Critical care medicine
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CO2 kinetics during CPR was investigated in 15 anesthetized piglets. BP, blood gases, and acid-base balance were monitored through catheters in the carotid artery and a central vein, as well as in cerebrospinal fluid. Cardiac arrest was induced by a transthoracic direct current shock. ⋯ The arterial PCO2 and pH did not reflect the acid-base balance in peripheral tissues. During CPR, bicarbonate and tris-buffer mixture both quickly passed through the blood-brain barrier. When buffer treatment is indicated during CPR, a buffer which does not increase tissue PCO2 may be the drug of choice.
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The ability to breathe spontaneously through an endotracheal tube is a usual prerequisite before an intubated patient can have it removed. Other researchers have measured air flow resistance through endotracheal tubes. In this study, we evaluated work of breathing in joules per min and tension-time index while three normal volunteers breathed through different sized endotracheal tubes. ⋯ By increasing respiratory frequency, minute ventilation was increased from 5 to 30 L/min. As tube diameter decreased, work and the tension-time index increased. Changes were magnified at higher minute ventilations through the 6- and 7-mm endotracheal tubes, and the tension-time index critical fatigue level of 0.15 was approached or exceeded.
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Critical care medicine · Dec 1986
Hemodynamic and oxygen transport effects of dobutamine in critically ill general surgical patients.
The effects of dobutamine on hemodynamic and oxygen transport were evaluated in 43 studies on 34 critically ill general (noncardiac) surgical patients. Dobutamine, beginning at a low dose (2.5 micrograms/kg X min) significantly increased cardiac index (CI), oxygen delivery (DO2), and oxygen consumption (VO2), while decreasing mean arterial pressure, pulmonary artery and wedge pressures, and systemic and pulmonary vascular resistances; blood gases, pH, and pulmonary shunt were not significantly changed. ⋯ These responses were poor in terminally ill and hypovolemic patients; however, when the latter were given additional fluids, their responses were markedly improved. The hemodynamic effects of dobutamine are well known, but the DO2 and VO2 effects, which suggest improved tissue perfusion, have not been appreciated.