Arch Intern Med
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
A randomized trial comparing activated thromboplastin time with heparin assay in patients with acute venous thromboembolism requiring large daily doses of heparin.
The management of heparin therapy in patients who have a subtherapeutic activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) despite high doses of heparin is problematic because the risk of heparin-associated bleeding increases with dose. Results of experimental studies in animals indicate that when the APTT response to heparin is blunted by infusion of procoagulants, dose escalation can be avoided without compromising efficacy, by monitoring treatment with a heparin assay. ⋯ The heparin assay is a safe and effective method for monitoring heparin treatment in patients with acute venous thromboembolism whose APTT remains subtherapeutic despite large daily doses of heparin. In such patients, dosage escalation can be avoided if the heparin level is therapeutic.
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Recombinant human erythropoietin treatment: investigational new drug protocol for the anemia of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Overall results.
Anemia associated with human immunodeficiency virus infection may be due to reduced erythropoiesis related to the disease itself or to concomitant medications (eg, zidovudine). Clinical studies have shown recombinant human erythropoietin (r-HuEPO) to be effective in correcting the anemia of zidovudine-treated patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus with baseline serum erythropoietin levels of 500 U/L or less. A treatment investigational new drug protocol that provided r-HuEPO to 1943 anemic patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome was studied. ⋯ In a study population of 1943 anemic patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome treated with r-HuEPO, the hematocrit increased and blood transfusion requirements decreased. Therapy with r-HuEPO was well tolerated.
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The complex environment and technology of intensive care unit (ICU) care may impair the ability of patients to participate in medical decision making or give informed consent. We studied the agreement of the intuitive assessments of residents and nurses of ICU patients' cognition, judgment, and decision-making capacity, and whether those assessments agreed with abbreviated formal mental status testing. ⋯ Residents and nurses caring for patients newly admitted to the ICU agree in their assessment of cognition, judgment, and capacity to participate in medical decision making, and are not unduly influenced by ventilator status. Their assessments correlate highly with abbreviated formal mental status testing.
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We studied a patient with alcoholic acidosis and an increased osmolal gap. Ethyl alcohol and other compounds that are known to increase serum osmolality in alcoholics were not detected. However, the levels of glycerol, acetone, and the acetone metabolites acetol and 1,2-propanediol were increased in the serum of this patient. ⋯ The disappearance of the osmolal gap correlated with the correction of the acidosis and the concomitant reduction in serum glycerol and acetone levels. Elevations of endogenous glycerol, acetone, and acetone metabolite levels should now be added as causes for an increased osmolal gap in the alcoholic patient. Ingestion of toxic alcohols can no longer be assumed to be the only cause for an increased osmolal gap in alcoholic patients.
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Cotton fever is usually a benign febrile, leukocytic syndrome of unknown etiology seen in intravenous narcotic abusers. Cotton and cotton plants are heavily colonized with Enterobacter agglomerans. ⋯ Enterobacter agglomerans is with most probability the causal agent of cotton fever. Patients presenting with the classic history should have blood cultures performed and should be started on a regimen of empiric antibiotic therapy.