Minerva anestesiologica
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All volatile anesthetics have cardiac depressant effects that decrease myocardial oxygen demand and may thus improve the myocardial oxygen balance during ischemia. Recent experimental evidence has clearly demonstrated that, in addition to these indirect effects, volatile anesthetic agents also directly protect from ischemic myocardial damage. ⋯ Multicenter, randomized clinical trials previously demonstrated that desflurane could reduce the postoperative release of cardiac troponin I, the need for inotropic support, and the number of patients requiring prolonged hospitalization following coronary artery bypass graft surgery, either with or without cardiopulmonary bypass. However, evidence in non-coronary surgical settings is contradictory and will be reviewed in this paper, together with the mechanism of cardiac protection by volatile agents.
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In an acute care setting, diuretics are often prescribed to maintain or increase urine output in patients presenting with acute kidney injury (AKI). The rationale behind giving diuretics is that they may protect the kidney from ischemic injury by maintaining a nonoliguric state. There have been many studies both supporting and criticizing diuretic use in AKI for improving overall patient outcomes. ⋯ Diuretics have been shown to be ineffective in the prevention of AKI or for improving outcomes once AKI occurs. At best, diuretics can help decrease symptoms of pulmonary edema secondary to volume overload.
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Minerva anestesiologica · May 2009
ReviewInfluence of beta-blockers on the outcome of at risk patients.
Present recommendations for perioperative ss-blockade are solely based on the findings of two randomized controlled trials of inadequate methodology and data analysis in just a little over 300 patients performed in the late 1990s. The PeriOperative ISchemic Evaluation study is the first adequately powered controlled randomized trial on the efficacy and safety of perioperative ss-blocker therapy. ⋯ A recently published meta-analysis confirmed in large parts these findings. Based on these publications, most of the present recommendations for perioperative ss-blocker therapy are no longer supported by evidence and respective revision is needed.
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Day surgery (DS) is continuously expanding due to both economic pressure and improvement in surgery and anesthesia. In the 1970s, only healthy patients undergoing simple procedures were accepted. Subsequent studies demonstrated that mortality and major morbidity are rare. ⋯ Patient clinical status is only one of the factors that should be considered. Surgeon's and anesthetist's skill, surgery and anesthesia technique and surgical setting are equally important. Therefore, only after evaluating their own experience and results are DS centers allowed to decide whether or not to treat a challenging patient as an outpatient.
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Minerva anestesiologica · May 2009
ReviewLung ultrasound in acute respiratory failure an introduction to the BLUE-protocol.
Critical ultrasound, apparently a recent field, is in fact the outcome of a slow process, initiated since 1946. The lung was traditionally not considered as part of ultrasound, yet we considered its inclusion as a priority in our definition of critical ultrasound. Acute respiratory failure is one of the most distressing situations for the patient. ⋯ The BLUE-protocol can be achieved in three minutes, because the use of an intelligent machine, a universal probe, and standardized points allow major time-saving. Lung ultrasound in the critically ill was long available. In a domain where everything must be fast and accurate, the BLUE-protocol can play a major role in the diagnosis of an acute respiratory failure, usually answering immediately to questions where only sophisticated techniques were hitherto used.