Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Dec 2004
Comparative StudyBloodless intensive care: a case series and review of Jehovah's Witnesses in ICU.
The objective of this study was to assess the outcome of Jehovah's Witness (JW) patients admitted to a major Australasian ICU and to review the literature regarding the management of critically ill Jehovah's Witness patients. All Jehovah's Witness patients admitted to the ICU between January 1999 and September 2003 were identified from a prospective database. Their ICU mortality, APACHE II scores, APACHE II risk of death and ICU length of stay were compared to the general ICU population. ⋯ The lowest Hb recorded in a survivor was 23 g/l. Jehovah's Witness patients appear to be an uncommon patient population in a major Australasian ICU but are not over-represented when compared with their prevalence in the community. Despite similar severity of illness scores and predicted mortality to those in the general ICU population, there was a trend towards higher mortality in Jehovah's Witness patients.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Dec 2004
Case ReportsSedation for paediatric stereotactic radiosurgery: the dexmedetomidine experience.
Dexmedetomidine is a potent alpha2 adrenergic agonist, with sedative and analgesic properties which may make it a suitable sedative agent for procedures on paediatric patients. A six-year-old boy required sedation for stereotactic radiosurgical ablation of an arteriovenous malformation on two occasions. Sedation with dexmedetomidine was planned, with increased dosage used on the second occasion. On both occasions dexmedetomidine was inadequate as a sole agent and required supplementation with other agents.