Journal of clinical anesthesia
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A 62-year-old woman with prosthetic mitral valve was admitted for explant of an infected prosthetic knee. Perioperatively, she was bridged with heparin and started on empiric vancomycin and piperacillin-tazobactam. Platelet counts dropped precipitously within 2 days reaching a nadir of 6000/μL, without any bleeding. ⋯ She tested positive for IgG antiplatelet antibodies to vancomycin and piperacillin-tazobactam thereby confirming the diagnosis. Drug-induced immune-mediated thrombocytopenia is an underrecognized cause of thrombocytopenia in the intensive care units. Clinicians should be cognizant of this entity, and a definitive diagnosis should be sought if feasible.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
A simple diagnostic test to confirm correct intravascular placement of peripheral catheters in order to avoid extravasation.
Intravenous catheters are ubiquitous among modern medical management of patients, yet misplaced or tissued cannulas can result in serious iatrogenic injury due to infiltration or extravasation of injectate. Prevention is difficult, and currently few reliable tests exist to confirm intravascular placement of catheters in awake spontaneously breathing patients. ⋯ Intravenous injection of dilute sodium bicarbonate with exhaled carbon dioxide monitoring reliably confirms correct intravascular placement of a catheter. A transient increase of exhaled carbon dioxide by 10% or more is an objective and reliable confirmation of intravascular location of the catheter. We recommend using 20 mL of 4.2% sodium bicarbonate to minimize the mEq dose of sodium bicarbonate required.
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Lower limb orthopedic operations are frequently performed under regional anesthesia, which allows avoidance of potential side effects and complications of general anesthesia and sedation. Often though, patients feel anxious about being awake during operations. To decrease intraoperative anxiety, we use multimedia equipment consisting of a tablet device, noise-canceling headphones, and a makeshift frame, where patients can listen to music, watch movies, or occupy themselves in numerous ways. ⋯ The anesthetic technique received a very positive appraisal by both patients and encouraged us to study further the impact of modern audiovisual technology on anxiolysis for major surgery under regional anesthesia. The duration of surgery per se is not a contraindication to the use of audiovisual distraction. The absolute proviso of successful application of this technique to major surgery is effective regional anesthesia and good teamwork between the clinicians and the patients.
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The study objective is to compare change in postoperative blood glucose from preoperative values in patients with type II diabetes mellitus receiving 4- or 8-10-mg dexamethasone for postoperative nausea and vomiting prophylaxis. ⋯ Dexamethasone 8-10 mg is associated with a significantly greater perioperative increase in blood glucose compared with a 4-mg dose.