Der Anaesthesist
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Review Case Reports
[Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and severe traumatic brain injury. Is the ECMO-therapy in traumatic lung failure and severe traumatic brain injury really contraindicated?].
Veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) may be lifesaving in multiple injured patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) due to chest trauma. To prevent circuit thrombosis or thromboembolic complications during ECMO systemic anticoagulation is recommended. Therefore, ECMO treatment is contraindicated in patients with intracranial bleeding. The management of veno-venous ECMO without systemic anticoagulation in a patient suffering from traumatic lung failure and severe traumatic brain injury is reported.
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Today obesity is accepted as an independent disease. The WHO describes obesity as an epidemic disease occurring worldwide and associated comorbidities affect all organ systems. Bariatric operations lead to an improvement or even complete remission of obesity-correlated comorbidities. ⋯ Airway management at anesthesia induction includes normal intubation or, if additional risk factors are present, either fiber optic awake intubation or rapid sequence induction. The pharmacokinetics of all applicable drugs are altered in extremely obese patients and they are at risk for developing postoperative thromboembolic complications with a high mortality rate. Therefore early and sufficient thrombotic prophylaxis is important.
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Angelman syndrome (AS) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder with an incidence of 1:10,000-1:40,000 caused by deficient genetic imprinting in the chromosomal segment 15q11-q13. Experimental data suggest that the gamma-aminobutyric acid A (GABA(A)) receptor as well as the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) or α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole proprionic acid (AMPA) receptors may be affected by this condition. The first description of the syndrome goes back to 1965 when the British pediatrician Harry Angelman (1915-1996) recognized similar clinical features in three children. ⋯ Although epilepsy is the primary feature of AS, not every EEG alteration indicates the presence of epilepsy. The advantage in using neuromonitoring for measuring the depth of anesthesia is limited. Administration of anticonvulsants must be continued if they were used preoperatively.
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The quality of chest compression is a determinant of survival after cardiac arrest. Therefore, the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) 2010 guidelines on resuscitation strongly focus on compression quality. Despite its impact on survival, observational studies have shown that chest compression quality is not reached by professional rescue teams. ⋯ Multiple studies have demonstrated sustainable enhancement in the education of resuscitation due to the use of real-time feedback technology. There is evidence that real-time feedback for resuscitation combined with training and debriefing strategies can improve both resuscitation quality and patient survival. Chest compression quality is an independent predictor for survival in resuscitation and should therefore be measured and documented in further clinical multicenter trials.
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The pharmacotherapy of tumor pain has two main aims: to deliver an adequate basic analgesia using long-term retarded opioid medication and an effective treatment of tumor breakthrough pain using rapidly effective non-retarded opioids. Breakthrough pain is characterized by a sudden onset and rapid increase in the pain level and should be treated with correspondingly rapidly effective opioids. The pharmacological characteristics of previously available and routinely prescribed non-retarded opioids do not always correspond in oral galenics to the demands resulting from the definition of tumor breakthrough pain. As alternatives to these substances five different rapidly effective fentanyl preparations are now available for transmucosal administration.