Influence of α-stat and pH-stat blood gas management strategies on cerebral blood flow and oxygenation in patients treated with therapeutic hypothermia after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a crossover study.

Objectives: In patients treated with therapeutic hypothermia after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, two blood gas management strategies are used regarding the PaCO2 target: α-stat or pH-stat. We aimed to compare the effects of these strategies on cerebral blood flow and oxygenation.

Design: Prospective observational single-center crossover study.

Usefulness of routine laboratory parameters in the decision to treat refractory cardiac arrest with extracorporeal life support.

Aim: To evaluate the usefulness of routine laboratory parameters in the decision to treat refractory cardiac arrest patients with extracorporeal life support (ECLS).

Methods: Sixty-six adults with witnessed cardiac arrest of cardiac origin unrelated to poisoning or hypothermia undergoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation without return of spontaneous circulation (duration: 155 min [120-180], median, [25-75%-percentiles]) were included in a prospective cohort-study. ECLS was implemented under cardiac massage, using a centrifugal pump connected to a hollow-fiber membrane-oxygenator, aiming to maintain ECLS flow ≥ 2.

Pulmonary artery sarcoma: a rare cause of dyspnoea.

A 72-year-old woman with no significant medical history presented to the emergency room for severe dyspnoea. The initial clinical diagnosis was acute pulmonary embolism. Heparin infusion was initiated while awaiting a computed tomographic scan but the patient's condition deteriorated dramatically and stat echocardiogram showed tamponade.