Resuscitation
-
Undetected malpositioned or dislodged ventilation tubes during cardiac arrest have fatal consequences, and no single method can detect the tube position reliably during such low-flow states. We wanted to test the ability of impedance changes as measured across the chest via the standard defibrillation pads to distinguish between oesophageal and tracheal ventilations in non-circulated patients. ⋯ Transthoracic impedance changes may be used to detect malpositioned and dislodged tubes also during situations without spontaneous circulation. Our predictive values must be retested in another population.
-
There is an emerging demand for inter-facility transport (IFT) of patients in recent years following changes in the healthcare framework in Hong Kong but this carries certain risks. Anticipation of possible deterioration of patients is important for patient safety and therefore risk stratification of patients before transport is important. ⋯ IFT represents a group of patients with vast heterogeneity. TISS-28 is not a useful tool for risk stratification prior to transport. MEWS was able to identify patients at risk but was not ideal.
-
Mild hypothermia (32-35 degrees C) impairs primary haemostasis and coagulation. Correction of these haemostatic impairments by rewarming alone may not be possible or desirable, particularly in major trauma, neuroanaesthesia and in critically ill patients. Pharmacological treatment of these impairments, if available, may be a useful alternative. Desmopressin has been used to treat various congenital and acquired platelet disorders, but its effects on hypothermia-induced impairment of primary haemostasis is not known. This study aims to investigate the in vitro effects of desmopressin on hypothermia-induced impairment of primary haemostasis using PFA-100 platelet function analyzer. ⋯ Desmopressin partially reverses hypothermia-induced impairment of primary haemostasis in vitro, and may be potentially useful in improving haemostasis in hypothermic patients with bleeding where immediate rewarming is difficult or undesirable.
-
Special clinical situations where general hypothermia cannot be recommended but can be a useful treatment demand a new approach, selective brain cooling. The purpose of this study was to selectively cool the brain with cold saline circulating in balloon catheters introduced into the nasal cavity in pigs. ⋯ Inducing selective brain hypothermia with cold saline via nasal balloon catheters can effectively be accomplished in pigs, with no major disturbances in systemic circulation or physiological variables. The temperature gradients between brain and body can be maintained for at least 6 h.
-
A 77-year-old woman was admitted to the intensive care unit after successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest due to pulseless electrical activity. She was treated with mild therapeutic hypothermia to minimise secondary anoxic brain damage. After a 24 h period of therapeutic hypothermia with a temperature of 32.5 degrees C, the patient was rewarmed and sedation discontinued. ⋯ Autopsy showed massive brain swelling and tentorial herniation. Hyperthermia possibly played a pivotal role in the development of this fatal insult to this vulnerable brain after cardiac arrest and therapeutic hypothermia treatment. The acute histopathological alterations in the brain, possibly caused by the deleterious effects of fever after cardiac arrest in human brain, may be considered a new observation.