Revista médica de Chile
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Revista médica de Chile · Feb 2018
Case Reports[Extracorporeal cardiopulmonay resuscitation: case report on an out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest].
Out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest (OHCA) is highly lethal. Although overall survival is increasing, hospital discharge with good neurological prognosis remains low and highly variable. ⋯ He was transferred to the emergency department, where optimal advanced resuscitation was continued, until the connection to extracorporeal cardiopulmonary support, with the aim of reestablishing blood flow, a technique known as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR: extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation). The patient was discharged from the hospital 25 days later.
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Revista médica de Chile · Jan 2018
Review[Cardiotoxicity of anticancer therapies. Towards the implementation of cardio-oncology units].
Recently, we have witnessed major improvements in cancer treatment. Early diagnosis and development of new therapies have reduced cancer-related mortality. However, these new therapies, along with greater patient survival, are associated with an increase in untoward effects, particularly in the cardiovascular system. ⋯ The main objective of cardio-oncology is to achieve the maximum benefits of oncologic treatments while minimizing their deleterious cardiovascular effects. It harbors the stratification of patients at risk of cardiotoxicity, the implementation of diagnostic tools (imaging techniques and biomarkers) for early diagnosis, preventive strategies and early treatment options for the complications. Herein, we discuss the basic knowledge for the implementation of cardio-oncology units and their role in the management of cancer patients, the diagnostic tools available to detect cardiotoxicity and the present therapeutic options.
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Revista médica de Chile · Dec 2017
Case Reports[Severe leg edema associated with the use of dopaminergic drugs in Parkinson's disease. Report of one case].
The main adverse effects of dopaminergic drugs used in Parkinson's disease are hypotension, somnolence, hallucinations and impulse control disorder. Less common is leg edema. We report on a 68-year-old male receiving levodopa and pramipexole consulting for severe leg edema lasting two years, whose etiology was not ascertained with multiple lab tests. This edema subsided substantially when pramipexole was discontinued and the dose of levodopa was increased to treat motor symptoms.
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Revista médica de Chile · Nov 2017
[Clinical guidelines using the GRADE system (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation)].
The Ministry of Health of Chile, aiming to improve the quality of clinical practice guidelines, gradually incorporated the GRADE system (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) to develop evidence based recommendations. This system summarizes and evaluates the certainty of the available evidence. It moves from evidence to decision in a systematic and transparent manner, based on four main dimensions: balance between benefits and harms, certainty of evidence, patient's values and preferences and use of resources. ⋯ Conditional recommendations, however, indicate that there is a close balance between favorable and unfavorable consequences of the intervention, there is uncertainty in the magnitude of benefits or adverse effects, there is uncertainty or variability in values and preferences of individuals or costs are not justified. These recommendations apply to many patients, but not all of them: ideally they should be discussed with each person. To achieve a better implementation of the recommendations made with GRADE methodology, health professionals should know the meaning of strong and conditional recommendations and they should be able to critically assess of them.
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The trauma involved in any surgical procedure, even if elective, causes a metabolic stress response characterized by postoperative insulin resistance (PIR). PIR is considered a surgical stress marker and is associated with increased morbidity and postoperative length of stay. PIR worsens when the patient is operated in a state of prolonged preoperative fasting or when postoperative feeding is delayed. ⋯ The nutritional perioperative interventions in the ERAS protocols, focus on avoiding prolonged preoperative fasting by oral carbohydrate loading up to two hours before surgery, accompanied by early postoperative feeding through the digestive tube. These nutritional perioperative interventions are safe and effective to reduce complications and postoperative stay, even in patients with well controlled type 2 diabetes. Nevertheless, their implementation and compliance are rather low, therefore, we must continue to make efforts in order to change perioperative nutritional management of our patients to achieve the best possible postoperative recovery.