Assessment of Didactic Transesophageal Echocardiography Education During Anesthesia Residency.

Background: Transesophageal echocardiography can be a useful monitor during noncardiac surgery, in patients with comorbidities and/or undergoing procedures associated with substantial hemodynamic changes. The goal of this study was to investigate if transesophageal-echocardiography-related knowledge could be acquired during anesthesia residency.

Methods: After institutional review board approval, a prospective observational study was performed in two anesthesiology residency programs.

Steroid-Mediated Decrease in Blood Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Liver Transplant could Impact Long-Term Recovery.

Orthotopic liver transplant (OLT) remains the standard of care for end stage liver disease. To circumvent allo-rejection, OLT subjects receive gluococorticoids (GC). We investigated the effects of GC on endogenous mesenchymal stem (stromal) cells (MSCs) in OLT.

Sevoflurane provides earlier tracheal extubation and assessment of cognitive recovery than isoflurane in patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery.

Objective: To determine whether sevoflurane, because of its lower blood/gas partition coefficient, compared with isoflurane as the primary anesthetic agent, allows earlier tracheal extubation and assessment of cognitive function after off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) surgery.

Design: Prospectively, patients were randomly assigned to receive sevoflurane or isoflurane as their primary anesthetic. Intraoperative opioids were limited to 5 microg/kg of fentanyl.

Successful intraoperative use of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator during liver transplantation complicated by massive intracardiac/pulmonary thrombosis.

During orthotopic liver transplantation a patient received epsilon-aminocaproic acid and clotting factors. Shortly after hepatic artery clamping the patient developed a massive intracardiac/intravascular thrombosis that resulted in cardiac arrest. After diagnosis by transesophageal echocardiography, the patient was treated with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator through a central venous catheter advanced into the right atrium.