Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · May 2001
Comparative StudyThe detection of interatrial flow patency in awake and anesthetized patients: a comparative study using transnasal transesophageal echocardiography.
The Valsalva maneuver in the awake patient and the ventilation maneuver in the tracheally intubated anesthetized patient are two provocation methods to detect a patent foramen ovale (PFO) by means of contrast transesophageal echocardiography. In 60 patients undergoing posterior fossa surgery, a contrast agent was administered via a peripheral vein during a Valsalva maneuver immediately before anesthesia induction, followed by central venous administration during a ventilation maneuver in the same patients when anesthetized and endotracheally intubated. We evaluated both maneuvers with a 32-element monoplane transnasal transesophageal echocardiography probe to trace the atrial flow of the contrast agent in a 90 degrees bicaval view. A maneuver was rated positive when more than four bubbles appeared in the left atrium during the first three cardiac cycles after intrathoracic pressure release. The right atrial cross-sectional area before pressure release, and the peak septal excursion during atrial contrast opacification, were measured. McNemar's test was used to assess a paired dichotomous response on the two maneuvers for a significant difference. In 56 patients, the ventilation maneuver was significantly (P < 0.037) more often positive for PFO (n = 14) than the Valsalva maneuver (n = 7). Although there was no difference in the methods regarding the peak septal excursion, the mean right atrial area before pressure release was significantly smaller during the ventilation maneuver than during the Valsalva maneuver (11.2 +/- 3.1 cm(2) vs 14.4 +/- 3.3 cm(2), n = 42, P < 0.05). In the patients with a positive ventilation, but a negative Valsalva maneuver, the discrepancy was even larger (10.9 +/- 4.4 cm(2) vs 16.3 +/- 4.2 cm(2), n = 7, P < 0.001). We conclude that the ventilation maneuver is superior to the Valsalva maneuver in detecting PFO. Our data suggest that a peak pressure of 30 cm H(2)O during the ventilation maneuver achieves a more pronounced reduction in right atrial load and allows right atrial pressure to exceed left atrial pressure when intrathoracic pressure is released. ⋯ A controlled ventilation maneuver in anesthetized patients immediately before posterior fossa surgery may be superior to the preoperative Valsalva maneuver in detecting a patent foramen ovale by contrast transesophageal echocardiography. This approach identifies patients at high risk for paradoxic embolism, but it is not practical for preoperative identification of patients who might benefit from patent foramen ovale closure before surgery.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · May 2001
Do pulmonary artery catheters cause or increase tricuspid or pulmonic valvular regurgitation?
There are few quantitative data on the extent or mechanism of pulmonary artery catheter (PAC)-induced valvular dysfunction. We hypothesized that PACs cause or worsen tricuspid and pulmonic valvular regurgitation, and tested this hypothesis by using transesophageal echocardiography. In 54 anesthetized adult patients, we measured color Doppler jet areas of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) in two planes (midesophageal [ME] 4-chamber and right ventricular inflow-outflow views) and pulmonic insufficiency (PI) in one plane (ME aortic valve long-axis view), both before and after we advanced a PAC into the pulmonary artery. Regurgitant jet areas and hemodynamic measurements were compared by using paired t-test. There were no significant changes in blood pressure or heart rate after passage of the PAC. After PAC placement, the mean PI jet area was not significantly increased. The mean TR jet area increased significantly in the right ventricular inflow-outflow view (+0.37 +/- 0.11 cm(2)) (P = 0.0014), but did not increase at the ME 4-chamber view. Seventeen percent of patients had an increase in TR jet area > or =1 cm(2); 8% of patients had an increase in PI jet area >/=1 cm(2). ⋯ In patients without pulmonic or tricuspid valvular pathology, placement of a pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) worsened tricuspid regurgitation, which is consistently visualized in the right ventricular inflow-outflow view, and often not seen in the midesophageal 4-chamber view. This is consistent with malcoaptation of the anterior and posterior leaflets. PAC-induced pulmonic insufficiency was rarely detected in the midesophageal aortic valve long-axis view. We conclude that a PAC is very unlikely to be the sole cause of severe tricuspid regurgitation or pulmonic insufficiency.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · May 2001
The effects of FK506 on neurologic and histopathologic outcome after transient spinal cord ischemia induced by aortic cross-clamping in rats.
Spinal cord injury is a devastating complication of thoracoabdominal aortic surgery. We investigated the effect of the immunosuppressant FK506, a macrolide antibiotic demonstrated to have neuroprotective effects in cerebral ischemia models, in a rat model of transient spinal cord ischemia. Spinal cord ischemia was induced in anesthetized rats by using direct aortic arch plus left subclavian artery cross-clamping through a limited thoracotomy. Experimental groups were as follows: sham-operation; control, receiving only vehicle; FK506 A, receiving FK506 (1 mg/kg IV) before clamping; and FK506 B, receiving FK506 (1 mg/kg IV) at the onset of reperfusion. Neurologic status was assessed at 24 h and then daily up to 96 h with a 0 to 6 scale (0, normal function; 6, severe paraplegia). Rats were randomly killed at 24, 48, or 96 h, and spinal cords were harvested for histopathology. Physiologic variables did not differ significantly among experimental groups. All control rats suffered severe and definitive paraplegia. FK506-treated rats had significantly better neurologic outcome compared with control. Histopathologic analysis disclosed severe injury in the lumbar gray matter of all control rats, whereas most FK506-treated rats had less injury. These data suggest that FK506 can improve neurologic recovery and attenuate spinal cord injury induced by transient thoracic aortic cross-clamping. ⋯ A single dose-injection of the immunosuppressant FK506 significantly improved neurologic outcome and attenuated spinal cord injury induced by transient thoracic aortic cross-clamping in the rat.