Minerva anestesiologica
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Minerva anestesiologica · Aug 2014
ReviewINTRA-ABDOMINAL HYPERTENSION AND ABDOMINAL COMPARTMENT SYNDROME: Pathophysiological and non-operative management.
Intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) and abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) are conditions that commonly manifest in critically ill patients. They are associated with a multiplicity of pathophysiological disturbances. ⋯ Additionally, the authors of this study have recently conducted a large study on intra-abdominal pressures of consecutive catheterised patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (N.=403). A preliminary analysis of this study has also been included.
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Mechanical ventilation may induce or aggravate lung injury, a phenomenon known as ventilator induced lung injury (VILI). On a macroscopic level, the effects of mechanical stress and strain on lung tissue are well described. Increased tidal volumes may lead to volutrauma, raised airway pressures may cause barotrauma and cyclic collapse and reopening of alveolar units contributes to atelectrauma. ⋯ These cells are involved in sensing and translation of mechanical stimuli into an inflammatory response. This review provides insight into current knowledge of cellular and molecular pathways during the process of pulmonary epithelial mechanosensation and mechanotransduction under different mechanical conditions. Since evidence for specific pathways is generally lacking in some fields of alveolar epithelial mechanotransduction, this article aims at providing reasonable hypothesis for further investigation.
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Minerva anestesiologica · Aug 2014
ReviewSedation after cardiac arrest and during therapeutic hypothermia.
Mild therapeutic hypothermia (MTH) has improved neurological outcome of comatose patients after cardiac arrest (CA). Since the first clinical studies performed in this setting, sedation has always been associated with cooling procedures. The use of sedative drugs during MTH is required because it allows faster achievement and better maintenance of target temperature. ⋯ No differences in clinical outcomes have been found among different drugs, except for those related to their intrinsic pharmacological properties: the association propofol/remifentanil provides a faster recovery of consciousness than midazolam/fentanyl but is associated with the need of more vasopressors to maintain stable hemodynamic. Moreover, pharmacokinetic properties of these drugs are often altered during MTH so that standard drug regimens could result in overdosing because of reduced clearance. Neuromonitoring could be helpful to titrate drugs' effects and detect earlier complications (i.e. seizure), while a wake-up test should be avoided during the first 24 hours after CA.
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Minerva anestesiologica · Aug 2014
ReviewIncreasing the number of lungs available for transplantation.
Lung transplantation has become a standard treatment for patients with a broad spectrum of end stage lung diseases. Despite this success, many patients die on the waiting list while waiting for appropriate lungs to become available. This review describes the current strategies aimed at addressing this shortage of lungs, as well as summarizing potential future directions in the field. They include efforts to: 1) increase the number of organ donors by legislative action, and education of the public; 2) optimize the management of deceased, potential organ donors; 3) implement optimal criteria to determine organs suitable for transplantation; 4) use ex vivo reconditioning of lungs; and 5) develop xenotransplantation.