International journal of cardiology
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Feasibility of a cardiologist-only approach to sedation for electrical cardioversion of atrial fibrillation: a randomized, open-blinded, prospective study.
Sedation with propofol should be administered by personnel trained in advanced airway management. To overcome this limitation, the use of short acting benzodiazepines by cardiologists spread widely, causing concerns about the safety of this procedure in the absence of anesthesiology assistance. The aim of the study was to compare feasibility of a cardiologist-only approach with an anesthesiologist-assisted sedation protocol during elective direct-current cardioversion (DCC) of persistent atrial fibrillation (AF). ⋯ Sedation with midazolam administered by cardiologist-only appears to be as safe as sedation with propofol and anesthesiologist assistance. Adverse events were few in both groups and easily handled by the cardiologist alone. A cardiologist-only approach to sedation provides less procedural delay, thus being easier to schedule and correlated with fewer costs.
-
Multicenter Study
Hemoglobin and renal replacement therapy after cardiopulmonary bypass surgery: a predictive score from the Cardiac Surgery Registry of Puglia.
Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) after cardiac surgery is a complication influencing postoperative outcome. Preoperative hemoglobin is a predictor of postoperative AKI. We aimed to identify preoperative predictors of Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT) and to develop a new risk-scoring system including hemoglobin to better stratify the risk of events. ⋯ Our simple bedside prognostic score demonstrates good performance in predicting RRT. Hemoglobin plays an important role and future studies will clarify if preoperative anemia correction will lead to decreased RRT risk.