Acta anaesthesiologica Belgica
-
The historical development of surgery and anesthesiology, has made the anesthetist an expert in the following fields: 1. Providing analgesia. 2. Homeostasis of the internal environment or respiratory, circulatory and metabolic resuscitation. 3. ⋯ The rules of conduct within this team are discussed. It is concluded that safety during anesthesia has increased, through the activities of the anesthetist outside of the operating theatre. One anesthetist should however remain available at any moment during anesthesia, for every one patient.
-
Death due to anesthesia is a tragic paradox. The numbers about the frequency of anesthesia-related-death published in many reports have a relative value, as it is impossible to compare them one to another. A synoptic table of 20 important studies made on this subject, shows a great variation in figures concerning the incidence of death related to anesthesia. The most common causes of "anesthetic-death" are mentioned and some suggestions are made to decrease the frequency of death due to anesthesia.
-
Acta Anaesthesiol Belg · Jan 1978
Comparative StudyMonitoring of cardiac output by pulse contour method.
A pulse contour method for cardiac output determination was evaluated in sixteen cardiac surgery patients. Stroke volume was derived from the aortic pressure waveform by means of a formula developed by Wesseling and was calculated with an in-built computer (Philips cardiac output module). ⋯ The overall comparison of data (71 simultaneous measurements) yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.78 (regression y = 0.81 x + 1.07 liter) (p less than 0.001). Advantages and disadvantages of the pulse contour method are discussed.
-
Intensive Medicine is always associated with the problem of handling the mass and assuring the quality of information on vital signs, fluid and blood balance, laboratory data, physiological calculations, etc., required in patient care. A computer based monitoring system for intensive care was introduced in 1973 at the Academic Hospital in Leuven. The basic software was developed at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital of the Harvard Medical School and the medical division of the Hewlett Packard Company; the computer used was a H. ⋯ G.-analysis is being developed. The same computer serves the remotely located medical and coronary care units and one bed in the emergency department. An assessment of computer assistance in intensive therapy, on nursing labor and on quality of patient care is made.