Annales françaises d'anesthèsie et de rèanimation
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Ann Fr Anesth Reanim · Jan 1991
Review[Anesthesia and intensive care for heart-lung transplantation].
Since Shumway carried out the first successful heart-lung transplant (HLT) in Stanford in 1981, HLT has become a new therapeutic means for patients with end-stage pulmonary disease or arterial hypertension. However, it is still rarely carried out because of a lack of donors and the complexity of the surgery and postoperative course. This review described the criteria for proper donor and recipient selection, as well as the anaesthetic and postoperative management of HLT patients at Marie Lannelongue Hospital. ⋯ After the 15th postoperative day, opportunistic infections and allograft rejection are the main complications. Since 1981, major advances in HLT recipient management resulted in improved survival rates (70-80% at 1 year, and 60-70% at 2 years for the best teams). Despite the complexity of management, and the longterm threat of obliterative bronchiolitis, HLT is, at present time, the only possibility for these young patients to recover a normal quality of life.
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Ann Fr Anesth Reanim · Jan 1991
Review Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial[Prevention by naloxone of adverse effects of epidural morphine analgesia for cancer pain].
Forty cancer patients were randomly assigned to two groups (n = 20). All had incapacitating pain unresponsive to the usual non opioid analgesic drugs. An epidural catheter was set up at the level of the most painful metamere, and made to pass subcutaneously so as to exit either in the supraclacicular fossa, or on the patient's flank. ⋯ There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in quality and duration of analgesia. Pain reached its lowest level 4 h after the injection of morphine, returning to half its original value at the 24th h. This was also true for the incidence of nausea (11 in group N, 5 in group P), vomiting (3 in both groups), and urinary retention (6 in group P, 5 in group N).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Patient controlled analgesia (PCA) is a drug delivery system aimed to control acute pain using negative feedback technology in a closed loop system in which the patient plays an active role. It overcomes the inadequacies of traditional analgesic protocols due to marked differences in pharmacokinetic and dynamy of analgesis between patients. Moreover, doctors and nurses frequently underprescribe opioids in patients with severe pain for fear of dangerous side-effects. ⋯ The principles of demand analgesia are now being investigated using other agents, such as local anaesthetics, and other routes of administration, mainly epidural injection. In most patients, even in children, PCA can replace intramuscular injections, which are the standard route for opioid administration. Today PCA and spinal opioids are the two main methods of analgesia for postoperative pain management.
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Single lung transplantation was performed in several steps: laparotomy to prepare an omentopexy, followed by pneumonectomy and implantation of a pulmonary graft, both by postero-lateral thoracotomy. The patients suffered from lymphangiomyomatosis (1), panacinar emphysema (2) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (1). Immunosuppressive treatment was started before surgery. ⋯ Except in one patient with preoperative pulmonary hypertension, the increase in pulmonary vascular resistances remained moderate after clamping of the pulmonary artery. Sufficient oxygen delivery, with more than 50% venous oxygen saturation, was maintained at this time by the infusion of dopamine and dobutamine. Two other specific problems were encountered in the emphysematous patients: severe hypotension following the start of artificial ventilation and after placing the patient in lateral position; thoracic asymetry with overdistension of the emphysematous lung, and mediastinal shift.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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A 37-year-old chronic alcoholic female was admitted with epigastric pain, complete anorexia, vomiting and diarrhoea. She was dehydrated, and had polypnoea. Laboratory investigations revealed severe metabolic acidosis (pH 7.14) with a major anion gap (37.4 mmol.l-1), and ketone bodies in blood and urine. ⋯ The ketone bodies disappeared on the following day. During the acute illness, were found high blood levels of glucagon and low levels of insulin. The diagnosis of alcoholic ketoacidosis, the pathogenesis of which remains unknown, is discussed.