Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Aug 2013
Ultrasound monitoring of RBC aggregation as a real-time marker of the inflammatory response in a cardiopulmonary bypass swine model.
In many pathological conditions, including high-risk surgery, the severity of the inflammatory response is related to the patient outcome. However, determining the patient inflammatory state presents difficulties, as markers are obtained intermittently through blood testing with long delay. RBC aggregation is a surrogate marker of inflammation that can be quantified with the ultrasound Structure Factor Size and Attenuation Estimator. The latter is proposed as a real-time inflammation monitoring technique for patient care. ⋯ Continuous RBC aggregation monitoring can characterize the evolving inflammatory response during and after cardiopulmonary bypass. The Structure Factor Size and Attenuation Estimator is proposed as a real-time noninvasive monitoring technique to anticipate inflammation-related complications during high-risk surgery or critical care situations. Because RBC aggregation promotes vascular resistance and thrombosis, W could also provide early information on vascular disorders in those clinical situations.