Pharmacotherapy
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Torsades de pointes is a polymorphic ventricular tachycardia characterized by marked QT prolongation on the electrocardiogram. It can be induced by both antiarrhythmic and nonantiarrhythmic drugs, such as quinidine and erythromycin. ⋯ He developed torsades de pointes and subsequently cardiac arrest. Since erythromycin and quinidine are known to cause arrhythmias individually, caution and close monitoring are necessary when the drugs are administered concomitantly.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
High-dose versus standard-dose epinephrine treatment of cardiac arrest after failure of standard therapy.
To assess the efficacy of high-dose epinephrine (HDE) compared with standard-dose epinephrine (SDE) in emergency department patients in cardiac arrest after SDE failed to improve asystole or ventricular fibrillation. ⋯ Our results are similar to those of controlled clinical trials comparing HDE with SDE in cardiac arrest.
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Comparative Study
Retrospective pharmacoeconomic evaluation of dosing vecuronium by peripheral nerve stimulation versus standard clinical assessment in critically ill patients.
Adjusting the dosage of vecuronium by peripheral nerve stimulation versus standard clinical dosing in critically ill patients reduces drug requirements to maintain a desired depth of paralysis and, on average, produces faster recovery of neuromuscular function. We retrospectively analyzed the health and economic outcomes of using train-of-four (TOF) end points by peripheral nerve stimulation in dosing neuromuscular blocking agents during continuous infusion in a medical intensive care unit (ICU). A decision-analytic model was used to calculate outcomes and costs of treatment using and not using TOF end points of dosing vecuronium. ⋯ Estimated annual savings of $146,103 are projected by using TOF to individualize vecuronium doses in patients in the ICU. Individualizing vecuronium doses to TOF end points has both therapeutic and economic advantages. When considering costs of drug, TOF monitoring, and ICU, the total cost/patient was 40% of that in the control group.
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Clinical Trial
Short-term intravenous milrinone for severe congestive heart failure: the good, bad, and not so good.
We evaluated the overall hemodynamic and clinical effects, beneficial and deleterious, of short-term intravenous milrinone in the management of severe congestive heart failure (CHF). Numerous hemodynamic measurements were obtained in 24 patients (mean age 65 yrs) with advanced, severe CHF (New York Heart Association class IV, ejection fraction 24 +/- 5%), including 3 with concomitant clinical sepsis. Hemodynamic data were recorded at baseline and after a bolus of intravenous milrinone 50 micrograms/kg and maintenance infusion based on creatinine clearance at 0.5, 3, 24 and 48 hours. ⋯ One patient had recurrent ventricular tachycardia and another tolerance to milrinone. In two patients, excessive decline in preload and fall in cardiac index were reversed with volume expansion. Intravenous milrinone offered significant short-term hemodynamic benefits in most patients with severe CHF.
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When treating life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias such as symptomatic ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation (VT/VF), the nature of the arrhythmia must be precisely defined and the approach must be tailored to it. For hemodynamically unstable ventricular arrhythmias, DC cardioversion or high-energy defibrillation remains the approach of choice. Determining the specific role of intravenous drugs in acute conversion of VT/VF and the most appropriate long-term therapy (pharmacologic or nonpharmacologic) to prevent recurrence can be difficult. ⋯ Lidocaine appears to be effective in converting no more than 20% of stable VTs, compared with 70% for intravenous sotalol. The precise efficacies of parenteral procainamide, beta-blockers, and newer class III agents, including intravenous amiodarone, remain to be defined; however, intravenous amiodarone, available recently, can control unstable, recurrent VT/VF that is resistant to lidocaine or procainamide. A standard regimen of concomitant intravenous and oral amiodarone may be given for rapid and sustained control, and allows oral amiodarone to be continued in a significant number of patients.