Articles: postoperative-complications.
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Intravascular haemolysis is frequently seen in patients after heart valve replacement, but is often compensated. The cause of the haemolysis is traumatic damage of the red cells. It is more often seen after aortic, than after mitral replacement, because the transvalvular pressure gradient is higher and is more severe in ball valves than in disc valves. If substitution therapy with iron, folic acid, or even red cells fails, re-operation should be seriously considered.
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Recent Adv Stud Cardiac Struct Metab · Jan 1975
Effect of deep hypothermia, limited cardiopulmonary bypass, and total arrest on growing puppies.
The advantages of a bloodless field and total cardiac relaxation have popularized the technique of deep hypothermia and total circulatory arrest for the correction of complex congenital cardiac defects in infancy. There is, however, a significant potential for cerebral and pulmonary complications. Presently, the most common technique is that of using a combination of surface cooling and cardiopulmonary bypass cooling and rewarming. ⋯ Puppies that were continuously on cardiopulmonary bypass had no significant pulmonary changes caused by increasing the inspired oxygen tension in the ventilator; however, striking changes were noted when limited cardiopulmonary bypass was employed for core cooling and total circulatory arrest combined with pulmonary ventilation with 100% oxygen. We conclude from this experimental study that the use of surface cooling and core cooling with subsequent total circulatory arrest at 20 degrees C is a safe procedure, providing the period of time of cardiac arrest is kept around 30 min. We also conclude that the alveolar oxygen tension should be maintained at the lowest level possible during the interval of circulatory arrest to avoid the apparent rapid onset of post-traumatic pulmonary insufficiency.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Jan 1975
Complications to tracheostomy and long-term intubation: a follow-up study.
Hospital records of 79 patients treated with tracheostomy or long-term intubation from 1969 to 1971 were reviewed, and the 43 surviving patients were examined by laryngoscopy, x-ray and spirometry for complications subsequent to these treatments. Early complications included one tube occlusion and one case of postextubation stridor in each group, one dislocated tube, one bilateral pneumothorax, and one case of fatal innominate arterial hemorrhage in the tracheostomy group, and two cases of atelectasis in the long-term intubation group. ⋯ Late complications in surviving patients were prolonged hoarseness in six patients treated with prolonged intubation, two of whom had also had tracheostomy. Radiologically verified tracheal stenosis (40-60%), four at the stoma level and one at the cuff level, all occurred in the tracheostomy group.