Minerva anestesiologica
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Traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children is frequent, sometimes lethal, and may have life-long consequences in survivors. Prevention at school and in sports, including both kids and families, is of paramount importance. ⋯ This non-systematic review suggests that rational organization of rescue and transport to designated hospitals, linked with early diagnosis/removal of surgical masses and comprehensive monitoring and intensive care, offer the best chances for reducing mortality and morbidity in severe cases. After the acute phase rehabilitation and families play a fundamental role.
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Minerva anestesiologica · Dec 2010
ReviewOROS® hydromorphone in chronic pain management: when drug delivery technology matches clinical needs.
The osmotic-controlled release oral delivery system (OROS®) is an innovative drug delivery technology that uses osmotic pressure as the driving force to deliver pharmacotherapies in many therapeutic areas. In chronic pain management requiring long-term therapy, pharmaceutical technologies that ensure the controlled release of analgesic medications are imperative. In addition, once-daily formulations ensure better patient compliance to prescribed therapies. ⋯ These studies support the clinical utility of the 5:1 ratio used for the conversion of oral morphine to oral OROS® hydromorphone. Furthermore, once-daily OROS® hydromorphone has been shown to be effective in patients with chronic cancer and non-cancer pain, and it provides similar pain relief to SR morphine and ER oxycodone. In chronic pain management, OROS® products can result in more stable drug concentrations, reduced dosing frequency and an improved safety profile.
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Minerva anestesiologica · Dec 2010
Comparative StudyA prospective study of the accuracy and precision of continuous cardiac output monitoring devices as compared to intermittent thermodilution.
Pulse pressure (PP) analysis from a radial arterial line is available with the LiDCO plus monitor (LiDCO, Cambridge, UK) and FloTrac/Vigileo (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA, USA). The aim of this study was to investigate the agreement of continuous PP analysis against intermittent thermodilution (ITD) using the pulmonary artery catheter (PAC). ⋯ APCO (Vigileo software 1.03) and PulseCOLi showed a moderate agreement with the PAC. When PulseCO was calibrated with ITD (PulseCOITD) it showed excellent agreement, demonstrating that PulseCO performs well against ITD when the calibration process is optimally performed.