Publications by authors named "Spahn D"

Background: Iron deficiency anemia in the perioperative setting is treated predominantly with intravenous iron formulation, of which ferric carboxymaltose may induce hypophosphatemia by modulating fibroblast growth factor 23.

Methods: In this single-center, prospective, randomized, double-blind trial, we consented 92 adult patients scheduled for elective major abdominal or thoracic surgery. These patients either had isolated iron deficiency (plasma ferritin <100 ng/mL or transferrin saturation < 20 %) or iron deficiency anemia (hemoglobin (Hb) 100-130 g/L with plasma ferritin <100 ng/mL or transferrin saturation < 20 %).

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  • The study looked at how much blood patients lost during surgery if they had high levels of certain blood thinners called FXa inhibitors, without reversing their effects before surgery.
  • Researchers collected data from 32 patients who had emergency operations between 2018 and 2022 and found that blood loss was generally low, even with high levels of the medicine in their systems.
  • The results showed that one type of blood thinner caused a bit more blood loss than another, but overall, the method of waiting and monitoring worked fine, and no serious complications happened.
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Background: Training schoolchildren in basic life support ('Kids-Save-Lives' training) is widely believed to improve outcomes from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Numerous programmes have been launched, but to our knowledge, neither children nor schoolteachers have been directly involved in designing these courses. This is unfortunate, as it is well-known that children (as the target goup of training) learn differently from adults.

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We describe the case of a 38-year-old man with a history of chronic portal vein thrombosis who presented with abdominal pain after a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt procedure. Under anticoagulation therapy with rivaroxaban, he experienced active splenic bleeding, leading to hemodynamic instability. Emergency interventions, including andexanet alfa and nanoparticle administration, successfully stopped the bleeding.

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  • Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) is critical for patients with failing heart and lung function, and a third cannula may be added when standard methods are insufficient.
  • A study at University Hospital Zurich from 2007-2019 found that only 3.1% of ECLS cases used a hybrid approach, with a high in-hospital mortality rate of 67.9% across various conditions.
  • Survivors of hybrid ECLS had lower severity of illness scores and required fewer platelet transfusions compared to non-survivors, indicating the need for careful patient selection based on specific clinical scenarios.
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Remimazolam, a short-acting benzodiazepine, may be used for induction and maintenance of total intravenous anaesthesia, but its role in the management of patients with multiple comorbidities remains unclear. In this phase 3 randomised controlled trial, we compared the anaesthetic efficacy and the incidence of postinduction hypotension during total intravenous anaesthesia with remimazolam vs. propofol.

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Background: Viscoelastic hemostatic assays, such as rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM) or thromboelastography, enable prompt diagnosis and accelerate targeted treatment. However, the complex interpretation of the results remains challenging. Visual Clot-a situation awareness-based visualization technology-was developed to assist clinicians in interpreting viscoelastic tests.

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Background: Anaesthesia contributes substantially to the environmental impact of healthcare. To reduce the ecological footprint of anaesthesia, a set of sustainability interventions was implemented in the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. This study evaluates the environmental and economic implications of these interventions.

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Mutations of large conductance Ca- and voltage-activated K channels (BK) are associated with cognitive impairment. Here we report that CA1 pyramidal neuron-specific conditional BK knock-out (cKO) mice display normal locomotor and anxiety behavior. They do, however, exhibit impaired memory acquisition and retrieval in the Morris Water Maze (MWM) when compared to littermate controls (CTRL).

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Background: The world faces a significant global health threat - climate change, which makes creating more environmentally sustainable healthcare systems necessary. As a resource-intensive specialty, anesthesiology contributes to a substantial fraction of healthcare's environmental impact. This alarming situation invites us to reconsider the ecological health determinants and calls us to action.

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The escalating epidemic of burnout in healthcare professionals affects provider well-being, patient care and sustainability of healthcare systems. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of burnout among anaesthesia care providers (consultants, trainees or nurse anaesthetists) in Switzerland and identify risk factors to develop strategies for prevention. This multicentre cross-sectional study was conducted at 22 anaesthesia departments in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, using an online questionnaire.

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Background: Machine learning can analyze vast amounts of data and make predictions for events in the future. Our group created machine learning models for vital sign predictions. To transport the information of these predictions without numbers and numerical values and make them easily usable for human caregivers, we aimed to integrate them into the Philips Visual-Patient-avatar, an avatar-based visualization of patient monitoring.

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  • - The study focuses on creating a predictive model using machine learning to assess in-hospital mortality risk for patients undergoing veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO), aiming to improve clinical decision-making prior to ECMO initiation.
  • - Researchers analyzed data from 837 patients to develop and validate a model using two variable sets (small and comprehensive), finding similar error rates (~35%) and a moderate area under the curve (AUC) between 0.70 and 0.71, indicating decent predictive ability.
  • - External validation showed varied performance, with higher error rates and lower AUCs (0.60 to 0.63), suggesting that while the model provides useful insights, there may
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Background: Guidelines recommend using viscoelastic coagulation tests to guide coagulation management, but interpreting the results remains challenging. Visual Clot, a 3D animated blood clot, facilitates interpretation through a user-centered and situation awareness-oriented design.

Objective: This study aims to compare the effects of Visual Clot versus conventional viscoelastic test results (rotational thrombelastometry [ROTEM] temograms) on the coagulation management performance of anesthesia teams in critical bleeding situations.

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Sex-specific preoperative haemoglobin levels and the need for perioperative red cell transfusion in men and women are still debated. Cavalli and colleagues examined the appropriateness of World Health Organization (WHO) anaemia thresholds (haemoglobin <130 g L for males and <120 g L for females) in a retrospective cohort analysis of >6000 adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. The authors concluded that the WHO anaemia threshold disproportionately disadvantages female cardiac surgery patients, and a preoperative haemoglobin level of at least 130 g L should be targeted in all cardiac surgical patients regardless of sex.

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Background: Patient blood management (PBM) is a multidisciplinary and patient-centered treatment approach, comprising the detection and treatment of anemia, the minimization of blood loss, and the rational use of allogeneic transfusions. Pregnancy, delivery, and the puerperium are associated with increased rates of iron deficiency and anemia, which correlates with worse maternal and fetal outcomes and places pregnant women at increased risk of obstetric hemorrhage.

Summary: Early screening for iron deficiency before the onset of anemia, as well as the use of oral and intravenous iron to treat iron deficiency anemia, has been shown to be beneficial.

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Medical technology innovation has improved patient monitoring in perioperative and intensive care medicine and continuous improvement in the technology is now a central focus in this field. Because data density increases with the number of parameters captured by patient-monitoring devices, its interpretation has become more challenging. Therefore, it is necessary to support clinicians in managing information overload while improving their awareness and understanding about the patient's health status.

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  • The study investigates in-hospital mortality rates for adult patients undergoing veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (V-V ECMO) therapy at University Hospital Zurich from 2007 to 2019.
  • Among 221 patients, the in-hospital mortality rate was 37.6%, with no significant variation based on the specific clinical conditions treated.
  • Key independent predictors of mortality identified include older age, newly detected liver failure, and the need for blood and platelet transfusions.
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The timely correction of anaemia before major surgery is important for optimising perioperative patient outcomes. However, multiple barriers have precluded the global expansion of preoperative anaemia treatment programmes, including misconceptions about the true cost/benefit ratio for patient care and health system economics. Institutional investment and buy-in from stakeholders could lead to significant cost savings through avoided complications of anaemia and red blood cell transfusions, and through containment of direct and variable costs of blood bank laboratories.

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  • Postcardiotomy veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (V-A-ECMO) has a high mortality rate, and determining which patients are at the greatest risk for death is challenging, making clinical judgment essential for initiating the procedure.
  • A systematic review analyzed data from 1269 patients across 10 studies, revealing that higher arterial lactate levels at the start of V-A-ECMO correlate with increased in-hospital mortality rates and a significant cut-off level of 6.8 mmol/L for predicting outcomes.
  • The findings suggest that monitoring arterial lactate levels may aid clinicians in making more informed decisions on when to start V-A-ECMO, especially in older patients with elevated lactate levels.
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Patient monitoring is the foundation of intensive care medicine. High workload and information overload can impair situation awareness of staff, thus leading to loss of important information about patients' conditions. To facilitate mental processing of patient monitoring data, we developed the Visual-Patient-avatar Intensive Care Unit (ICU), a virtual patient model animated from vital signs and patient installation data.

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is predicted to play an increasingly important role in perioperative medicine in the very near future. However, little is known about what anesthesiologists know and think about AI in this context. This is important because the successful introduction of new technologies depends on the understanding and cooperation of end users.

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