Minerva anestesiologica
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Manipulation of blood pressure (BP) is a mainstay of therapy in patients with acute brain injury (ABI). In the early emergent phase (first hours from injury), depending on intracranial pathology, BP manipulation aims to: 1) limit the progression of parenchymal hematomas or hemorrhagic transformation (in patients with ischemic/hemorrhagic stroke and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage [SAH]), and 2) attenuate hypoperfusion and secondary cerebral ischemic insults (in patients with traumatic brain injury [TBI]). During the intensive care unit (ICU) phase, BP management is primarily focused at identifying the so-called "optimal" BP/cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP), i.e. the threshold of mean arterial pressure (MAP)/CPP to prevent secondary cerebral ischemia. ⋯ Increasing clinical data support the use of surrogate monitoring modalities of cerebral perfusion (including trans-cranial Doppler and brain tissue oximetry) to indentify BP/CPP targets in ABI patients. We reviewed herein the actual evidence regarding BP control in the early phase after ABI and recent clinical investigations using multimodal monitoring to optimize CPP and BP in severe ABI patients. The main purpose of this review is to provide a pragmatic approach of BP management, taking into account the timing of injury and differences in brain pathologies.
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Minerva anestesiologica · Apr 2017
Comparative StudyComparison of terminal extubation and terminal weaning as mechanical ventilation withdrawal in ICU patients.
Terminal extubation (TE) is applied in some Intensive Care Units (ICU) patients when a decision of withdrawal of mechanical ventilation is decided. Other units prefer terminal weaning (TW) with no removal of the endotracheal tube. We report our experience with these two procedures. ⋯ In our Unit, TE is a practice largely approved by family members. This procedure does not require higher doses of sedatives and allows the nearest relatives to be present at time of death.
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Minerva anestesiologica · Apr 2017
Letter Case ReportsPost-partum headache: not only a spinal anesthesia "affaire".