Critical care medicine
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Four resuscitator bags were studied to see if the delivered fractional oxygen percentage (FDO2) could be affected by manually controlling the inherent reexpansion rate of the bag so as to allow a greater entrainment of oxygen rather than air into the bag. Flow rates of oxygen into the bag were varied: 5, 10, 15, and 20 liter/min. ⋯ The results show that such a maneuver will effectively increase the FDO2 of the bags at all flow rates tested--in certain instances to values greater than 0.8. This maneuver would be important to resuscitation situations where it is desirable to achieve better patient oxygenation.
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Critical care medicine · Nov 1977
ReviewFirst annual Arnar-Stone lecture: The importance of the endocrine and metabolic responses to shock and trauma.
Trauma and shock result in activation of a wide variety of endocrine and metabolic systems. Based upon experimental work demonstrating metabolic deficits, a variety of metabolic therapies have been developed to assist in the treatment of patients with shock or trauma. ⋯ We suggest that a peer review mechanism be set up within organized professional groups to assess major research trends and develop informed opinions on key research subjects within their domain. These peer review assessments must be effectively communicated to Congress and the executive branch of the government, as well as to the general public, if support commensurate with the importance of the research is to be achieved.
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Critical care medicine · Sep 1977
Comparative StudyAn assessment of cardiac output by thermodilution in infants and children following cardiac surgery.
A 4 F thermodilution catheter for measuring cardiac output was evaluated for accuracy and linearity in the laboratory and by comparison with the dye dilution method in infants and children following cardiac surgery. When 2 ml of 0 degrees C injectate were used, the correlation of computer determined flows to calibrated pump flows, over a range encountered clinically, was r = 0.998. ⋯ The complications of thermodilution catheter placement are described and related to the need for post-surgical chest x-ray and thermodilution recordings. The simplicity of the thermodilution technique and other advantages over the dye method in children, such as repeatability, and ease of calibration are discussed in relation to the increased flexibility in management which accrues.