Update on early warning scores.

Early warning scores (EWS) have the objective to provide a preventive approach for detecting those patients in general wards at risk of deterioration before it begins. Well implemented and combined with a tiered response, the EWS expect to be a relevant tool for patient safety. Most of the evidence for their use has been published for the general EWS.

Individualised perioperative open-lung approach versus standard protective ventilation in abdominal surgery (iPROVE): a randomised controlled trial.

Background: The effects of individualised perioperative lung-protective ventilation (based on the open-lung approach [OLA]) on postoperative complications is unknown. We aimed to investigate the effects of intraoperative and postoperative ventilatory management in patients scheduled for abdominal surgery, compared with standard protective ventilation.

Methods: We did this prospective, multicentre, randomised controlled trial in 21 teaching hospitals in Spain.

Rationale and study design for an individualised perioperative open-lung ventilatory strategy with a high versus conventional inspiratory oxygen fraction (iPROVE-O2) and its effects on surgical site infection: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Surgical site infection (SSI) is a serious postoperative complication that increases morbidity and healthcare costs. SSIs tend to increase as the partial pressure of tissue oxygen decreases: previous trials have focused on trying to reduce them by comparing high versus conventional inspiratory oxygen fractions (FIO) in the perioperative period but did not use a protocolised ventilatory strategy. The open-lung ventilatory approach restores functional lung volume and improves gas exchange, and therefore it may increase the partial pressure of tissue oxygen for a given FIO.

Influence of the thoracic epidural anesthesia on the left ventricular function: an echocardiographic study.

Background: Thoracic epidural anesthesia (TEA) is widely used for major surgery, but studies assessing its impact on left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function are limited, and such studies have assessed patients already under general anesthesia and/or receiving volume expansion between examinations.

Methods: Observational study at a secondary university hospital including consecutive awake patients undergoing major abdominal surgery without significant pre-existing cardiac disease. Patients received a pre-emptive intravenous volume loading before epidural catheter placement with puncture between T6-T7 and T8-T9.

Rationale and study design for an individualized perioperative open lung ventilatory strategy (iPROVE): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Postoperative pulmonary and non-pulmonary complications are common problems that increase morbidity and mortality in surgical patients, even though the incidence has decreased with the increased use of protective lung ventilation strategies. Previous trials have focused on standard strategies in the intraoperative or postoperative period, but without personalizing these strategies to suit the needs of each individual patient and without considering both these periods as a global perioperative lung-protective approach. The trial presented here aims at comparing postoperative complications when using an individualized ventilatory management strategy in the intraoperative and immediate postoperative periods with those when using a standard protective ventilation strategy in patients scheduled for major abdominal surgery.

Postoperative bilateral adrenal hemorrhage: correlation between clinical and radiological signs.

The case of a patient who developed progressive hemodynamic instability during the late postoperative period following oncologic abdominal surgery is presented. Suspecting the onset of intraabdominal infection, we ordered a computed tomographic scan of the area, on which bilateral adrenal hemorrhage was observed. Adrenal function tests confirmed the presence of adrenal insufficiency.

Pulsed radiofrequency in lumbar radicular pain: clinical effects in various etiological groups.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) applied to the lumbar dorsal root ganglion (DRG).

Methods: A retrospective analysis of 54 consecutive patients who underwent 75 PRF procedures was performed. The patients were divided into three groups according to the etiology of the lesion (herniated disc [HD], spinal stenosis [SS], and failed back surgery syndrome [FBSS]).

Oxygen consumption measurement: agreement between the closed-circuit PhysioFlex anesthesia machine and the Deltatrac II indirect calorimeter.

Unlabelled: We designed this study to ascertain whether, for the purpose of clinical interpretation, the direct measurement of O(2) consumption with the PhysioFlex closed-circuit anesthesia machine and with the Deltatrac II indirect calorimeter are interchangeable. Oxygen consumption was measured using the two instruments successively in critically-ill, mechanically-ventilated patients. Measurements were recorded as the mean of 10 consecutive, minute-by-minute, stable readings.