Journal of clinical monitoring and computing
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J Clin Monit Comput · Aug 2015
Pulse transit time shows vascular changes caused by propofol in children.
Pulse transit time (PTT) is the time that it takes for the arterial pulse pressure wave to travel from the aortic valve to the periphery. It is a simple noninvasive technique for evaluating vascular changes. This study investigated the vascular changes by propofol during the induction of anesthesia in pediatric patients with the measuring of PTT. ⋯ The PTT after the peak changed variously; most of the patients showed no plateau; the PTT decreased progressively after the peak. The PTT after propofol administration prolonged in short time and rapidly recovered toward to the baseline values in pediatric patients. In conclusion, the baseline PTT in children is shorter comparing with adults and the vasodilatory effect of propofol on the vessels as described by the PTT was rapid and the recovery was faster, although the response to propofol was more varied than in adults.
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J Clin Monit Comput · Jun 2015
Electrocardiogram characteristics prior to in-hospital cardiac arrest.
Survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest (I-HCA) remains < 30 %. There is very limited literature exploring the electrocardiogram changes prior to I-HCA. The purpose of the study was to determine demographics and electrocardiographic predictors prior to I-HCA. ⋯ Inferior ECG leads showed the most significant changes in QRS morphology and ST segments prior to I-HCA (p < 0.05). Subjects with an initial rhythm of asystole demonstrated significantly greater ECG changes including QRS morphology and ST segment changes compared to the subjects with initial rhythms of PEA (p < 0.05). Diagnostic ECG trends can be identified prior to I-HCA due to PEA and asystole and can be further utilized for training a predictive machine learning model for I-HCA.
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J Clin Monit Comput · Jun 2015
Derivation of baseline lung impedance in chronic heart failure patients: use for monitoring pulmonary congestion and predicting admissions for decompensation.
The instantaneous lung impedance (ILI) is one of the methods to assess pulmonary congestion or edema (PCE) in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients. Due to usually existing PCE in CHF patients when evaluated, baseline lung impedance (BLI) is unknown. Therefore, the relation of ILI to BLI is unknown. ⋯ Of study patients, 123 were re-hospitalized for PCE during follow up. Their ΔLIR decreased gradually from -21.7 ± 8.2 % 4 weeks pre-admission to -37.8 ± 9.3 % on admission (p < 0.001). Patients improved during hospital stay (NYHA 3.7 ± 0.5 to 2.9 ± 0.8, p < 0.0001) with ΔLIR increasing to -29.1 ± 12.0 % (p < 0.001). ΔLIR based on calculated BLI correlated with the clinical status of CHF patients and allowed the prediction of hospitalizations for PCE.
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J Clin Monit Comput · Jun 2015
Observational StudyImpact of medical training and clinical experience on the assessment of oxygenation and hypoxaemia after general anaesthesia: an observational study.
In Germany it is common practice to use pulse oximetry and supplementary oxygen only on request in patients breathing spontaneously transferred to the post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) following surgery under general anaesthesia. The main aim was to study the influence of medical training and clinical experience on assessing SpO(2) and detecting hypoxaemia in these patients. The second aim was to do a preliminary assessment whether this practice can be found in countries other than Germany. ⋯ Use of pulse oximetry and supplemental oxygen during patient transfer to the PACU in European countries differs to a large extent. It seems to be applied only on request in many hospitals. Considering the uncertainty about deleterious effects of transient, short lasting hypoxaemia routine use of pulse oximetry is advocated for patient transfer to the PACU.