Elevated glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) is a risk marker in coronary artery bypass surgery.

Objective: To evaluate if glycosylated haemoglobin 1 (HbA1c) was associated with increased risk of infection and mortality after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Design: Prospective observational study. Preoperative HbA1c concentrations were correlated to outcome in patients followed for an average of 3.

Only a minority of patients referred for elective coronary artery bypass surgery have risk factors diagnosed and treated according to established guidelines.

Patients deserve to be medically optimised for treatment of metabolic risk factors and hypertension before referral for elective coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). We describe here a prospective study of 347 consecutive patients referred for elective CABG. An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed and metabolic risk factors and hypertension were determined pre-operatively.

Multilevel somatosensory evoked potentials and cerebrospinal proteins: indicators of spinal cord injury in thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm surgery.

Objective: Multilevel somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) and the release of biochemical markers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were investigated to identify patients with spinal cord ischemia during thoracoabdominal aortic repair and/or a vulnerable spinal cord during the postoperative period.

Methods: Thirty-nine consecutive patients undergoing elective aneurysm repair using distal aortic perfusion and cerebrospinal fluid drainage were studied. Continuous SSEP were monitored using nerve stimulation of the right and left posterior tibial nerves with signal recording at the level of both common peroneal nerves, the cervical cord and at the cortical level.

Wedging the pulmonary artery catheter: changes in left atrial and pulmonary artery pressures and risk for perforation.

Objective: Clinical and experimental data indicate that when there is lung disease, wedging the pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) could cause decreases in cardiac output and systemic arterial blood pressure and an increase in mean pulmonary artery pressure (PAP). The authors studied whether wedging would alter mean left atrial pressure (LAP), and report perforations with PACs in their unit since 1975.

Design: Observational study.

Effects of cardiopulmonary bypass on glucose homeostasis after coronary artery bypass surgery.

Objective: Hyperglycaemia is associated with increased mortality and morbidity after cardiac surgery. While surgical stress results in hyperglycaemia after all operations, it has been suggested that cardiopulmonary bypass is the dominating contributor after cardiac surgery. This study aimed to determine the contribution of cardiopulmonary bypass to hyperglycaemia after coronary artery bypass.

The postoperative analgesic effects of intra-articular levobupivacaine in elective day-case arthroscopy of the knee: a prospective, randomized, double-blind clinical study.

Purpose: Pain and emesis are the two major complaints after day surgery. Local anesthesia has become an important part of optimizing perioperative pain treatment. The aim of the present study was to study two different concentrations of levobupivacaine's effect on postoperative pain following elective arthroscopy of the knee with lidocaine 10 mg/ml with adrenaline as active control.

Uncoupling proteins in human heart.

Abnormal energetic activity in heart failure correlates inversely with plasma free-fatty-acid concentrations. However, the link between energetic and metabolic abnormalities is unknown. To investigate this association, we obtained blood samples from 39 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

Biochemical markers of cerebrospinal ischemia after repair of aneurysms of the descending and thoracoabdominal aorta.

Objective: To investigate the clinical potential of several markers of spinal cord ischemia in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum during aneurysm repair of the descending thoracic or thoracoabdominal aorta.

Design: Observational study of consecutive patients. Nonblinded, nonrandomized.

Correlation beween AAI-index and the BIS-index during propofol hypnosis: a clinical study.

Objective: To determine the degree of linearity and correlation between the anaesthetic depth indices BIS and AAI over a wide range of hypnotic depth using propofol.

Methods: 20 ASA I patients were studied during propofol induction. Co-induction with 0.