[Perioperative suspension of anticoagulants: practical recommendations].

If patients being treated with anticoagulants need to undergo an operation then physicians need to consider whether to suspend the use of this medication or to allow its use to be continued. Suspending the use of anticoagulants increases the risk of thrombosis, whereas continued use may cause bleeding complications. No evidence-based scientific research has been carried out regarding best practice for the perioperative use of anticoagulants.

Heart, kidney, and intestine have different tolerances for anemia.

Organ systems do not respond uniformly to changes in systemic oxygen delivery because of global and local redistributive mechanisms. We hypothesized that progressive hemodilution would evoke a different response in the microvascular oxygenation of the heart compared with kidney and gut. To evaluate this hypothesis, we studied the effect of stepwise isovolemic hemodilution on systemic hemodynamic and oxygenation parameters as well as the relation between systemic hematocrit (Ht) and microvascular PO(2) (microPO(2)) in heart, kidney, and intestines in an anesthetized and mechanically ventilated rat model.

Association of no epidural analgesia with postoperative morbidity and mortality after transthoracic esophageal cancer resection.

Background: The aim of this study was to compare morbidity and mortality of patients who had epidural analgesia for at least 2 days after transthoracic esophagectomy for cancer with those who did not have epidural analgesia at all or who had it for less than 2 days.

Study Design: We analyzed 182 patients, 7 of whom were excluded. Patients were divided into two groups; 90 patients (51%) with epidural analgesia for at least 2 days (epidural group) and 85 patients (49%) who did not have epidural analgesia or had it for less than 2 days (no epidural group).

Intestinal and cerebral oxygenation during severe isovolemic hemodilution and subsequent hyperoxic ventilation in a pig model.

Background: During severe isovolemic hemodilution, determination of critical hematocrit levels for the microvascular oxygenation of different organs might provide more insight into the effect of the redistribution of blood flow and oxygen delivery on the oxygenation of different organs. The effect of an increased amount of dissolved oxygen on tissue oxygenation during severely decreased hematocrit levels is not clear.

Methods: Fifteen anesthetized pigs were randomized between an experimental group (n = 10), in which severe isovolemic hemodilution was performed with 6% hydroxyethylstarch (1:1), and a time-matched control group (n = 5).