Anesthesiology
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Erythropoietin and Protection of Renal Function in Cardiac Surgery (the EPRICS Trial).
To date, there are no known methods for preventing acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery. Increasing evidence suggests that erythropoietin has renal antiapoptotic and tissue protective effects. However, recent human studies have shown conflicting results. The authors aimed to study the effect of a single high-dose erythropoietin preoperatively on renal function after coronary artery bypass grafting in patients with preoperative impaired renal function. ⋯ Intravenous administration of a single high-dose (400 IU/kg) erythropoietin did not have a renal protective effect on patients with reduced kidney function undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery.
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Multicenter Study
Predictors of Functional Outcome after Intraoperative Cardiac Arrest.
Few outcome data are available about intraoperative cardiac arrest (IOCA). The authors studied 90-day functional outcomes and their determinants in patients admitted to the intensive care unit after IOCA. ⋯ By day 90, 45% of IOCA survivors had good functional outcomes. The main outcome predictors were directly related to IOCA occurrence and postcardiac arrest syndrome; they suggest that the intensive care unit management of postcardiac arrest syndrome may be amenable to improvement.
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Using blood utilization data acquired from the anesthesia information management system, an updated institution-specific maximum surgical blood order schedule was introduced. The authors evaluated whether the maximum surgical blood order schedule, along with a remote electronic blood release system, reduced unnecessary preoperative blood orders and costs. ⋯ Implementing institution-specific, updated maximum surgical blood order schedule-directed preoperative blood ordering guidelines along with an electronic blood release system results in a substantial reduction in unnecessary orders and costs, with a clinically insignificant increase in requirement for emergency release blood transfusions.