Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2014
The effect of high-fidelity simulation on the confidence and decision-making ability of anaesthesia trainees in managing subsequent simulated 'Can't Intubate, Can't Oxygenate' scenarios.
The decision to attempt a percutaneous airway in a recognised 'Can't Intubate, Can't Oxygenate' (CICO) situation may occur too late to avoid a poor outcome. Our study was designed to investigate the effect of high-fidelity simulation on the confidence and decision-making ability of anaesthesia trainees in managing CICO scenarios in subsequent simulation. Nine anaesthesia trainees from Logan Hospital participated. ⋯ The median number of deviations from the Difficult Airway Society algorithm was 0 for the simulation group compared to 1 for the non-simulation group. This small study suggests that high-fidelity simulation shortens the decision-making time of anaesthesia trainees in subsequent simulated CICO scenarios. This observation warrants follow-up in larger prospective trials.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2014
ReviewCopper removal strategies for Wilson's disease crisis in the ICU.
Wilson's disease is a rare, inherited, autosomal recessive disorder of copper metabolism which leads to an accumulation of copper in body tissues. If a patient develops a Wilson's crisis, mortality can approach 100%. The treatment of such patients is mostly organ support but a possible treatment goal is to try to rapidly remove copper from their system. ⋯ We found 11 case reports where therapeutic plasma exchange was used and six case reports where various forms of albumin dialysis were used as techniques for rapidly reducing serum copper levels. To date, the case reports are encouraging that therapeutic plasma exchange and albumin dialysis can either delay or prevent the need for liver transplantation in patients with fulminant hepatic failure due to Wilson's disease. However, these case reports are mainly in the paediatric or young adult population, thus further studies in adults are warranted.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialLow-dose epidural dexmedetomidine improves thoracic epidural anaesthesia for nephrectomy.
Thoracic epidural anaesthesia alone is an applied technique of anaesthesia for nephrectomy which has both advantages and limitations. Dexmedetomidine is a highly selective alpha2-adrenoreceptor agonist which has both central and peripheral analgesic properties. Forty patients undergoing nephrectomy were enrolled in this clinical trial and allocated randomly to two groups, a control group (C group) and a dexmedetomidine group (D group). ⋯ Compared with the C group, pain scores were significantly lower in the first four postoperative hours in the D group (two hours rest P=0.038; two hours activity P=0.009; four hours rest P=0.044; four hours activity P=0.003). The total amount of flurbiprofen analgesic was significantly lower in the D group compared with the C group (P=0.03). Epidural dexmedetomidine 0.5 µg/kg appears to intensify thoracic epidural anaesthesia with levobupivacaine.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2014
Estimation of glomerular filtration rate to adjust vancomycin dosage in critically ill patients: superiority of the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration equation?
The purpose of this study was to determine the best estimate of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) to adjust vancomycin (VAN) dosage in critically ill patients. Seventy-eight adult intensive care unit patients received a 15 mg/kg loading dose of VAN plus a 30 mg/kg/day continuous infusion. Steady-state concentration was measured 48 hours later and the dose was adjusted to obtain a target concentration ranging from 20 to 25 mg/l. ⋯ For VAN dose adjustments in intensive care unit patients, Cockcroft formula and Modification of Diet in Renal Disease should be used with caution. In clinical practice, the physician does not have at their disposal the patient's measured CLCR when prescribing. The CKD-EPI appears to be the best predictor of clearances of vancomycin for calculation of a therapeutic VAN regimen.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2014
Glycaemic control and long-term outcomes following transition from modified intensive insulin therapy to conventional glycaemic control.
This retrospective observational cohort study compared glycaemic control and long-term outcomes following transition from a modified intensive insulin therapy (mIIT) regimen to conventional glycaemic control (CGC) in adult patients admitted to a tertiary adult general intensive care unit, during two 24-month periods, before and after the publication of the Normoglycemia in Intensive Care Evaluation and Surviving Using Glucose Algorithm Regulation (NICE-SUGAR) trial. The before NICE-SUGAR cohort received mIIT (target glycaemic ranges 4.4 to 7.0 mmol/l), while the after NICE-SUGAR cohort received CGC (target glycaemic range 7.1 to 9.0 mmol/l). A total of 5202 patients were included in the study. ⋯ Changes in recommended glycaemic control were translated into practice, with increased glycaemic indices and decreased rates of severe and moderate hypoglycaemia after the introduction of CGC. The associated decrease in 90-day mortality suggests mIIT was not superior to CGC, despite a lower hypoglycaemia rate than in previous IIT trials. Our findings support the continued use of CGC.