Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Jan 2016
Comparative Study Observational StudyDay 3 versus Day 1 disseminated intravascular coagulation score among sepsis patients: a prospective observational study.
The role of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) has not been extensively studied in patients with sepsis. A prospective study was performed in a single university hospital. The incidences of DIC at day 1 (<24 hours post-sepsis diagnosis) and day 3 (48 to 72 hours) were investigated among patients with sepsis. ⋯ However, DIC scores did not give additional discriminative power to the existing prognostic scores in predicting mortality of patients with sepsis. In conclusion, the change in DIC score was significantly associated with hospital mortality. Patients with pneumonia sepsis had a lower incidence of DIC on day 1, despite their higher disease severity and mortality rate, compared to those with other sources of sepsis.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Jan 2016
The role of an ambient pressure oxygen source during one-lung ventilation for thoracoscopic surgery.
Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery is facilitated by prompt collapse of the non-ventilated ('operated') lung, and interrupted and impeded if there is a need for oxygen (O2) delivery by continuous positive airways pressure in order to manage hypoxaemia. It has been proposed that connecting an ambient pressure O2 source to the airway of the non-ventilated lung at the time one-lung ventilation is initiated and before the chest is opened will, by avoiding entrainment of ambient nitrogen, serve to facilitate lung collapse. It has also been proposed that leaving the O2 source connected will enable, not only ongoing apnoeic oxygenation before the chest is opened, but also the thoracoscopic procedure to commence with the operated lung fully pre-oxygenated (with an inspired oxygen fraction of 1), and apnoeic oxygenation to continue throughout the operative procedure in those patients who exhibit a degree of small airways patency at ambient pressure. ⋯ It therefore appears unlikely that the necessary evidence to support these proposals will be forthcoming from randomised clinical studies on large numbers of patients. Rather, the necessary evidence may only be provided by specifically designed within-patient clinical measurement studies. Nevertheless, it is argued that, in the meantime, there is already sufficient rationale for an ambient pressure O2 source to be connected to the airway of the non-ventilated lung, and for it to remain connected for the duration of one-lung ventilation.