Revista médica de Chile
-
Anesthesia awareness, or "unintended intra-operative awareness" occurs during general anesthesia, on the operating table, when a patient has not had enough general anesthetic or analgesic to prevent consciousness or waking up during surgery. According to international studies its global incidence ranges from 0.1 to 0.2%. ⋯ The prevalence of symptoms compatible with post traumatic stress disorder can be as high as 50%, after experiencing the awareness phenomenon. This paper reviews the main issues of the awareness phenomenon.
-
Revista médica de Chile · Feb 2010
Review[Can I drive a car, doctor? Car driving evaluation for people with disability and the importance in rehabilitation].
One of the main objectives in the rehabilitation of people with disability is to give them the possibility of mobilizing independently and a car is a modern and effective tool for achieving this objective. It is essential to make a specific assessment that includes at least the visual, cognitive and motor area before deter-mining whether the individual can drive a car, or also what kind of adaptations may be required. It is also essential to properly know the Traffic Law in force in our country to be able to guide the steps that the patient has to follow to obtain a driver's license. The objective of this review is to study deeply this interesting subject and all the edges that have been mentioned above.
-
Revista médica de Chile · Feb 2010
Review[Management of oxygen delivery and consumption during sepsis].
Maintaining an adequate tissue oxygen delivery (DO(2)) and consumption (VO(2)) is crucial in the treatment of septic patients. A fall in V0(2) is associated with a higher mortality. The early recognition of shock or tissue hypo perfusion impacts on patient prognosis. ⋯ However, interpretation of these markers should be cautious and always considering the overall clinical status of the patient. In the initial stages of sepsis, the dependency of V0(2) on DO(2) predominates as histopathological mechanism of multiple organic failure. In late stages, other factors predominate as determinants of multiple organic failure and mortality, such as hyper or hypo immune response, microcirculatory alterations and cytopathic hypoxia.
-
Revista médica de Chile · Oct 2009
Review[Pathophysiology of diabetic retinopathy and nephropathy].
Despite the availability of multiple therapeutic approaches, diabetes mellitus with chronic hyperglycemia remains as the main cause of new cases of blindness and chronic renal failure in the western hemisphere. We herein review the molecular mechanisms by which chronic hyperglycemia causes retinopathy and nephropathy in type I and type 2 diabetic patients. ⋯ Nephropathy, on the other hand, centers its pathophysiology in the mesangial cell, that starts as a modified smooth-muscle cell, and turns itself into a myo-fibroblast, produces such amounts of cytoplasm and extracellular protein that strangulates the glomerular capillaries and causes renal failure. After a detailed review of the molecular mechanisms of the aforementioned complications, we conclude that, apart from directing our attention to the emerging medications that are being developed to block these molecular pathways, we should never abandon the struggle for improving the glycemic control of our diabetic patients.
-
Revista médica de Chile · Sep 2009
Review[Association between air pollution and cardiovascular risk].
A clear cut relationship between particulate matter air contamination and the mortality and morbidity due to respiratory disease has been observed in the last decades. However there is also a relationship between air pollution and cardiovascular diseases. In big cities, a big or small particle concentration increase of 10 micro/m(3) is associated with a significantly higher risk of ischemic heart disease and myocardial infarction, both when acute or chronic exposures are considered. ⋯ Similar risk increases are observed in patients with hypertension, stroke or severe arrhythmias. This association is independent of environmental distracters such as weather, temperature or humidity and of classical cardiovascular risk factors such as age, diabetes, dyslipidemia and obesity. Physicians should be aware of the problem and explain their patients the increased risk that they are facing due to air pollution.