Current opinion in anaesthesiology
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Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are increasingly prescribed for prevention of thromboembolic events. Thus, trauma care providers are facing a steadily raising number of injured patients on DOACs. ⋯ Current guidelines recommend the measurement of DOAC plasma levels in trauma patients. Compared to VKAs, DOACs do not carry a higher bleeding risk. DOAC specific antagonists facilitate the individual bleeding management.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Apr 2024
ReviewHow much does it cost to be fit for operation? The economics of prehabilitation.
Prehabilitation before elective surgery can include physical, nutritional, and psychological interventions or a combination of these to allow patients to return postoperatively to baseline status as soon as possible. The purpose of this review is to analyse the current date related to the cost-effectiveness of such programs. ⋯ Prehabilitation before elective surgery has been shown to minimize the periprocedural complications and optimization of short term follow up after surgical procedures. Recent studies included cost analysis, either based on hospital accounting data or on estimates costs. The healthcare cost was mainly reduced by shortening the number of hospitalization day. Other factors included length of ICU stay, place of the prehabilitation program (in-hospital vs. home-based) and compliance to the program.
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The purpose of this article is to provide a structural and practical analysis of the currently available data concerning prehospital transfusion of allogeneic blood products in cases of trauma and severe bleeding. ⋯ The questionable efficacy and challenges in clinical practice may outweigh the potential benefits of prehospital allogeneic transfusion.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Feb 2024
ReviewNutrition support for patients on mechanical circulatory support.
No specific guidelines on medical nutrition therapy (MNT) in patients on different types of mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices yet exist and overall evidence is limited. The purpose of this narrative review is to provide an overview about current existing evidence, which might be of underrecognized importance for the patients' short-term and long-term clinical and functional outcomes. ⋯ The importance of MNT for patients on MCS still often remains underrecognized, which might be of particular relevance in view of the significant metabolic alterations, the long treatment period, and severity of illness in these patients. Further research on more targeted MNT approaches in those patients is urgently needed for the generation of evidence-based guidelines for this specific cohort of critically ill patients.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Feb 2024
ReviewInnovative designs for trials informing the care of cardiac surgical patients: part I.
Randomized clinical trials, now commonplace and regarded as top-tier evidence, are actually a recent development. The first randomized trial took place in 1948, just six decades ago. As anticipated from a relatively young field, rapid progress continues in response to an ever-increasing number of medical questions that demand answers. We examine evolving methodologies in cardiac anesthesia clinical trials, focusing on the transition towards larger sample sizes, increasing use of pragmatic trial designs, and the innovative adoption of real-time automated enrollment and randomization. We highlight how these changes enhance the reliability and feasibility of clinical trials. ⋯ The landscape of cardiac anesthesia clinical trials is rapidly evolving, with a clear trend towards large sample sizes and innovative approaches to enrollment. Recent developments enhance the quality and applicability of research findings, thus providing robust guidance to clinicians.