Der Anaesthesist
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Review
[Venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism : Updated S2 guidelines on diagnostics and therapy].
The updated version of the S2k guidelines on diagnostics and therapy of venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism have been available since the end of last year. The guidelines deal with the advantages and disadvantages of the currently available investigation and treatment methods, the diagnostic sequence of investigations under various clinical conditions, the invasiveness and duration of therapies and the potential special features of vulnerable patient collectives. This article presents a summary of the most important assertions.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of using a laryngeal tube on the no-flow time in a simulated, single-rescuer, basic life support setting with inexperienced users.
The laryngeal tube (LT) is a recommended alternative to endotracheal intubation during advanced life support (ALS). Its insertion is relatively simple; therefore, it may also serve as an alternative to bag mask ventilation (BMV) for untrained personnel performing basic life support (BLS). Data support the influence of LT on the no-flow time (NFT) compared with BMV during ALS in manikin studies. ⋯ The NFT was significantly shorter in the later periods in a single-rescuer, cardiac arrest scenario when using an LT without previous training compared with BMV with previous training. A possible explanation for this result may be the complexity and workload of alternating tasks (e.g., time loss when reclining the head and positioning the mask for each ventilation during BMV).
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Central venous catheterization is an invasive procedure which can be associated with severe complications. These include in particular unsuccessful arterial puncture and vascular injuries, which in addition to loss of blood can lead to massive soft tissue swelling. A 63-year-old female patient developed massive cervical bleeding during ultrasound-guided internal jugular vein puncture and the rapidly enlarging hematoma led to compromisation of the airway. A cannot intubate, cannot ventilate situation developed and the subsequent hypoxia led to cardiac arrest that was only resolved after emergency surgical tracheotomy during cardiopulmonary resuscitation.