Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Jul 2009
Initial defibrillation versus initial chest compression in a 4-minute ventricular fibrillation canine model of cardiac arrest.
Previous laboratory and clinical studies have demonstrated that chest compression preceding defibrillation in prolonged ventricular fibrillation (VF) increases the likelihood of successful cardiac resuscitation. The lower limit of VF duration when preshock chest compression provides no benefit has not been specifically studied. We aimed to study the effect of order of defibrillation and chest compression on defibrillation and cardiac resuscitation in a 4-minute VF canine model of cardiac arrest. ⋯ In this 4-minute VF canine model of cardiac arrest, the order of initial defibrillation or initial chest compression does not affect cardiac resuscitation.
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Critical care medicine · Jul 2009
Inhibition of bradykinin B2 receptors before, not after onset of experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage prevents brain edema formation and improves functional outcome.
Brain edema following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a result of impairment of cerebral autoregulation and breakdown of the blood-brain barrier. We investigated the role of bradykinin B2 receptors (BrdB2Rs) on brain edema formation after SAH. ⋯ Our results indicate that BrdB2Rs play a key role in the initial phase after SAH contributing to brain edema formation. Inhibition of B2 receptors in a posttreatment regimen did not influence brain edema formation. Delayed pathophysiologic processes after SAH seem to be independent of B2 receptors.