Best practice & research. Clinical anaesthesiology
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Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol · Mar 2008
ReviewAntiplatelet therapy and coronary stents in perioperative medicine--the two sides of the coin.
New trends in interventional cardiology, e.g. the increasing practice of coronary intervention with stent implantation and the prolonged use of dual antiplatelet therapy--usually a combination of clopidogrel and aspirin--has also increased the number of patients presenting for non-cardiac surgery. The two most commonly used stent types, bare-metal stents (BMSs) and drug-eluting stents (DESs), mandate different lengths of dual antiplatelet drug therapy to avoid stent thrombosis. ⋯ As long as prospective trials are not available, the recommendations and guidelines of task forces and experts are based on retrospective studies and case reports. The perioperative management, decision trees and the importance of close interdisciplinary collaboration between cardiologists, surgeons and anaesthetists will be described.
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Patients are at risk for several types of lung injury in the perioperative period. These injuries include atelectasis, pneumonia, pneumothorax, bronchopleural fistula, acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome. ⋯ Clinical research trends show that traditional protocols for perioperative mechanical ventilation, using large tidal volumes without positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) can cause a sub-clinical lung injury and this injury becomes clinically important when any additional lung injury is added. Lung-protective ventilation strategies using more physiologic tidal volumes and appropriate levels of PEEP can decrease the extent of this injury.
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Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol · Mar 2008
ReviewGlycaemic control and perioperative organ protection.
The concept of stress hyperglycaemia as an adaptive, beneficial response in critical illness has recently been challenged. Two large prospective randomized controlled trials in the Leuven University Hospital surgical and medical ICUs demonstrated that maintenance of normoglycaemia with intensive insulin therapy substantially prevents morbidity and reduces mortality. Strict normoglycaemia is required to gain most clinical benefit. ⋯ Other studies have been used to advocate against implementation of intensive insulin therapy by showing lack of benefit or questioning safety. However, these studies are inconclusive on this subject, due to problems of not reaching normal glucose levels clearly separated from the standard glycaemic group or lack of statistical power. Clearly, future studies should be adequately powered and comply with the study protocol in order to confirm the survival and other clinical benefits of intensive insulin therapy.
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Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a significant cause of perioperative patient morbidity and mortality. The definition of AKI has recently changed and further research is underway to identify clinically relevant biomarkers to aid in the diagnosis of the syndrome. ⋯ An anesthesiologist's main objective for perioperative renal protection is prevention by maintenance of euvolemia, preservation of adequate renal perfusion, and avoidance of nephrotoxins. This review will address the definition and diagnosis of AKI, identify patients at risk of AKI, and critically appraise management options for perioperative renal protection.