Minerva anestesiologica
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Minerva anestesiologica · Nov 2022
Association between cuffed tracheal tube use and reduced ventilator-associated pneumonia and conditions after elective cardiac surgery in infants and young children.
Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a serious complication in children after cardiac surgery that may result from micro-aspiration. However, the current recommendation to use cuffed tracheal tubes (TTs) versus uncuffed TTs in children is still uncertain. Our main aim was to evaluate the incidence of VAP, ventilator-associated tracheobronchitis (VAT) and ventilator-associated conditions (VAC) in children up to five years old who underwent elective cardiac surgery. ⋯ Our study suggests a marked reduction of VAP and VAC associated with use of a cuffed versus uncuffed TT in infants and children ≤5 years of age after elective cardiac surgery. A randomized clinical trial is needed to confirm these results and define the impact of use of a cuffed versus uncuffed TT across other relevant ICU outcomes and non-cardiac PICU patients.
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Minerva anestesiologica · Nov 2022
Hypopharynx, oropharynx morphology and histology in severe Coronavirus 2 patients treated by noninvasive ventilation: comparison between full-face mask and helmet strategies.
Non-invasive ventilation may alter the morphology and histology of the upper airway mucosa. This study aimed to investigate the alterations of hypopharynx and oropharynx mucosa, identified during oro-tracheal intubation procedure via video-assisted laryngoscopy, in severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 related, treated by non-invasive ventilation via full-face mask or helmet. ⋯ The data from this research suggested that there were differences in airway mucosa damages among patients treated with a full-face mask or helmet. Further studies should be planned to understand which non-invasive ventilation support may mitigate upper airway mucosa damages when oro-tracheal intubation is requested for invasive respiratory support.