Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2016
The effect of adjuvant remifentanil with propofol or thiopentone on seizure quality during electroconvulsive therapy.
In order to optimise outcome to Electro Convulsive therapy (ECT), there has been a trend to utilise remifentanil as an adjunct to standard intravenous induction agents. This has allowed a reduction in the dose of anaesthetic agent, and usually an improved response to stimulation. ⋯ There were no improvements seen in the measurements of any EEG parameter, including seizure duration. These observations suggest that remifentanil does not possess any intrinsic pro-convulsant activity and that any improvement in outcome seen with its use is as a result of dose reduction in the IV anaesthetic agent.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2016
Risk factors for bleeding complications after percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy: a ten-year institutional analysis.
Bleeding complications after percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy (PDT) are infrequent but may have a tremendous impact on a patient's further clinical course. Therefore, it seems necessary to perform risk stratification for patients scheduled for PDT. We retrospectively reviewed the records of 1001 patients (46% male, mean age 68.1 years) undergoing PDT (using the Ciaglia Blue Rhino® technique with direct bronchoscopic guidance) in our cardiothoracic ICU between January 2003 and February 2013. ⋯ Patients in Group A had a significantly higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score on the day of PDT (P=0.042), higher prevalence of renal replacement therapy on the day of PDT (P=0.026), higher incidence of coagulopathy (P=0.043), lower platelet counts (P=0.037), lower fibrinogen levels (P=0.012), higher proportion of PDTs performed by residents (P=0.034) and higher difficulty grading of PDT (P=0.001). Using logistic regression analyses, difficult PDT, less experienced operator, Simplified Acute Physiology Score>40 and low fibrinogen levels were independent predictors of clinically significant bleeding after PDT. Low fibrinogen levels, as well as difficult PDT, less experienced operator and Simplified Acute Physiology Score>40 are associated with an increased risk for bleeding during PDT.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2016
The anaesthetic assessment, management and risk factors of bariatric surgical patients requiring postoperative intensive care support: a state-wide, five-year cohort study.
Bariatric surgery is a rapidly growing and dynamic discipline necessitating a specialised anaesthetic approach coordinating high-risk patients with appropriate post-operative intensive care (ICU) support. The relationship between the anaesthetic and ICU utilisation after bariatric surgery is poorly understood. All adult bariatric surgery patients admitted to any ICU over a five-year period between 2007 and 2011 in Western Australia were identified from hospital admission records and cross-referenced against the Western Australian Department of Health Data Linkage Unit database. ⋯ Anaesthetic complications were extremely uncommon (0.5% of all bariatric cases) but accounted for 9.7% of all postoperative ICU admissions. Smoking history, but not body-mass-index (P=0.46), was the only significant prognostic factor for respiratory or airway related anaesthetic complications (P=0.012). In summary, the anaesthesia management of bariatric surgery varied widely in Western Australia, with smoking as the only significant preoperative risk factor for respiratory or airway related anaesthesia complications.