Journal of clinical monitoring and computing
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J Clin Monit Comput · Oct 2017
Patterns of intra-arterial blood pressure monitoring for patients undergoing total shoulder arthroplasty under general anesthesia: a retrospective analysis of 23,073 patients.
Total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) is typically performed in the beach-chair position. Maintenance of adequate mean arterial pressure is required to provide appropriate cerebral perfusion pressure and prevent cerebral ischemia. Placement of an arterial line to facilitate invasive monitoring is discretionary, based on clinical judgment. ⋯ Compared to university hospitals, arterial line placement was more likely in attached or freestanding surgical centers (OR 2.01, CI 1.37-2.96) and less likely in medium sized community hospitals (OR 0.62, CI 0.42-0.93), small community hospitals (OR 0.11, CI 0.03-0.34) and facilities performing less than 100 TSAs per year (OR 0.19, CI 0.12-0.31). Utilization of arterial line monitoring for TSA has associations with both institutional and patient factors. This study demonstrates the national patterns for the use of arterial lines for TSA and may serve as a resource to aid in clinical judgment.
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J Clin Monit Comput · Oct 2017
Case ReportsNeurophysiological intraoperative monitoring during an optic nerve schwannoma removal.
This paper reports the case of a patient with optic nerve schwannoma and the first use of neurophysiological intraoperative monitoring of visual evoked potentials during the removal of such tumor with no postoperative visual damage. Schwannomas are benign neoplasms of the peripheral nervous system arising from the neural crest-derived Schwann cells, these tumors are rarely located in the optic nerve and the treatment consists on surgical removal leading to high risk of damage to the visual pathway. Case report of a thirty-year-old woman with an optic nerve schwannoma. ⋯ We used Nicolet Endeavour CR IOM (Carefusion, Middleton WI, USA) to performed visual evoked potentials stimulating binocularly with LED flash goggles with the patient´s eyes closed and direct epidural optic nerve stimulation delivering rostral to the tumor a rectangular current pulse. At follow up examinations 7 months later, the left eye visual acuity was 20/60; Ishihara score was 8/8 in both eyes; the right eye photomotor reflex was normal and left eye was mydriatic and arreflectic; optokinetic reflex and ocular conjugate movements were normal. In this case, the epidural direct electrical stimulation of optic nerve provided stable waveforms during optic nerve schwannoma resection without visual loss.
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J Clin Monit Comput · Oct 2017
Implementation of a novel postoperative monitoring system using automated Modified Early Warning Scores (MEWS) incorporating end-tidal capnography.
Modified Early Warning Scores (MEWS) provide real-time vital sign (VS) trending and reduce ICU admissions in post-operative patients. These early warning calculations classically incorporate oxygen saturation, heart rate, respiratory rate, systolic blood pressure, and temperature but have not previously included end-tidal CO2 (EtCO2), more recently identified as an independent predictor of critical illness. These systems may be subject to failure when physiologic data is incorrectly measured, leading to false alarms and increased workload. ⋯ Further study is needed to evaluate its clinical utility, including an end-tidal CO2 score, is feasibly implemented and can be useful in monitoring select post-operative patients for derangements in physiologic metrics. Like any other monitoring system, false alarms may occur at high rates. While further study is needed to determine the additive utility of EtCO2 in MEWS calculations, this study suggests utility of EtCO2 in select post-operative patients.
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J Clin Monit Comput · Oct 2017
Intraoperative TTE inferior vena cava monitoring in elderly orthopaedic patients with cardiac disease and spinal-induced hypotension.
Objective To address the role of transthoracic echocardiography in inferior vena cava (IVC) monitoring in the management of haemodynamically unstable elderly patients subjected to lower limb orthopaedic surgery under spinal anesthesia. Possible implications in the postoperative care unit (PACU) length of stay (LOS) are investigated. Methods 41 elderly patients with cardiac diseases were recruited. ⋯ The primary risk factor for a prolonged stay in PACU, as determined by multiple regression analysis was RAP. Conclusions Patients with high dynamic collapsibility of the IVC may require aggressive treatment to restore their haemodynamic status. Additionally, intraoperative levels of RAP, as measured by IVCCI, can act as a predictor for increased LOS in the PACU.
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J Clin Monit Comput · Oct 2017
Case ReportsA brief clinical case of monitoring of oxygenator performance and patient-machine interdependency during prolonged veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
Monitoring veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (vvECMO) during 76 days of continuous support in a 42-years old patient with end-stage pulmonary disease, listed for double-lung transplantation. Applying a new monitor (Landing®, Eurosets, Medolla, Italy) and describing how measured and calculated parameters can be used to understand the variable interdependency between artificial membrane lung (ML) and patient native lung (NL). During vvECMO, in order to understand how the respiratory function is shared between ML and NL, ideally we should obtain data about oxygen transfer and CO2 removal, both by ML and NL. ⋯ Real-time monitoring of vvECMO provides data helpful to understand the complex picture of a patient with severely damaged lungs on one side and an artificial lung on the other side. Data from vvECMO monitoring may help to adapt the settings of both mechanical ventilator and vvECMO. Data about oxygen transfer by the oxygenator are important to evaluate the performance of the device and may help to avoid unnecessary replacements, thus reducing risks and costs.