Articles: apnea-diagnosis.
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We reviewed our experience with home monitor observations of 83 preterm infants (postconceptional age, 36 to 44 weeks) who had persistent apnea, bradycardia, or cyanosis. Polygraphic recordings before discharge showed that 92% of these infants had cardiorespiratory abnormalities that included prolonged (greater than 20 s) apnea, excessive periodic breathing (greater than 15%), bradycardia (greater than 80 beats per minute), feeding hypoxemia, or elevated carbon dioxide values. ⋯ While polygraphic studies were helpful in documenting specific cardiorespiratory abnormalities, neither these abnormalities nor the clinical characteristics of the infants identified those infants experiencing subsequent home monitor alarms requiring parental intervention. Our data suggest that some preterm infants with persistent episodes of apnea, bradycardia, and cyanosis beyond 36 weeks of postconceptional age remain at risk for future serious episodes for several months.
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An acoustic monitor to detect apnea in infants has been developed. Recordings of a signal derived from breath sounds at the nose were made in eight premature infants and compared with observation of the infant and with transthoracic impedance and ECG monitoring. ⋯ The ECG monitor alarmed during the nine spells in which heart rate dropped below 100 beats per minute, 27.5 +/- 9.7 seconds after breath sounds ceased. Inasmuch as the acoustic device detects absent airflow during central or obstructive apnea before bradycardia occurs and is insensitive to body movements, it represents an improved monitoring technique for infants with apnea.
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Intensive care medicine · Jan 1983
Comparative StudyThe use of continuous flow of oxygen and PEEP during apnea in the diagnosis of brain death.
The establishment of apnea for the diagnosis of brain death by disconnecting the patient from the ventilator may lead to dangerous hypoxemia at the end of the test period. We established apnea for 4 min in 8 patients with suspected brain death, both by disconnecting them from the ventilator after 10 min ventilation with FIO2 = 1.0 (method "A"), and by leaving them attached to an IMV ventilator circuit with a continuous flow of 100% O2 and PEEP of 4-8 cm H2O without mechanical ventilation (method "B"). ⋯ The changes in PaCO2 and pH were similar following both apneic methods. We conclude that it is safer to test for apnea by leaving the patients on a continuous flow of 100% oxygen and low PEEP than to disconnect them from the ventilator.