Articles: treatment.
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Neurosurgical clipping used to be the standard method of occluding intracranial aneurysms, but controlled detachable coils are increasingly used to obliterate aneurysms by endosaccular packing. ⋯ Endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysms has gained widespread acceptance. Preference for coiling or clipping depends on patient and aneurysm characteristics, and on the local expertise.
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The effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) or the internal pallidum (GPi) on the parkinsonian triad and on levodopa-induced dyskinesias are very similar. The antiakinetic effect of STN DBS seems to be slightly better. On the contrary to pallidal DBS, stimulation of the STN allows to reduce dopaminergic treatment by more than 50p.100 on average. ⋯ It is the responsibility of the operating centre to determine the levodopa response, to confirm the diagnosis, to rule out contraindications and to make sure that the medical treatment cannot be further optimised. Severe surgical complications with permanent sequels are relatively rare, about 1p.100 per implanted side. The patient selection, the precision of the surgery and the quality of the postoperative follow-up are the three main determinants of success.
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Journal of anesthesia · Jan 2002
Effects of fentanyl on cardiovascular and plasma catecholamine responses in surgical patients.
Whether opioids administered before skin incision, under inhalational anesthesia, improve cardiovascular and plasma catecholamine responses to surgical stimulation compared with those administered after skin incision remains unclear. We compared the effects of fentanyl injected before and after skin incision on these responses. ⋯ Our results indicated that fentanyl depressed cardiovascular and plasma catecholamine responses irrespective of the time of administration, and that the higher dose of fentanyl produced a greater suppression of MAP and HR responses. In addition, the depressant effects on MAP of high-dose fentanyl administered 5 min before skin incision lasted longer than when injected 5 min after incision. At both doses, the opioid attenuated the rise in plasma Epi, but not Nor.
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Ethical issues can be more difficult to address in the emergency department than in other settings. We present two cases, with the goal of stimulating moral reflection and encouraging emergency physicians to gain a better understanding of two important ethical issues: advance directives and resource allocation decisions. ⋯ Although patients or substitute decision-makers define the value of a treatment goal, emergency physicians must ensure that this goal does indeed represent the patient's wishes, that it is achievable, and that competing claims for the same resource are considered. Learning from others' experiences and preparing for ethical problems in advance will help physicians feel more comfortable in dealing with ethical issues.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Jan 2002
Treatment and toxicokinetics of acute pediatric arsenic ingestion: danger of arsenic insecticides in children.
To describe the toxicokinetics and management of acute pediatric arsenic ingestion. ⋯ Recovery from arsenic poisoning was attributable to the restoration and maintenance of adequate cardiac output and renal perfusion in early shock, which allowed depot intramuscular British anti-Lewisite to circulate and eliminate the poison. Although an intravenous antiarsenical chelating agent would be advantageous in treating shock from arsenic poisoning, none is currently available. We urge the immediate use of British anti-Lewisite therapy on patient presentation with suspected toxic arsenic ingestion.