[Quality assurance in specialized palliative home care (QUAPS): a questionnaire's feasibility].

Background: Structure and process parameters are not sufficient for adequate quality assurance in specialized palliative home care (SAPV). Asking the patients and their relatives for their assessment is crucial. A focus group in Jena, Germany, developed the quality assurance in specialized palliative home care (QUAPS) questionnaire for this assessment of outcome parameters, which was tested in two studies.

[Nutrition and fluid management in palliative medicine: do food and drink keep body and soul together?].

Induction, implementation and continuation of an invasive nutrition or fluid administration in patients with advanced, life-limiting illnesses is an often controversial but also very emotionally discussed topic. This article summarizes the current state of knowledge based mainly on the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) guidelines and is intended as a simple guide for clinical practice. In the early phase of disease the induction of an invasive food and fluid administration may be indicated in order to prevent undernutrition and cachexia, to enhance compliance with anti-tumor treatment, to control some adverse effects of anti-tumor therapy and to improve the quality of life.

Enhanced tactile resolution of the contralateral side after surgery and regional anesthesia of the hand.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether enhancement of tactile resolution (measured with Grating Orientation Task) can be demonstrated for patients undergoing regional anesthesia during hand surgery compared with surgery in general anesthesia and nonoperative controls. Regional anesthesia (nine patients) induced a significant improvement in contralateral tactile resolution at 10 and 24 h after the operation (P<0.01 and <0.

Effects of arginine vasopressin on oxygenation and haemodynamics during one-lung ventilation in an animal model.

In a case of arterial hypotension during one-lung ventilation, haemodynamic support may be required to maintain adequate mean arterial pressure. Arginine vasopressin, a potent systemic vasoconstrictor with limited effects on the pulmonary artery pressure, has not been studied in this setting. Twelve female pigs were anaesthetised and ventilated and arterial, central venous and pulmonary artery catheters were inserted.

Effects of a catecholamine-induced increase in cardiac output on lung injury after experimental unilateral pulmonary acid instillation.

Objectives: Increasing pulmonary blood flow aggravated ventilation-associated lung injury in ex vivo animal experiments, but data were less consistent in an in vivo animal model and do not reflect redistributed lung perfusion seen in clinical acute lung injury. We sought to determine the effects of increased cardiac output on markers of lung injury in an in vivo model of inhomogeneous lung perfusion and injury.

Design: Prospective, controlled animal study.