Anesthesiology
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Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic models are used to predict and explore drug infusion schemes and their resulting concentration profiles for clinical application. Our aim was to develop a pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic model for remifentanil that is accurate in patients with a wide range of age and weight. ⋯ We developed a pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic model to predict remifentanil concentration and effect for a wide range of patient ages and weights. Performance exceeded the Minto model over a wide age and weight range.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Risk of Epidural Hematoma after Neuraxial Techniques in Thrombocytopenic Parturients: A Report from the Multicenter Perioperative Outcomes Group.
Thrombocytopenia has been considered a relative or even absolute contraindication to neuraxial techniques due to the risk of epidural hematoma. There is limited literature to estimate the risk of epidural hematoma in thrombocytopenic parturients. The authors reviewed a large perioperative database and performed a systematic review to further define the risk of epidural hematoma requiring surgical decompression in this population. ⋯ The number of thrombocytopenic parturients in the literature who received neuraxial techniques without complication has been significantly increased. The risk of epidural hematoma associated with neuraxial techniques in parturients at a platelet count less than 70,000 mm remains poorly defined due to limited observations.
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Observational Study
Clinical Judgment Is Not Reliable for Reducing Whole-body Computed Tomography Scanning after Isolated High-energy Blunt Trauma.
The purpose of this study was to test the diagnostic performance of clinical judgment for the prediction of a significant injury with whole-body computed tomography scanning after high-energy trauma. ⋯ Clinical judgment alone is not sufficient to reduce whole-body computed tomography scan use. In patients with a strictly normal physical examination, whole-body computed tomography scanning might be avoided, but this result deserves additional study in larger and more diverse populations of trauma patients.
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In surviving patients, sepsis-induced cardiomyopathy is spontaneously reversible. In the absence of any experimental data, it is generally thought that cardiac recovery in sepsis simply follows the remission of systemic inflammation. Here the authors aimed to identify the myocardial mechanisms underlying cardiac recovery in endotoxemic mice. ⋯ In mice surviving lipopolysaccharide challenge, the natural recovery of cardiac contractility was associated with the up-regulation of cardiomyocyte calcium handling above baseline levels, indicating the presence of an active myocardial recovery process, which included sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium pump activation, the down-regulation of phospholamban, and sodium/calcium exchange inhibition.