Outcomes of COVID-19 patients treated with continuous positive airway pressure outside the intensive care unit.

Aim: We aimed to characterise a large population of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with moderate-to-severe hypoxaemic acute respiratory failure (ARF) receiving continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) outside the intensive care unit (ICU), and to ascertain whether the duration of CPAP application increased the risk of mortality for patients requiring intubation.

Methods: In this retrospective, multicentre cohort study, we included adult COVID-19 patients, treated with CPAP outside ICU for hypoxaemic ARF from 1 March to 15 April, 2020. We collected demographic and clinical data, including CPAP therapeutic goal, hospital length of stay and 60-day in-hospital mortality.

Predictors of intubation in COVID-19 patients treated with out-of-ICU continuous positive airway pressure.

Background: As delayed intubation may worsen the outcome of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), we sought to determine COVID-specific early predictors of CPAP failure.

Methods: In this observational retrospective multicentre study, we included all COVID-19 patients treated with out-of-ICU CPAP, candidates for intubation in case of CPAP failure. From these patients, we collected demographic and clinical data.

Total intravenous anesthesia with propofol and remifentanil for elective non-cardiac surgery.

Background: Remifentanil is a highly effective mu opioid agonist with predictable pharmacokinetics and a close concentration-effect relationship. Moreover, studies on anesthetic drugs interactions show that optimal propofol concentrations decrease more significantly with remifentanil as compared with other opioids and recovery appears to be much faster than when propofol is combined with other opioids combinations. This intervention study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of propofol combined with remifentanil in elective non cardiac inpatient surgery.

Prognostic meaning of temporary clipping in patients with intracranial aneurysm.

The prognostic meaning of the routine use of the methods of temporary clipping of the afferent vessel in patients with intracranial aneurysm (Grading 0-III) was the aim of the analysis in this study. In the period 1 January, 1991-31 December 1997, 304 patients underwent surgery for non-giant intracranial aneurysm and a follow-up angiography. 157 patients were operated by routinely using the temporary clipping of the afferent vessel, whereas in 147 patients the surgical procedure was performed by traditional methods.