Articles from Anaesthesia and intensive care 2010 March

Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2010

Patients' understanding of technical terms used during the pre-anaesthetic consultation.

Communication between patients and anaesthetists is being recognised as an increasingly important aspect of clinical care. Patients need to understand the nature and consequences of any proposed procedure prior to giving informed consent. In this regard, anaesthetists have a responsibility to provide adequate information about anaesthesia and related procedures in a form that patients are likely to understand. ⋯ We have identified many technical terms that may not be understood by patients presenting for anaesthesia care. An awareness of commonly misunderstood words may facilitate better transfer of information during pre-anaesthesia consultations. Our study findings should remind doctors that patients frequently fail to understand or take in what we tell them.

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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2010

Associations between cerebrospinal fluid protein concentrations, serum albumin concentrations and intracranial pressure in neurotrauma and intracranial haemorrhage.

Recent evidence suggests that using intravenous isotonic albumin solution for haemodynamic resuscitation in neurotrauma is associated with adverse outcomes. This study assessed the correlations between cerebrospinal fluid protein concentrations, serum albumin concentrations and intracranial pressure in a cohort of neurosurgical patients. After obtaining ethics committee approval, correlations between concomitant cerebrospinal fluid protein concentrations, serum albumin concentrations and the mean daily intracranial pressure of 63 consecutive neurosurgical patients, grouped as neurotrauma or intracranial haemorrhage, admitted between 1 January and 31 December 2007, were assessed. ⋯ Cerebrospinal fluid protein concentrations were also significantly associated with concomitant serum albumin concentrations (SCC = 0.393, P = 0.001) in these patients. In patients with intracranial haemorrhage (n=40), the mean daily intracranial pressure was only significantly associated with cerebrospinal fluid white cell and red cell counts but not cerebrospinal fluid protein and serum albumin concentrations. In summary, intracranial pressure is correlated with cerebrospinal fluid protein and serum albumin concentrations in patients with severe neurotrauma, and these suggest that blood-brain barrier may not be completely intact after severe neurotrauma.