Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Jan 1983
Enteral alimentation and gastrointestinal bleeding in mechanically ventilated patients.
The incidence of upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding in mechanically ventilated ICU patients receiving enteral alimentation was reviewed and compared to bleeding occurring in ventilated patients receiving prophylactic antacids or cimetidine. Of 250 patients admitted to our ICU during a 1-yr time period, 43 ventilated patients were studied. Patients in each group were comparable with respect to age, respiratory diagnosis, number of GI hemorrhage risk factors, and number of ventilator, ICU, and hospital days. ⋯ No bleeding occurred in 14 patients receiving enteral alimentation. Complications of enteral alimentation were few and none required discontinuation of enteral alimentation. Our preliminary data suggest the role of enteral alimentation in critically ill patients may include not only protection against malnutrition but also protection against GI bleeding.
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Critical care medicine · Nov 1982
Comparative StudyMechanical ventilation in fiberoptic-bronchoscopy: comparison between high frequency positive pressure ventilation and normal frequency positive pressure ventilation.
High frequency positive pressure ventilation (HFPPV) was compared with normal frequency positive pressure ventilation (NFPPV) during diagnostic fiberoptic-bronchoscopy. HFPPV was achieved by a simple modification of the Minivent, and gave satisfactory alveolar ventilation and oxygenation. In all 11 patients and over periods of at least 40 min, HFPPV gave normal PaCO2 and high levels of PAO2. Arterial blood pressures were higher and the airway pressures were lower than during NFPPV.
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Critical care medicine · Nov 1982
Transcutaneous O2 and CO2 monitoring of high risk surgical patients during the perioperative period.
The usefulness of noninvasive transcutaneous oxygen (PtcO2) and carbon dioxide (PtcCO2) sensors as well as invasive monitoring of flow and oxygen transport were evaluated in the perioperative period of a small series of high risk surgical patients. We used the pattern of physiological events preceding intraoperative death as the criteria for evaluation of the relative usefulness of these variables. Cardiac output (CO), oxygen delivery (DO2), and O2 consumption (VO2) provided the earliest warning of impending circulatory deterioration and were most useful during critical nonlethal circulatory episodes; these were closely paralleled by the PtcO2 index (PtcO2/PaO2); the PtcCO2 was less sensitive. Heart rate (HR) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were highly variable with frequent changes unrelated to change in flow and O2 transport.