Carry-Over Quality of Pre-acclimatization to Altitude Elicited by Intermittent Hypoxia: A Participant-Blinded, Randomized Controlled Trial on Antedated Acclimatization to Altitude.

Intermittent normobaric hypoxia (IH) is increasingly used to pre-acclimatize for a sojourn to high altitude. There is a number of hypoxia - protocols observing the hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR), but little is known about the carry - over quality of the Lake Louise Score (LLS). We thus studied a week - long, 1 h per day poikilocapnic hypoxia protocol on whether acclimatization could be carried over for one week.

Pharmacologic Agents for the Treatment of Vasodilatory Shock.

Vasodilatory shock is a life-threatening syndrome in critically ill patients and is characterized by severe hypotension and resultant tissue hypoperfusion. This shock state requires the use of vasopressor agents to restore adequate vascular tone. Norepinephrine is still recommended as first-line vasopressor in the management of critically ill patients suffering from severe vasodilation.

Intravenous Levosimendan and Vasopressin in New-Onset Acute Pulmonary Hypertension After Weaning from Cardiopulmonary Bypass.

Objective: A novel treatment with intravenous levosimendan and vasopressin for new-onset acute pulmonary hypertension after weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass is described.

Design: Retrospective analysis of a case series.

Setting: Single-center study.

Vasopressin in Cardiac Surgery: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Objective: To summarize the results of randomized controlled trials on the use of vasopressin as a vasopressor agent in cardiac surgery.

Design: Meta-analysis.

Participants: Six-hundred-twenty-five adult patients undergoing elective or emergency cardiac surgery.

Cutaneous Microvascular Blood Flow and Reactivity in Hypoxia.

As is known, hypoxia leads to an increase in microcirculatory blood flow of the skin in healthy volunteers. In this pilot study, we investigated microcirculatory blood flow and reactive hyperemia of the skin in healthy subjects in normobaric hypoxia. Furthermore, we examined differences in microcirculation between hypoxic subjects with and without short-term acclimatization, whether or not skin microvasculature can acclimatize.

The impact of endotoxin on jejunal tissue oxygenation.

Objective: We examined the effects of systemic ETX on jejunal mucoal microcirculatory parameters in anesthetized pigs.

Methods: Jejunal mucosal tissue PO was measured employing Clark-type surface oxygen electrodes. Oxygen saturation of jejunal microvascular hemoglobin was determined by tissue reflectance spectrophotometry.

The physiologic perspective in fluid management in vascular anesthesiology.

Vascular surgery patients frequently suffer from atherosclerosis and peripheral arterial occlusive disease generating endothelial dysfunction. Furthermore, ischemia and reperfusion during surgery damage endothelial cells and, especially, the endothelial glycocalix. The damage of the glycocalix promotes an increase in permeability.

Pulmonary function after emergence on 100% oxygen in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a randomized, controlled trial.

Background: During emergence from anesthesia, breathing 100% oxygen is frequently used to provide a safety margin toward hypoxemia in case an airway problem occurs. Oxygen breathing has been shown to cause pulmonary gas exchange disorders in healthy individuals. This study investigates how oxygen breathing during emergence affects lung function specifically whether oxygen breathing causes added hypoxemia in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Preoperative identification of patients with increased risk for perioperative bleeding.

Purpose Of Review: Although the overall complication rate in cardiac surgery has been decreased, perioperative bleeding increasing morbidity and mortality is still frequent. Furthermore, the widespread use of new antithrombotic and antiplatelet agents presents an additional challenge in daily practice. Therefore, identifying patients with increased bleeding risk would be advantageous to optimize perioperative management.

Factors influencing blood transfusion requirements in robotic totally endoscopic coronary artery bypass grafting on the arrested heart.

Objective: Robotic technology enables totally endoscopic coronary artery bypass grafting (TECAB) procedures. These operations can be performed on either the beating or arrested heart. One challenge of the latter version is a potentially increased need for blood transfusions.

How to protect the heart in septic shock: a hypothesis on the pathophysiology and treatment of septic heart failure.

Heart failure is a well-recognized manifestation of organ failure in sepsis and septic shock. The pathophysiology of septic heart failure is complex and currently believed to involve several mechanisms. So far, the contributory role of high plasma catecholamine levels has not been investigated.

Arginine-vasopressin attenuates beneficial norepinephrine effect on jejunal mucosal tissue oxygenation during endotoxinaemia.

Background: The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of increasing doses of norepinephrine (NE) with or without arginine-vasopressin (AVP) on intestinal oxygen supply and jejunal mucosal tissue oxygen tension in an acute endotoxic pig model.

Methods: In this prospective, randomized, experimental study on 24 domestic pigs, jejunal mucosal tissue PO2 (PO2muc) was measured using two Clark-type surface oxygen electrodes. Oxygen saturation of jejunal microvascular haemoglobin (HbO2j) was determined by tissue reflectance spectrophotometry.

Effects of phenylephrine on the sublingual microcirculation during cardiopulmonary bypass.

Background: The objective of the present study was to investigate sublingual microvascular blood flow and microcirculatory haemoglobin oxygen saturation (Smc(O(2))) during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) using constant systemic blood flow but different perfusion pressures achieved by phenylephrine administration.

Methods: Fifteen patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting were enrolled in this pilot study. Systemic haemodynamics, oxygen transport variables, arterial and mixed venous blood gas analysis, and microcirculatory variables were determined after initiation of general anaesthesia, during CPB (systemic blood flow=2.

Effects of stomach inflation on haemodynamic and pulmonary function during spontaneous circulation in pigs.

Aim: Stomach inflation during mask ventilation is frequent, but the effects on haemodynamic and pulmonary function are unclear. We evaluated the effects of stomach inflation on haemodynamic and pulmonary function during spontaneous circulation in a porcine model.

Methods: Randomised prospective animal study.

Microcirculatory parameters after isotonic and hypertonic colloidal fluid resuscitation in acute hemorrhagic shock.

Background: Volume resuscitation is one of the primary therapeutic goals in hemorrhagic shock, but data on microcirculatory effects of different colloidal fluid resuscitation regimen are sparse. We investigated sublingual mucosal microcirculatory parameters during hemorrhage and after fluid resuscitation with gelatin, hydroxyethyl starch, or hypertonic saline and hydroxyethyl starch in pigs.

Methods: To induce hemorrhagic shock, 60% of calculated blood volume was withdrawn.

Endotoxinemia-induced changes in coagulation as measured by rotation thrombelastometry technique and conventional laboratory tests: results of a pilot study on pigs.

Modified rotation thrombelastometry (ROTEM) is widely used in near-patient assessment of hemostasis, but data on functional consequences initiated by acute endotoxinemia are rare. To test the hypothesis that the ROTEM technique allows detection of endotoxinemia-induced changes in hemostasis, we conducted a pilot study on pigs. Fifteen healthy pigs were anesthetized and instrumented for invasive hemodynamic monitoring.

Epoprostenol improves mucosal tissue oxygen tension in an acute endotoxemic pig model.

The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of increasing dosages of continuously infused epoprostenol (PGI), a prostacyclin analog, on intestinal oxygen supply and jejunal mucosal tissue oxygen tension in an acute endotoxic pig model. Jejunal mucosal tissue PO2, oxygen saturation of jejunal microvascular hemoglobin, and gut microvascular blood flow were investigated. Systemic hemodynamic variables, mesenteric-venous and systemic acid base and blood gas variables, and lactate measurements were recorded.

[Microcirculation of intensive care patients. From the physiology to the bedside].

The microcirculation is unique in its anatomy and physiology and is a self-contained organ system within the human body. It is the site where gas exchange and nutrient supply takes place, but it is also the site which experiences pathological alterations during various shock states and therefore compromises the oxygen supply to tissues and organs. Systemic inflammation for example leads amongst others to increased heterogeneous blood flow, formation of interstitial edema, altered viscosity, leukocyte activation, disturbances in the coagulation system, and to a breakdown of the endothelial barrier function.

Microcirculatory function monitoring at the bedside--a view from the intensive care.

Microcirculatory dysfunction plays a key role in the pathophysiology of various disease states and may consequently impact patient outcome. Until recently, the evaluation of the microcirculation using different measurement techniques has been mostly limited to animal and human research. With technical advances, microcirculatory monitoring nowadays becomes more and more available for application in clinical praxis.

Oscillation frequency of skin microvascular blood flow is associated with mortality in critically ill patients.

Background: Microcirculatory dysfunction has been hypothesized to play a key role in the pathophysiology of multiple organ failure and, consequently, patient outcome. The objective of this study was to investigate the differences in reactive hyperemia response and oscillation frequency in surviving and non-surviving patients with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome.

Methods: Twenty-nine patients (15 survivors; 14 non-survivors) with two or more organ failures were eligible for study entry.

Arginine vasopressin in advanced cardiovascular failure during the post-resuscitation phase after cardiac arrest.

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) has been employed successfully during cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but there exist only few data about the effects of AVP infusion for cardiovascular failure during the post-cardiac arrest period. Cardiovascular failure is one of the main causes of death after successful resuscitation from cardiac arrest. Although the "post-resuscitation syndrome" has been described as a "sepsis-like" syndrome, there is little information about the haemodynamic response to AVP in advanced cardiovascular failure after cardiac arrest.