Minerva anestesiologica
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Minerva anestesiologica · May 2009
Focused echocardiography entry level: new concept of a 1-day training course.
We describe a training programme for non-specialists in focused echocardiography in the periresuscitation setting which represents an entry level in echocardiography training (FEEL) for emergency and critical care medicine physicians. ⋯ Periresuscitation echocardiography, performed safely, within the competence of practitioners in an ALS-compliant manner is a potentially valuable skill to be acquired by physicians caring for the critically ill, regardless of the environment in which they work, or their level of seniority. This newly-developed blended learning periresuscitation echocardiography programme (FEEL) may serve as entry level in peri-resuscitation echocardiography for both emergency physicians and critical care practitioners.
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Minerva anestesiologica · May 2009
Review Comparative StudyDopamine versus norepinephrine: is one better?
Dopamine and norepinephrine are widely used as first line agents to correct hypotension in patients with acute circulatory failure. There has been considerable debate in recent years as to whether one is better than the other. ⋯ However, dopamine has potentially detrimental effects on the release of pituitary hormones and especially prolactin, although the clinical relevance of these effects is unclear. Observational studies have provided conflicting results regarding the effects of these two drugs on outcomes, and results from a recently completed randomized controlled trial are eagerly waited.
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Minerva anestesiologica · May 2009
ReviewTargeting transpulmonary pressure to prevent ventilator induced lung injury.
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and ventilator induced lung injury (VILI) continue to challenge clinicians who care for the critically ill. Current research in ARDS has focused on ventilator strategies to improve the outcome for these patients. In this review, we emphasize the limitations of managing ventilators based on airway pressures alone. ⋯ This review suggests that perturbations in chest wall compliance and transpulmonary pressure may explain the lack of efficacy observed in recent clinical trials of ventilator management. We present a method for estimating pleural and transpulmonary pressures from esophageal manometry. Quantifying these variables and individualizing ventilator management based on individual patient physiology may be useful to intensive care clinicians who treat patients with ARDS.
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Minerva anestesiologica · May 2009
Randomized Controlled TrialBispectral index-guided intraoperative sedation with dexmedetomidine and midazolam infusion in outpatient cataract surgery.
This study aimed to evaluate the role of alfa-2 agonist infusion, with dexmedetomidine or midazolam, on hemodynamic and respiratory parameters while titrating the sedation level with the bispectral index (BIS) during cataract surgery. ⋯ Dexmedetomidine infusion mildly decreased heart rate in the later periods of surgery with better pain scores in the postoperative period. Dexmedetomidine should be an alternative for intraoperative sedation in outpatient cataract surgery.
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Maintenance of a patent and prevention of aspiration are essential for the management of the trauma patient, that requires experienced physicians in airway control techniques. Difficulties of the airway control in the trauma setting are increased by the vital failures, the risk of aspiration, the potential cervical spine injury, the combative patient, and the obvious risk of difficult tracheal intubation related to specific injury related to the trauma. ⋯ Different techniques to control the airway in trauma patients are presented: improvement of the laryngoscopic vision, lighted stylet tracheal intubation, retrograde technique for orotracheal intubation, the laryngeal mask and the intubating laryngeal mask airways, the combitube and cricothyroidotomy. Management of the airway in trauma patients requires regular training in these techniques and the knowledge of complementary techniques allowing tracheal intubation or oxygenation to overcome difficult intubation and to prevent major complications as hypoxemia and aspiration.