British journal of anaesthesia
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Prolonged invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) is a frequent challenge, and an increasing number of patients are transferred from intensive care units to long-term acute care hospitals or specialized weaning units. There are few published data for discharge home rates, use of noninvasive ventilation (NIV), or long-term survival. ⋯ These results confirm successful weaning outcomes for patients transferred to a specialized weaning and long-term ventilation service. In contrast to other service models, most patients achieved discharge to their own home.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of bioreactance and echocardiographic non-invasive cardiac output monitoring and myocardial function assessment in primagravida women.
Non-invasive cardiac output monitoring (NICOM) using bioreactance (BRT) in pregnancy is gaining interest but lacks validation. We compared simultaneous cardiac output (CO) measurements obtained using the NICOM ® (BRT-CO) and echocardiography (echo-CO), and assessed the relationship between maternal characteristics and myocardial performance. ⋯ Stroke volume and CO measurements obtained using NICOM ® were comparable to those obtained using echocardiography, with acceptable limits of agreement. Increased maternal BMI negatively impacts LV diastolic function measured using tissue Doppler imaging.
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Compromised tissue oxygenation is one of the root causes of dysfunction of various organs and postoperative complications. Oxygenation of different tissue beds may follow different patterns of change during physiological derangement. ⋯ Muscular tissue oxygenation has a stronger association with postoperative complications and length of hospital stay than cerebral tissue oxygenation after major spine surgery.