Dexamethasone for Cardiac Surgery: A Practice Preference-Randomized Consent Comparative Effectiveness Trial.

Background: High-dose corticosteroids have been used to attenuate the inflammatory response to cardiac surgery and cardiopulmonary bypass, but patient outcome benefits remain unclear. The primary aim was to determine whether using dexamethasone was superior to not using dexamethasone to increase the number of home days in the first 30 days after cardiac surgery. The secondary aim was to evaluate efficiency, value, and impact of the novel trial design.

Clinical utility of the Quantra point-of-care haemostasis analyser during urgent cardiac surgery.

Coagulopathic bleeding during and after cardiac surgery is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Viscoelastic testing is increasingly used instead of laboratory testing. Our aim was to compare a new viscoelastic point-of-care device, the Quantra System, with thromboelastography and standard laboratory testing.

Optimisation of pre-operative anaemia in patients before elective major surgery - why, who, when and how?

Anaemia in surgical patients is a common and serious problem; around 40% of patients presenting for major surgery are anaemic. Patients with pre-operative anaemia have significantly higher rates of morbidity and mortality and are likely to be transfused red cells. In addition, red cell transfusions are independently associated with worse outcomes.

The association between borderline pre-operative anaemia in women and outcomes after cardiac surgery: a cohort study.

Anaemia is common before cardiac surgery and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The World Health Organization (WHO) definition of anaemia is lower for women than for men by 10 g.l , potentially putting women at a disadvantage compared with men with regard to pre-operative optimisation.

Reporting critical incidents in a tertiary hospital: a historical cohort study of 110,310 procedures.

Purpose: Investigation of adverse events associated with anesthetic procedures is a method of quality control that identifies topics to improve clinical care and patient safety. Most research to date has been based on closed claim registries and anonymous reports which have specific limitations. Therefore, to evaluate a hospital's reporting system, the present study was designed to describe critical incidents that anesthesiologists voluntarily and non-anonymously reported through an anesthesia information management system.