Journal of cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia
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J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. · Aug 1992
Prognostic value of biventricular function in hypotensive patients after cardiac surgery as assessed by transesophageal echocardiography.
In patients after cardiac surgery, hypotension, defined as a mean arterial pressure less than 65 mmHg despite adequate filling pressures and positive inotropic medication, poses a problem. In addition, it is often difficult to determine whether these patients have suffered irreversible myocardial injury or if they are likely to recover. In this study, left and right ventricular function, as assessed by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), was related to mortality both (1) quantitatively, using fractional area change (FAC), and (2) qualitatively, using a segmental wall motion analysis, which assigned a score to myocardial wall segments, in order to determine whether this technique can be used to predict survival. ⋯ A wall motion index derived from only 6 segments at the mid-papillary muscle level was found to be as reliable as one based on 16 segments of the entire left ventricle. Thus, TEE provided information about the degree of left and right ventricular dysfunction by using a single cross-section at the papillary muscle level. It identified patients at high risk of death, ie, those with compromised right and biventricular function.
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J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. · Aug 1992
Anesthesia for bilateral lung transplantation without cardiopulmonary bypass: initial experience and review of intraoperative problems.
Bilateral lung transplantation (BLT) is a recently described procedure based on two sequential single-lung transplantations (SLT), which are performed by a transverse sternobithoracotomy. It does not require either cardiac arrest or routine use of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The intraoperative management of 10 patients suffering from end-stage pulmonary disease is reported. ⋯ With chest closure, PVR returned to nearly normal values (range, 57-293, mean 167 dynes.s.cm-5) and Qva/Qt increased (range, 3 to 36, mean 20%). This limited series demonstrates that CPB is optional during this procedure. Good selection of recipients and donors, good lung preservation methods, and a short duration of cold ischemia are essential to success.
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J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. · Aug 1992
Resident clinical competence in cardiac anesthesia: a case performance-based evaluation study.
The purpose of this study was to estimate the minimum number of cases that anesthesiology residents need to complete in order to master the clinical skills required in cardiac anesthesia. In addition, the extent to which the resident's general anesthesia experience and in-training examination scores influence clinical performance was also studied. The data presented were based on observation of 99 actual cases, which were managed by 16 residents. ⋯ The minimum number of cardiac cases that residents needed to manage before achieving a satisfactory level of skill ranged from about 10 cases for preoperative assessment to 20 to 30 cases for hemodynamic and coagulation management. It is concluded that residents needed different lengths of time to develop different skills, and it is logical to look at each basic skill independently in the evaluation of resident progress. Based on the findings of this study, it is suggested that a case performance-based evaluation approach might provide a more objective and accurate means for assessing resident progress in cardiac anesthesia.
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J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. · Aug 1992
Transesophageal Echo-doppler evaluation of the hemodynamic effects of positive-pressure ventilation after coronary artery surgery.
Transesophageal echocardiography was used to extend knowledge about the impact of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) during mechanical ventilation on right and left ventricular function and right ventricular impedance. At 20 cmH2O PEEP, a progressive increase of right ventricular end-diastolic area was seen (27%) that coincided with a reduction of early left ventricular filling velocity (25%) across the mitral valve, and a decrease of both pulmonary artery flow velocity (end-expiration 27% and end-inspiration 42%) and time-velocity index (end-inspiration 25%). As these changes were not accompanied by a change of the fractional area of contraction, the increase of the right ventricular diameter might be explained by right ventricular compensation due to an imbalance between augmented right ventricular impedance and reduced venous return.
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J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. · Jun 1992
Perioperative evaluation of a new mixed venous oxygen saturation catheter in cardiac surgical patients.
Fiberoptic pulmonary artery flotation catheters have gained clinical acceptance for continuous monitoring of mixed venous oxygen saturation (SvO2), especially in the management of hemodynamically unstable patients. Therefore, the performance of the oximetry system used is extremely important. The accuracy and stability of a new two-wavelength oximetry pulmonary artery catheter and SAT-2 oximeter were assessed in adult patients during and following cardiac surgery. ⋯ A total of 604 paired data points from 52 patients were analyzed, 572 (94.7%) of which were within the 95% confidence interval. Overall bias was -1.7% +/- 3.5% (SD). The results suggest that over the time course of the study, in vivo SvO2 values obtained with the two-wavelength catheter and the SAT-2 oximeter closely approximated SvO2 measured with a reference oximeter from mixed venous blood samples (r = 0.917; SEE 3.5%) in cardiac surgical patients in whom marked physiological changes occur.