Best practice & research. Clinical anaesthesiology
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Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol · Jun 2019
ReviewDiastolic dysfunction - What an anesthesiologist needs to know?
Diastolic dysfunction (DD) is a common condition that is increasingly encountered in patients undergoing both cardiac and noncardiac surgery as the age profile of our patient population increases and the noninvasive diagnosis of DD becomes more accessible. There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating the significance of DD and adverse perioperative outcomes, and thus, it is becoming imperative for anesthesiologists to have an understanding of the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of patients with DD. Current guidelines are based on transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) measurements in patients who are spontaneously breathing and in a euvolemic state and, consequently, not applicable to the perioperative period. In this review article, we discuss the grading of DD as well as introduce a practical approach to the diagnosis and management of patients with DD during the perioperative period.
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Postoperative complications within 30 days represent the third leading cause of death in the world. Multiple solutions have been proposed to tackle the clinical and economic burden of postoperative complications. They include the optimal fluid and hemodynamic management of patients undergoing major surgery. ⋯ The monitoring of microcirculation and tissue perfusion may help to fine tune this approach. Importantly, mortality within 30 days after surgery is 1000 times higher than intraoperative mortality. Therefore, continuous ward monitoring with wireless and wearable sensors may be the next major opportunity to improve patient safety.
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Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol · Jun 2019
ReviewPredicting hypotension in perioperative and intensive care medicine.
Blood pressure is the main determinant of organ perfusion. Hypotension is common in patients having surgery and in critically ill patients. The severity and duration of hypotension are associated with hypoperfusion and organ dysfunction. ⋯ Hypotension can now be predicted minutes before it actually occurs from the blood pressure waveform using machine-learning algorithms that can be trained to detect subtle changes in cardiovascular dynamics preceding clinically apparent hypotension. However, analyzing the complex cardiovascular system is a challenge because cardiovascular physiology is highly interdependent, works within complicated networks, and is influenced by compensatory mechanisms. Improved hemodynamic data collection and integration will be a key to improve current models and develop new hypotension prediction models.
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As the operating room and intensive care settings become increasingly complex, the required vigilance practitioners must dedicate to a wide array of clinical systems has increased concordantly. The resulting shortage of available attention to these various clinical tasks creates a vacuum for the introduction of systems that can administer well-established goal-directed therapies without significant provider feedback. ⋯ Within this field, the largest focus has been on goal-directed fluid therapy as systems automating vasopressor administration have only recently become viable options. Our goal in this review article is to summarize the validity of the relevant goal-directed hemodynamic systems and explore the expanding role of automation within these systems.
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Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol · Jun 2019
ReviewWhat the anaesthesiologist needs to know about heart-lung interactions.
The impact of positive pressure ventilation extends the effect on lungs and gas exchange because the altered intra-thoracic pressure conditions influence determinants of cardiovascular function. These mechanisms are called heart-lung interactions, which conceptually can be divided into two components (1) The effect of positive airway pressure on the cardiovascular system, which may be more or less pronounced under various pathologic cardiac conditions, and (2) The effect of cyclic airway pressure swing on the cardiovascular system, which can be useful in the interpretation of the individual patient's current haemodynamic state. It is imperative for the anaesthesiologist to understand the fundamental mechanisms of heart-lung interactions, as they are a foundation for the understanding of optimal, personalised cardiovascular treatment of patients undergoing surgery in general anaesthesia. The aim of this review is thus to describe what the anaesthesiologist needs to know about heart-lung interactions.