Acta anaesthesiologica Belgica
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Acta Anaesthesiol Belg · Jan 2012
Effect of previous anesthesia experience on patients' knowledge and desire for information about anesthesia and the anesthesiologist: a 500 patients' survey from Greece.
This study aimed at assessing the effect of previous anesthesia experience on patients' knowledge of anesthesia and the role of anesthesiologists, on what they would want to know about anesthesia and the way they would like to be informed. ⋯ Previous anesthesia experience did not seem to influence patients' desire for meeting the anesthesiologist and seeking information. A strong desire to personally meet the anesthesiologist is expressed and patients' desire for even more information is noted.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Belg · Jan 2012
Case ReportsRefractory hypercapnia: a simplified technique for extracorporeal CO2 removal (ECCO2R) in the presence of therapeutic limitations.
Refractory hypercapnia with severe acidosis appeared in a 67-year-old man who presented with lung fibrosis and a left pneumothorax as delayed complications of bleomycin chemotherapy for advanced grade lymphoma. Due to failure of noninvasive ventilation using a high-flow nasal cannula oxygen system, the patient was mechanically ventilated with two ventilators at different settings, after intubation with a double-lumen tube. ⋯ To remove some amount of carbon dioxide, we used a simplified method based on a veno-venous hemofiltration circuit coupled to a paediatric oxygenator and an air/oxygen blender. The efficacy on carbon dioxide removal was modest, with a percentage of CO2 total extraction ranging from 10.5 to 20.4%, but the system was immediately available, well tolerated and not very expensive.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Belg · Jan 2012
GuidelineBelgian recommendations on perioperative maintenance fluid management of surgical pediatric population.
The European recommendations on perioperative maintenance fluids in children have recently been adapted from hypotonic to isotonic electrolyte solutions with lower glucose concentrations. In Belgium, however, the commercially approved solutions do not match with these recommendations and there is neither consensus nor mandate about the composition and volume of perioperative maintenance fluids in children undergoing surgery despite the continuing controversy in literature. This paper highlights the significant challenges and shortcomings while prescribing fluid therapy for pediatric surgical patients in Belgium. It is sensible to the authors to address these issues with national guidance through an organization such as The Belgian Association for Paediatric Anaesthesiology, and to propose Belgian recommendations on perioperative fluid management in surgical children, with the intention of improving the quality of care in this population.
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The aim of this study was to evaluate the interest of end expiratory volume (EELV) measurement after cardiac surgery. ⋯ EELV is profoundly reduced after cardiac surgery. Measuring EELV is a new tool that is now available during mechanical ventilation. It seems to bring some new robust and possibly useful information. Recruitment maneuvers using sighs does not modify this volume.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Belg · Jan 2012
Case ReportsAllergy to chlorhexidine: beware of the central venous catheter.
The example reported here illustrates the frequent belief that "innocent" products such as central venous catheters do not produce allergic reactions. However, they might be impregnated with chlorhexidine and elicit serious life-threatening anaphylaxis in patients with allergy to this antiseptic agent.