No abstract

This study suggests that universal antifungal prophylaxes reduces incidence of IAI after LTX. However, included studies are limited by small sample size, single-center structure without randomization, mixed population (including heart/heart-lung transplant), and heterogeneity due to variations in immunosuppression, type, and duration of AFP. Therefore, there is a clear need for an adequately powered RCT.

Donor age > or =55 years does not compromise immediate and long-term results after lung transplantation, although long-term observation of patients receiving such an organ suggests earlier lung dysfunction. Due to the rising need of organs, lungs from donors aged 55 or older have to be considered for transplantation. However, the acceptance should be based on donor lung evaluation and individual recipient needs. Long-term outcomes over 5 years need to be further investigated.

This study indicates that transplantation of lungs from resuscitated donors may not affect outcome after LuTX. Therefore, donor history of CA should not automatically preclude LuTX.

The DRR is predictive of early and mid-term mortality as well as relevant morbidities in patients undergoing LVAD implantation. Therefore, the DRR should be considered within the preoperative risk stratification and patient selection for LVAD implantation.

BACKGROUND: Percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy (PDT) is the standard airway access in critically ill patients who require prolonged mechanical ventilation. However, the literature lacks reports about the effectiveness and safety of this procedure in thoracic organ transplant recipients, who have increased risks of bleeding and infection. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the records of subjects who underwent thoracic organ transplantation at our institution between January 2004 and March 2011 followed by PDT (using the Ciaglia Blue Rhino technique with direct bronchoscopic guidance). RESULTS: From a total of 312 thoracic transplant recipients, we identified 93 (29.8%) subjects with PDT. Of these, 79 had undergone double lung transplant, 11 had undergone heart transplant, 2 had undergone combined heart-lung transplant, and 1 had undergone combined heart-kidney transplant. Mean age was 49.5 ؎ 11.2 y, and 58% of subjects were female. The mean time from intubation to PDT was 3.7 ؎ 3.4 d, and mean time from transplant to PDT was 12.6 ؎ 28.3 d. Thirty-two subjects (34.4%) underwent PDT after re-intubation. Thirtynine subjects were receiving renal replacement therapy (41.9%), and 28 had a coagulopathy (30.1%). Moderate but not significant bleeding was observed in 3 subjects. There were no major complications during PDT procedures. Forty-five subjects (48.4%) could be weaned successfully from the ventilator and the tracheostoma could be removed. Forty-eight subjects (51.6%) died due to sepsis, multi-organ failure, or transplant failure. No procedure-related deaths were noted. There were no significant late complications. Among the 45 who survived their stay in the ICU, the functional and cosmetic outcomes of PDT were excellent. CONCLUSIONS: PDT can be safely performed on patients with acute respiratory failure after thoracic organ transplantation. Therefore, we recommend the use of this technique for prolonged airway management in these patients.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is used for severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. However, available ECMO systems are large and not well designed for fast delivery, emergency implantation, and interhospital transfer. Therefore, a new miniaturized oxygenator with integrated rotary blood pump (ILIAS) was developed and compared with a standard ECMO system in a large animal model. Acute lung injury was induced with repeated pulmonary saline lavage in 14 pigs until PaO2 /FiO2 -ratio was <100 mm Hg with a positive-end-expiratory-pressure of 5 mbar. Pigs were assigned to the following three groups: group 1 (n = 4): control group with conventional ventilation; group 2 (n = 5): standard vv-ECMO; group 3 (n = 5): vv-ILIAS. Gas exchange, hemodynamics, hemolysis, and coagulation activation were examined over a period of 8 h. No device failed during the observation period. PaCO2 decreased from 59.40 ± 4.14 mm Hg to 48.62 ± 4.50 mm Hg after 1 h in the ILIAS group compared with an improvement of PaCO2 from 48.86 ± 7.45 to 40.10 ± 6.02 in the conventional ECMO group (P = not significant [n.s.]). ARDS-induced respiratory acidosis was controlled promptly with a pH of 7.2 ± 0.1 at baseline increasing to 7.4 ± 0.1 in both study groups after 60 min of ECMO support. Mean carbon dioxide transfer was comparable between the conventional ECMO and ILIAS (211.36 ± 78.39 mL/min vs. 219.99 ± 76.72 mL/min, P = n.s.). PaO2 /FiO2 increased from 118.4 ± 15.5 mm Hg to 179.1 ± 72.4 mm Hg in the ILIAS group compared with an improvement of oxygenation from 107.1 ± 24.9 mm Hg to 179.0 ± 45.7 mm Hg in the standard ECMO group (P = n.s.). Mean oxygen transfer was calculated with 136.09 ± 30.25 mL/min for the ILIAS and 129.05 ± 36.28 mL/min for the standard ECMO. Hemodynamic instability or significant activation of the plasmatic coagulation was not observed. However, hemolysis was significantly higher in the ILIAS group compared with the conventional ECMO. As the ILIAS prototype provided excellent gas exchange with hemodynamic stability comparable with a standard ECMO system, we believe this study serves as a proof of concept. Further development and design modifications (optimized rotation speed and surface coating of rotor) are already done and another experiment is projected to reduce hemolysis and platelet consumption for clinical application.

Our study demonstrated a significantly improved microcirculation after application of PDF V during organ procurement, probably because of better distribution of the preservation solution. Further studies are necessary, to prove the long-term effects of this observation.