Pharmacotherapy
-
Multicenter Study
Efficacy and safety of daptomycin in patients with renal impairment: a multicenter retrospective analysis.
Daptomycin is a therapeutic option for patients with underlying renal insufficiency who are vulnerable to nephrotoxicity from vancomycin. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of daptomycin in patients with renal impairment. ⋯ Daptomycin demonstrated clinical and microbiologic success rates comparable with prior studies. Discontinuation of therapy because of elevated CPK levels may have been avoided in some patients with adjustment to every 48-hour dosing for Clcr less than 30 ml/minute. The relatively early time to onset suggests the need for CPK monitoring more frequently than once/week in renally impaired patients receiving daptomycin. The treatment of bacteremia in patients with renal insufficiency warrants further study.
-
Comparative Study
Evaluation of dabigatran bleeding adverse reaction reports in the FDA adverse event reporting system during the first year of approval.
Evaluate dabigatran adverse event reports with a reported bleeding event and/or reported fatal outcome compared with warfarin. ⋯ Reports from FAERS are subject to significant bias but suggest that fatal outcomes among dabigatran reports are higher in clinical practice than they were in controlled clinical trials.
-
Comparative Study Observational Study
Efficacy and safety of analgosedation with fentanyl compared with traditional sedation with propofol.
To compare the efficacy and safety of analgosedation with fentanyl versus traditional sedation with propofol in critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation. ⋯ Analgosedation with fentanyl appears to be a safe and effective strategy to facilitate mechanical ventilation. This regimen does not appear to affect duration of mechanical ventilation when compared with propofol, but may allow for more optimal pain management in critically ill patients.
-
Thromboembolic complications such as systemic embolization and valve thrombosis are a major concern early after mechanical valve replacement; however, the benefit of anticoagulation must be weighed against the risk of early postoperative bleeding complications. Thromboembolic risk is also higher in the early postoperative period (less than 6 mo) compared with the risk in the late postoperative period. Current evidence supports the use of unfractionated heparin or low-molecular-weight heparin early after valve replacement to prevent valve thrombosis or systemic embolization but provides no recommendations for the management of patients with a history of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), in which heparin products are contraindicated. ⋯ No signs or symptoms of thrombosis or bleeding were noted during or after fondaparinux therapy or at hospital follow-up visits. To our knowledge, this is the first case report to describe the use of fondaparinux within the first 48 hours after mechanical valve replacement in a patient with a history of HIT. This case suggests that fondaparinux may be a safe and effective option to prevent thromboembolic complications early after mechanical valve replacement when heparin products are contraindicated.
-
Review
Tissue plasminogen activator for the treatment of parapneumonic effusions in pediatric patients.
Intrapleural fibrinolysis has been investigated for the treatment of pleural effusion for several decades. Fibrinolytics have the ability to break up fibrin and loculations that characterize complicated pleural effusions, facilitating drainage. Older fibrinolytics such as urokinase and streptokinase have been replaced by tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) for this indication due to product availability and a more favorable safety profile. ⋯ Over the past decade, data on the efficacy of intrapleural fibrinolytic therapy in children have also been generated, which now support the use of fibrinolysis as a treatment alternative to more invasive therapeutic options such as surgical intervention. In this review, we discuss the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of parapneumonic effusion and empyema, with a focus on intrapleural fibrinolysis, specifically tissue plasminogen activator, in the pediatric population. Recent articles provide sufficient evidence to support the use of this drug in pediatric patients for the management of pleural effusions; however, due to study heterogeneity, questions remain that may be addressed in future studies.