The Journal of surgical research
-
To clarify the time course of changes in the serum interleukin-15 (IL-15) concentrations in septic patients undergoing emergency surgery for abdominal infection and to investigate whether the serum IL-15 levels correlate with the postoperative clinical course of septic patients. ⋯ The measurement of postoperative serum level of IL-15 might be useful for predicting the severity of SIRS and organ dysfunction, especially renal and pulmonary dysfunction.
-
Comparative Study
A biphasic response to nitric oxide donation in an ex vivo model of donation after cardiac death renal transplantation.
Donation after cardiac death (DCD) donors are vital to maximize the organ donor pool. Reperfusion injury (RI) is an important sequela in DCD organs due to warm and cold ischemia. RI manifests clinically as a high incidence of delayed graft function (DGF) and primary non-function (PNF) compared with donation after brain death organs. The importance of nitric oxide (NO) in the generation of reperfusion injury is pivotal. ⋯ This study represents a good model for the initial reperfusion period in large animal renal transplantation. The improvement in renal blood flow observed in the NO supplemented groups represents NO mediated vasodilatation. Later in reperfusion, accumulation of nitrogenous free radicals impairs renal blood flow. Clinically, NO supplementation during initial reperfusion of DCD kidneys improves renal blood flow but should be considered with caution due to potential deleterious effects of nitrogenous compound accumulation.
-
Comparative Study
Biomechanical evaluation of a novel total cervical prosthesis in a single-level cervical subtotal corpectomy model: an in vitro human cadaveric study.
Anterior cervical subtotal corpectomy and fusion provides extensive decompression in the treatment of cervical myelopathy. However, early adjacent segment degeneration may arise due to the abnormal kinematics. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on a newly-designed total cervical prosthesis (TCP) to preserve the normal kinematics of cervical spine. The purpose of this study was to compare the cervical range of motion (ROM) of TCP with anterior cervical plating (ACP) in a single-level cervical subtotal corpectomy model. ⋯ Biomechanical analyses suggest that TCP preserves ROM in the implanted segments after cervical subtotal corpectomy. TCP will not induce compensatory motion in the adjacent segments, thus may possibly help prevent adjacent segment degeneration.
-
Conclusions from in vivo and in vitro studies suggest hypothermia may be protective in traumatic brain injury (TBI). Few studies evaluated the effect of admission temperature on outcomes. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between admission hypothermia and mortality in patients with isolated, blunt, moderate to severe TBI. ⋯ Although in-vivo and in-vitro studies demonstrate induced hypothermia may be protective in TBI, our study demonstrates that admission hypothermia was associated with increased mortality in isolated, blunt, moderate to severe TBI. Further prospective research is needed to elucidate the role of thermoregulation in patients sustaining TBI.