Seminars in cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia
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Semin Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth · Jun 2014
ReviewA 2014 Update on Coagulation Management for Cardiopulmonary Bypass.
Coagulopathy after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass is a serious complication that may result in massive bleeding requiring transfusion of significant amounts of blood products, plasma, and platelets. In addition to increased patient morbidity and mortality it is associated with longer hospital stay and increased resource utilization. The current review discusses aspects in cardiopulmonary bypass-induced coagulopathy with emphasis on point-of-care testing and individualized "goal-directed" therapy in patients who develop excessive bleeding after cardiac surgery.
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Semin Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth · Jun 2014
ReviewPerioperative Diastolic Dysfunction: A Comprehensive Approach to Assessment by Transesophageal Echocardiography.
Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) has only recently been recognized as an important determinant of perioperative morbidity. Intraoperative echocardiographers have been slow to adopt assessment of LVDD into clinical practice. This has been partly attributable to the complex measurements required to characterize LVDD, which are in turn related to how our understanding of diastole has evolved. ⋯ However, given the limitations of flow velocity, direct measurement of tissue velocity can significantly improve the characterization of diastolic dysfunction. The evolution of Doppler and speckle-based methods of assessing tissue motion have vastly improved our understanding of diastolic function. With the development of simpler algorithms for categorization, and their gradual adoption by perioperative echocardiographers, LVDD should be better diagnosed and treated to improve postoperative outcomes.