Minerva anestesiologica
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Lung transplantation is a widely accepted therapeutic option for patients with end-stage lung disease. However, despite the significant medical progress achieved since the first human lung transplant was performed in 1963, perioperative and long-term patient outcomes are still jeopardised by a variety of complications. ⋯ However, in the absence of internationally recognised guidelines, the optimal strategies for managing lung transplant recipients remain unclear. This article presents a practical approach to the management of the early post-transplantation period aiming at standardising clinical care and improving patient outcome.
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Minerva anestesiologica · Nov 2014
Observational StudyFactors associated with adherence to the low-tidal volume strategy for acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome and their impacts on outcomes: an observational study and propensity analysis.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors affecting adherence to the low-tidal volume (LTV) strategy in acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and their impacts on outcomes. ⋯ Adherence to the LTV strategy was strongly associated with the lung injury score, muscle relaxant use, and depth of sedation. Propensity score-based analysis showed that the use of LTV ventilation and muscle relaxants reduced 28-day and 1-year mortality in ALI/ARDS patients.
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Minerva anestesiologica · Nov 2014
Cardiac output monitoring with pulmonary Vs transpulmonary thermodilution during liver transplantation. Interchangeable methods?
Liver transplantation (LT) implies hemodynamic instability, making invasive monitoring of cardiac output (CO) mandatory. Intermittent thermodilution with pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) remains the clinical gold standard to measure CO. The agreement between PAC and new monitoring methods in LT needs to be further investigated. Our aim is to clarify whether cardiac index (CI) measurements with transpulmonary intermittent thermodilution, and continuous pulmonary thermodilution methods agree sufficiently with those performed intermittently with PAC to be considered interchangeable during LT. ⋯ Continuous pulmonary thermodilution with PAC is not an alternative monitoring method of CO. Transpulmonary thermodilution CO monitoring with PiCCO2 shows too questionable agreement with the clinical gold standard (PACi) being in the limit of acceptance to be considered interchangeable during liver transplantation.
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Minerva anestesiologica · Nov 2014
THE ROLE OF EXTRACORPOREAL MEMBRANE OXYGENATION IN DONATION AFTER CIRCULATORY R DEATH.
Donor scarcity and the increased need for organ transplantation has prompted the development of an alternative source of donors to the more conventional brain dead donor. While in a Beating-Heart donor, abdominal and intrathoracic organs are perfused, in a non-beating heart donor (NHBD, or DCD), perfusion should be maintained, after confirmation of death, by means of ECMO and inflation of intra-aortic balloon accordingly to the localization of the organs that should be transplanted. ⋯ Despite the fact that available studies suffer from methodological limitations (small cohorts, retrospective analysis, not always comparative), they all reach the same conclusion: the concept of extracorporeal support with oxygenation in DCD seems very promising since it has been reported to increase the available organ supply by approximately 20% to 25%2 by increasing the number of donors by approximately 33%. Centres with ECMO facilities should implement local programmes for donation after cardiac death (both in the emergency department and intensive care) using ECMO taking into account that this technique has been proven to increase donor pool.