Pharmacotherapy
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Infection is responsible for a large percentage of morbidity and mortality in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Conventional infection-control measures are directed at decreasing infection by exogenous sources and have had variable success in significantly reducing nosocomial infection rates. Selective gastrointestinal decontamination with topical nonabsorbable antibiotics attempts to reduce infection by eliminating intestinal mucosal colonization by pathogenic microorganisms. ⋯ In the majority of clinical trials, selective decontamination effectively reduced colonization and infection among ICU patients, with the most significant reductions observed in gram-negative respiratory infections. Resistance to the antimicrobials was not documented in the majority of trials; however, follow-up periods were minimal and may not have been adequate to detect selection of resistant strains. Reductions in infection do not alter mortality; however, patients without significant underlying disease appear to be the subgroup that will most likely benefit.
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Methanol poisoning may be treated conservatively by inducing a diuresis and administering ethanol to halt the metabolism of methanol to more toxic metabolites. In severe intoxications, hemodialysis may be necessary to remove the toxins and limit the metabolic disturbances. The duration of dialysis needed to achieve this is unclear. A case report of a severe methanol poisoning is reported which required 21 hours of hemodialysis to bring the serum methanol levels down to a nontoxic level.
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The patient-activated analgesic system was introduced in 1968. Early trials, although uncontrolled, supported the safety and efficacy of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) in several kinds of pain, such as that relating to surgery, cancer, trauma, and obstetric procedures. In the past decade, prospective, randomized trials have reported several advantages of PCA over conventional analgesia in the early postoperative period. ⋯ The most significant, although infrequent, adverse effect is respiratory depression, the majority of cases occurring in patients predisposed secondary to concomitant illness or as a result of human error. The clinical use of PCA will likely see a significant increase among persons with cancer, and an increase in epidural administration. The cost benefit of PCA has yet to be assessed in inpatient and outpatient settings.
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Review Case Reports
Theophylline--an alternative therapy for bradyarrhythmia in the elderly.
Treating elderly debilitated patients with symptomatic bradyarrhythmia may be difficult. Traditional therapy includes use of limited resources (intensive care unit monitoring) and expensive interventions (permanent pacemaker insertion). ⋯ We expanded this use of theophylline in a series of 11 patients admitted 14 consecutive times with hemodynamically compromising bradyarrhythmias, including atropine-resistant complete heart block with idioventricular rhythm. Three patients experienced deterioration of status and recurrence of bradycardia with the withdrawal or reduction of theophylline, and subsequent recovery of heart rate and conduction with its resumption.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Comparative evaluation of the neuromuscular and cardiovascular effects of pipecuronium, pancuronium, atracurium, and vecuronium under isoflurane anesthesia.
The neuromuscular and cardiovascular effects of intubating doses of pipecuronium 80 micrograms/kg, pancuronium 100 micrograms/kg, atracurium 500 micrograms/kg, and vecuronium 100 micrograms/kg were compared in 62 patients under isoflurane (end-tidal concentration = 0.5-1%) anesthesia. Pipecuronium, pancuronium, and vecuronium had no significant effect on systolic or diastolic blood pressure. In one patient the administration of atracurium resulted in significant hypotension. ⋯ The neuromuscular-blocking effect of pipecuronium and pancuronium appears to be twice as long as that of vecuronium and atracurium. Administration of neostigmine resulted in significantly faster recovery of muscle function in patients receiving vecuronium or atracurium. Although pipecuronium's neuromuscular-blocking effect is similar to that of pancuronium, its lack of cardiovascular effects more closely resembles that of vecuronium.