Surgery today
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With central venous catheterization, each additional vein puncture raises the risk of complications. We assessed the rate of failure and complications using a limiting rule whereby the number of needle passes for subclavian vein catheterization was restricted to three. ⋯ Limiting the number of needle passes to three may therefore prevent mechanical complications. A low body mass index was predictive of vein puncture failure.
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Postoperative hypoxemia is a frequent complication of surgery for acute type A aortic dissection. We tried to determine the factors associated with postoperative hypoxemia. ⋯ Initiating early treatment for hypoxemia and reducing the volume of blood transfused intraoperatively may improve the postoperative clinical course of obese patients with preoperative hypoxemia.