Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Sep 2011
Case ReportsExtracorporeal membrane oxygenation in a patient with stress-induced cardiomyopathy after caesarean section.
Stress-induced cardiomyopathy is an acute cardiac syndrome mimicking ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction and is characterised by transient left ventricular dysfunction in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease. Caesarean delivery is associated with intense emotional and physical stress, which may precipitate stress-induced cardiomyopathy mimicking acute myocardial infarction. We report a case of a woman who was supported with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for acute heart failure and severe pulmonary oedema, which may have resulted from stress-induced cardiomyopathy in the early postpartum period following caesarean delivery.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Sep 2011
The effect of a graphical interpretation of a statistic trend indicator (Trigg's Tracking Variable) on the detection of simulated changes.
Anaesthesia involves processing large amounts of information over time. One task of the anaesthetist is to detect substantive changes in physiological variables promptly and reliably. It has been previously demonstrated that a graphical trend display of historical data leads to more rapid detection of such changes. ⋯ Changes were detected 10.9% faster with the trend indicator present (mean 13.1 [SD 3.1] cycles vs 14.6 [SD 3.4] cycles, 95% confidence interval 0.4 to 2.5 cycles, P = 0.013. There was no difference in accuracy of detection (median with trend detection 97% [interquartile range 95 to 100%], without trend detection 100% [98 to 100%]), P = 0.8. We conclude that simple statistical trend detection may speed detection of changes during routine anaesthesia, even when a graphical trend display is present.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Sep 2011
Letter Case ReportsVocal cord palsy: an unusual complication of paravertebral block.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Sep 2011
Letter Case ReportsMediastinitis after the use of the LMA-Supreme.