Neurologic complications of cardiac arrest.

Cardiac arrest is a common and serious medical emergency affecting upwards of 450000 Americans on an annual basis. It causes a substantial strain on the physical and financial resources of the medical system. The optimal management of patients requires the close collaboration of multiple specialists, including first responders, intensivists, cardiologists, and neurologists.

A transfusion-related acute myocardial injury.

It is not uncommon for patients to have adverse reactions during or after blood transfusions, as they occur in 1%-6% of all blood transfusions. Although many of the reactions are clinically insignificant, a small subset of adverse reactions can lead to serious illness and even death. The authors describe a healthy young man who exhibited an acute pulmonary injury reaction to a blood product transfusion.

Effects of enhanced external counterpulsation on Health-Related Quality of Life continue 12 months after treatment: a substudy of the Multicenter Study of Enhanced External Counterpulsation.

Background: The Multicenter Study of Enhanced External Counterpulsation (MUST-EECP) was the first prospective, randomized, blinded, sham-controlled study of enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) in the treatment of chronic stable angina. We previously reported that EECP therapy lengthens the time to exercise-induced myocardial ischemia and reduces angina. We now describe the effects of EECP therapy versus a sham-treated control group in terms of patients' functioning, their senses of well-being and other Health-Related Quality Of Life (HQOL) parameters from baseline to end of treatment and from baseline to 12 months after treatment.