1,721,031 research outputs found
Analgesia in PACU: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
Control and abolition of pain during and after surgical procedures is crucial point in the practice of anaesthesiology. In the last years the concept of multimodal analgesia (the use of different analgesic and techniques to relieve pain), has developed and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have a major role in it, because they have an opioid sparing effect. Moreover, they are very effective on somatic and breakthrough pain. NSAIDs can be divided functionally in four classes: salicylates, acetaminophen, non-specific inhibitors (i.e. ibuprofen, ketorolac, etc.) and cyclooxygenase2-inhibitors (coxibs). The target of action of these drugs is the different isozymes of the Prostaglandin G/H synthase, called Cyclooxygenases (COX). At least three different types of COX have been identified, which are probably organ specific. These isozymes play a crucial role in the developing of the inflammatory cascade, and in the genesis of various pain mediators released from tissue injury. Their most important side effects affect mainly gastrointestinal system, the kidney and the coagulation system. Less important are the effects on the liver and the immunologic system (asthma). The analgesic nephropathy and the coagulopathy must be taken into account in the surgical patient, for the possibility of increase perioperative morbidity. Very recently the newest class of coxibs, although they reduce g.i. bleeding and coagulopathy, have proved to increase the risk of cardiovascular accidents both in long term therapy than postoperatively in cardiac surgical patients. Many data are needed, but in patients at high risk of cardiac disease other NSAIDs should be considered
INTRATHORACIC BLOOD VOLUME INDEX AND EXTRAVASCULAR LUNG WATER INDEX IN SEPTIC SHOCK PATIENTS
The liver transplant recipient with cardiac disease
Liver transplantation is a stressful condition for the cardiovascular system of patients with advanced hepatic disease. The underlying hemodynamic and cardiac status of patients with cirrhosis is crucial to determine which patients should became recipients. Generally preoperative cardiovascular testing is performed on potential candidates who are more than 45 years old, or have diabetes mellitus, or peripheral vascular disease, or more than two standard cardiac risk factors. Recent data suggest that the prevalence of coronary artery disease among patients with cirrhosis is much greater than previously believed; it likely mirrors or exceeds the prevalence rate in the healthy population. The morbidity and mortality of patients with coronary artery disease who undergo orthotopic liver transplan- tation (OLT) without treatment are unacceptably high. In conclusion, accurate preoper- ative cardiac evaluation according to the new American Heart Association & American College of Cardiology should lead to detect and treat coronary artery disease before liver transplantation. In case of alcohol-related cardiomyopathy, portopulmonary hypertension, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, there should be a case-by-case discussion by the hepatologist and cardiologist to consider the patient for liver transplantation. No robust data are available on the impact of decompensated dilated heart failure in this setting. If a recipient with cardiac disease is scheduled for OLT, we strongly suggest advanced intra- and postoperative hemodynamic monitoring plus transesophogcal echocardiography
Hemodynamics during liver transplantation
Assessing the optimal volemia in the perioperative course of liver transplantation is a challenge for the anesthesiologist. Traditional estimates of intravascular volume status, such as pulmonary artery occlusion pressure (PAOP), have been widely shown to poorly correlate with changes in cardiac output among critically ill patients. Hence, there has been recent interest in alternative, catheter-related, bedside device volume estimates using thermodilution. Continuous end diastolic volume (CEDVI) showed better correlations with cardiac performance than cardiac filling pressures in studies performed in critically ill patients. When compared with conventional pressure-derived data, preload monitoring estimated as intrathoracic blood volume index (ITBVI) with the PiCCO system based on an integrated transpulmonary thermodilution technique better reflected left ventricular filling both in critically ill patients and those who underwent liver transplantation. Moreover, in liver transplantation, the use of transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE) has been increasing for it provides rapid visualization of the dimension and function of heart chambers as well as the left ventricular end diastolic area index (EDAI) that seem to correlate with graded acute hypovolemia, although its validity as on preload index is still under discussion
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