Fibrinogen concentration significantly decreases after on-pump versus off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery: a systematic point-of-care ROTEM analysis.

Objectives: Studies have emphasized the importance of normal fibrinogen concentrations in surgical patients. The primary hypothesis of this study was that fibrinogen levels significantly decrease in on-pump coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery versus off-pump coronary artery bypass graft (OPCAB) surgery. The second objective was to show that ROTEM (TEM International, GmbH, Munich, Germany) rapidly detects these abnormalities compared with standard tests.

Levosimendan in congenital cardiac surgery: a randomized, double-blind clinical trial.

Objective: In this study, the authors used a continuous infusion of either levosimendan or milrinone as inotropic support after corrective congenital cardiac surgery. The hemodynamic and biochemical parameters were compared.

Design: A prospective, randomized, double-blind clinical study.

Whole lung lavage in alveolar proteinosis: manual clapping versus mechanical chest percussion.

Alveolar proteinosis is an uncommon lung disease presenting in primary or secondary forms, characterised by surfactant derived proteinous material accumulation within the lungs. The most effective treatment remains whole lung lavage under general anaesthesia. We have recently performed whole lung lavage in a 46-year-old patient with alveolar proteinosis who presented with severe dyspnoea and hypoxia.