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Uncategorized Published - 1 March, 2017    By - Dr Clemens
Implanted Cardiac Devices Pass an MRI Test

By Mark S. Link, MD Dr. Link is deputy editor with NEJM Journal Watch Cardiology, from which this story was adapted. Full coverage is available at the link below. Patients with conventional pacemakers or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) generally fared well, challenging conventional wisdom, suggests a New England Journal of Medicine study. […]

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Uncategorized Published - 28 February, 2017    By - Dr Clemens
Intraabdominal Surgery and Anesthesia Management

Author: John Hedley-Whyte, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.R.C.A., M.R.C.S. Anesthesiology 3 2017, Vol.126, 543-546. Inspired Oxygenation in Surgical Patients During General Anesthesia With Controlled Ventilation: A Concept of Atelectasis. By Bendixen HH, Hedley-Whyte J, and Laver MB. New Engl J Med 1963; 269:991–996. Reprinted with permission. Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine if the pattern of […]

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Uncategorized Published - 28 February, 2017    By - Dr Clemens
Influence of Ethanol on Oxycodone-induced Respiratory Depression: A Dose-escalating Study in Young and Elderly Individuals

Authors: Rutger van der Schrier, M.D. et al Anesthesiology 3 2017, Vol.126, 534-542. Background: Respiratory depression is a potentially fatal complication of opioid use, which may be exacerbated by simultaneous ethanol intake. In this three-way sequential crossover dose-escalating study, the influence of coadministration of oral oxycodone and intravenous ethanol was assessed on resting ventilation, apneic events and […]

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Uncategorized Published - 28 February, 2017    By - Dr Clemens
Comparison of the Prognostic Significance of Initial Blood Lactate and Base Deficit in Trauma Patients

Authors: Mathieu Raux, M.D., Ph.D. et al Anesthesiology 3 2017, Vol.126, 522-533. Background: Initial blood lactate and base deficit have been shown to be prognostic biomarkers in trauma, but their respective performances have not been compared. Methods: Blood lactate levels and base deficit were measured at admission in trauma patients in three level 1 trauma centers. This was […]

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Uncategorized Published - 28 February, 2017    By - Dr Clemens
A Perioperative Systems Design to Improve Intraoperative Glucose Monitoring Is Associated with a Reduction in Surgical Site Infections in a Diabetic Patient Population

Authors: Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, M.D., M.P.H. et al Anesthesiology 3 2017, Vol.126, 431-440. Background: Diabetic patients receiving insulin should have periodic intraoperative glucose measurement. The authors conducted a care redesign effort to improve intraoperative glucose monitoring. Methods: With approval from Vanderbilt University Human Research Protection Program (Nashville, Tennessee), the authors created an automatic system to identify diabetic patients, […]

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Uncategorized Published - 28 February, 2017    By - Dr Clemens
Dexmedetomidine Disrupts the Local and Global Efficiencies of Large-scale Brain Networks

Authors: Javeria A. Hashmi, Ph.D. et al Anesthesiology 3 2017, Vol.126, 419-430. Background: A clear understanding of the neural basis of consciousness is fundamental to research in clinical and basic neuroscience disciplines and anesthesia. Recently, decreased efficiency of information integration was suggested as a core network feature of propofol-induced unconsciousness. However, it is unclear whether this finding […]

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Uncategorized Published - 27 February, 2017    By - Dr Clemens
Anesthetics, the Ryanodine Receptors, and the Heart

Authors: Ion A. Hobai, M.D., Ph.D. Anesthesiology 3 2017, Vol.126, 373-375. CARDIOVASCULAR complications are still a major cause of perioperative mortality and morbidity.1  Myocardial ischemia, arrhythmias, and cardiac pump failure usually harm patients with preexisting cardiac disease and/or during extreme hemodynamic challenges. To prevent these complications, a substantial body of research aims to understand the effects exerted […]

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Uncategorized Published - 27 February, 2017    By - Dr Clemens
Ketamine: A Drug at War with Itself

Authors: Paul Garcia, M.D., Ph.D. et al Anesthesiology 3 2017, Vol.126, 371-372. KETAMINE has always been the odd one out. Like an eccentric uncle who always turns up at the holiday season with a new partner, ketamine has never really comfortably fitted in to simple classifications of anesthetic drugs. Obviously, the anesthesia produced by ketamine is qualitatively […]

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Uncategorized Published - 27 February, 2017    By - Dr Clemens
Adjusting the Focus on Transfusion-associated Circulatory Overload

Authors: Nareg Roubinian, M.D., M.P.H.T.M. et al Anesthesiology 3 2017, Vol.126, 363-365. TRANSFUSION-ASSOCIATED circulatory overload (TACO) remains the most common pulmonary complication of transfusion and the second most common cause of transfusion-related deaths reported to the Food and Drug Administration.  The term TACO was coined by Popovsky  in 1983 and is characterized by new or worsening hydrostatic pulmonary […]

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Uncategorized Published - 27 February, 2017    By - Dr Clemens
Does a Platelet Transfusion Independently Affect Bleeding and Adverse Outcomes in Cardiac Surgery?

Authors: Fabienne M. A. van Hout et al Anesthesiology 3 2017, Vol.126, 441-449. Background: Conflicting results have been reported concerning the effect of platelet transfusion on several outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess the independent effect of a single early intraoperative platelet transfusion on bleeding and adverse outcomes in cardiac surgery patients. Methods: For this […]

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