Improvement of donor myocardial function after treatment of autonomic storm during brain death.

Background: In experimental brain death models, autonomic storm (AS) triggers severe myocardial dysfunction, which can be attenuated by pharmacologic treatment. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of AS in a cohort of human organ donors and to evaluate the potential interest of AS treatment on myocardial function, cardiac harvesting and transplantation.

Methods: The cohort consisted of 152 patients.

[Tracheo-oesophageal fistula. A rare complication of percutaneous tracheostomy].

Percutaneous tracheostomy is more and more used in the intensive care units. However, it's not devoid of risks. We report the case of a patient who developed a tracheo-esophageal fistula discovered after removal of the cannula 23 days after tracheotomy.