Anesthesiology
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Statins may reduce the risk of pulmonary and neurologic complications after cardiac surgery. ⋯ Preoperative statin use did not reduce pulmonary or neurologic complications after cardiac surgery.
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Comparative Study
One-hit Models of Ventilator-induced Lung Injury: Benign Inflammation versus Inflammation as a By-product.
One important explanation for the detrimental effects of conventional mechanical ventilation is the biotrauma hypothesis that ventilation may trigger proinflammatory responses that subsequently cause lung injury. This hypothesis has frequently been studied in so-called one-hit models (overventilation of healthy lungs) that so far have failed to establish an unequivocal link between inflammation and hypoxemic lung failure. This study was designed to develop a one-hit biotrauma model. ⋯ Our findings demonstrate a sharp distinction between ventilation with 24 cm H2O that was well tolerated and ventilation with 27 cm H2O that was lethal for most animals due to catastrophic lung failure. In the former case, inflammation was benign and in the latter, a by-product that only accelerated lung failure. The authors suggest that biotrauma-when defined as a ventilation-induced and inflammation-dependent hypoxemia-is difficult to study in murine one-hit models of ventilation, at least not within 7 h. (Anesthesiology 2017; 126:909-22).
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Ischemic optic neuropathy is the most common form of perioperative visual loss, with highest incidence in cardiac and spinal fusion surgery. To date, potential risk factors have been identified in cardiac surgery by only small, single-institution studies. To determine the preoperative risk factors for ischemic optic neuropathy, the authors used the National Inpatient Sample, a database of inpatient discharges for nonfederal hospitals in the United States. ⋯ The incidence of ischemic optic neuropathy in cardiac surgery did not change during the study period. Development of ischemic optic neuropathy after cardiac surgery is associated with carotid artery stenosis, stroke, and degenerative eye conditions.