Annales françaises d'anesthèsie et de rèanimation
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Fever is a secondary brain injury and may worsen neurological prognosis of neurological intensive care unit (NICU) patients. In response to an immunological threat, fever associates various physiological reactions, including hyperthermia. Its definition may vary but the most commonly used threshold is 37.5 degrees C. ⋯ Whereas no causal link has been established between fever and unfavourable outcome, it seems reasonable to treat hyperthermia in patients suffering from brain injuries. In such patients, antipyretics have a moderate efficacy. In case of failure, they should be replaced by physical cooling techniques.
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Ann Fr Anesth Reanim · Apr 2009
Review[Hypothermia and cerebral protection after head trauma. Influence of blood gases modifications].
The usefulness of therapeutic hypothermia is highly debated after traumatic brain injury. A neuroprotective effect has been demonstrated only in experimental studies: decrease in cerebral metabolism, restoration of ATP level, better control of cerebral edema and cellular effects. Despite negative multicenter clinical studies, therapeutic hypothermia is still used to a better control of intracranial pressure. ⋯ A clear understanding of blood gases variations induced by hypothermia is needed to understand the cerebral perfusion and oxygenation changes. It is essential to recognize and to use hypothermia-induced physiological hypocapnia and alkalosis under strict control of cerebral oxygen balance (jugular venous saturation or tissue PO(2)) and also to take into account the increased affinity of hemoglobin for oxygen. Management of post-traumatic intracranial hypertension using hypothermia, directed by intracranial pressure level, and consequently for long duration, is potentially beneficial but needs further clarification.
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Ann Fr Anesth Reanim · Apr 2009
[National survey on out-of-hospital difficult intubation management].
Difficult intubation rate is higher in the prehospital setting than in the operating room. Goal of this survey was to assess compliance of the French prehospital mobile emergency unit (Smur) to the recent French guidelines for the difficult airway management. ⋯ This survey shows that the French guidelines for the difficult airway management are only partially followed by the French Smur. An effort should be made for a larger diffusion of these guidelines towards the emergency physicians working in the Smur.
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Ann Fr Anesth Reanim · Apr 2009
[Results of a national survey about the use of sedation scales in emergency prehospital medicine].
The primary goal of sedation in emergency prehospital care is to guarantee the security of the mechanically ventilated patients by optimising their adaptation to the respirator. If the French prehospital guidelines are well codified, their applicability in routine clinical practice seem to be rather empirical. The aim of this national survey was to evaluate the use of the clinical sedation scales by the prehospital physicians. ⋯ The principal reasons given by the physicians for not using the sedation scales were their ignorance in 57% of the cases (n=200) and the systematic choice of a deep sedation in 42% of the cases (n=147). For 18% of them (n=62), the use of sedation scores was considered too complicated. The final results show that the utilisation ratio of the sedation scores is very low in emergency prehospital medicine and suggest that an effort toward improving the use of sedation in prehospital emergency medicine is necessary.
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Ann Fr Anesth Reanim · Apr 2009
[Acute respiratory distress subordinate to a morphine overdose during a frail elderly patient controlled analgesia].
We describe a case-report of an 85-year-male patient with a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) after a total hip arthroplasty. Four hours after surgery, acute respiratory distress secondary to a morphine overdose occurred, requiring an antagonisation with naloxone. ⋯ Too important morphine's doses managed in comparison with the patient's age and his renal failure could explain this morphine's accumulation and the respiratory distress. This observation reminds us the obligation to determine the optimal posology in accordance with the rate of glomerular filtration estimated by Cockcroft and Gault formula for patients using a PCA.