function, avoiding perioperative oral carbohydrates, increasing anesthetic depth, multimodal PONV prophylaxis, and avoidance of broad-spectrum antibiotics.
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The critical care medicine (CCM) fellowship is an opportunity for advanced anesthesiology trainees to refine their quality improvement (QI) skills. However, the short training period and inconsistent curricula make this challenging. ⋯ The curriculum is focused on a QI education framework and mentored experiential learning. The QIF program is an opportunity for education and mentorship in the role of a CCM operational leader.