British journal of anaesthesia
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There is limited information on UK anaesthetists' perspectives and experiences of perioperative anaphylaxis. This baseline survey of the Sixth National Audit Project (NAP6) aimed to identify relevant departmental preparedness and practices, and individual experiences, perceptions and drug-avoidance patterns. ⋯ This is the largest ever survey of anaesthetists' practices and experiences relating to perioperative anaphylaxis. It identifies gaps in preparedness and referral for further investigation and to the UK MHRA. It provides important data about drugs implicated in such events and anaesthetists' attitudes to anaphylaxis.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Elevated preoperative heart rate is associated with cardiopulmonary and autonomic impairment in high-risk surgical patients.
Elevated preoperative heart rate (HR) is associated with perioperative myocardial injury and death. In apparently healthy individuals, high resting HR is associated with development of cardiac failure. Given that patients with overt cardiac failure have poor perioperative outcomes, we hypothesized that subclinical cardiac failure, identified by cardiopulmonary exercise testing, was associated with elevated preoperative HR > 87 beats min -1 (HR > 87). ⋯ ISRCTN88456378.
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Comparative Study
Hypotension during induction of anaesthesia is neither a reliable nor a useful quality measure for comparison of anaesthetists' performance.
Identification of statistically reliable outcomes for comparison among anaesthetists is challenging. Time-weighted intraoperative mean arterial pressure <65 mm Hg (AUC 65 ) is associated with increased odds for myocardial damage. We explored retrospectively whether such hypotension before incision was statistically reliable for peer comparison. ⋯ The AUC 65 of time-weighted pre-incision hypotension is not a suitable metric for comparing anaesthetists. There were few at-risk patients, half the anaesthetists were not evaluable because of their case-mix and caseload, and hypotension was widely distributed.
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Preoperative blood pressure (BP) thresholds associated with increased postoperative mortality remain unclear. We investigated the relationship between preoperative BP and 30-day mortality after elective non-cardiac surgery. ⋯ In this large observational study we identified a significant dose-dependent association between low preoperative BP values and increased postoperative mortality in the elderly. In the whole population, elevated diastolic, not systolic, BP was associated with increased mortality.