A 37-year-old male smoker with asthma presented with status asthmaticus refractory to terbutaline, intravenous magnesium, continuous bronchodilators, steroids, heliox and theophylline infusion. He was intubated on hospital day 2 and cannulated for veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (V-V ECMO) on hospital day 3 for refractory respiratory acidosis secondary to hypercapnia and hypoxemia despite maximum medical management over 4 days. He was started on inhaled isoflurane with improvement in peak airway pressures and respiratory acidosis, allowing for prompt weaning from V-V ECMO and extubation. Inhaled volatile anaesthetics exert a direct action on bronchiole smooth muscle causing relaxation with significant effect despite severely impaired pulmonary function. This treatment in patients on ECMO may allow for earlier decannulation and decreased risk of coagulopathy, ECMO circuit failure, infection, renal failure, pulmonary haemorrhage and central nervous system haemorrhage. However, major limitations exist in delivering volatile anaesthetics, which may make use inefficient and costly despite efficacy.
BackgroundTranscatheter aortic valve replacement is indicated for severe symptomatic aortic stenosis in patients who have a very high or prohibitive surgical risk as assessed pre-procedurally by the Society of Thoracic Surgery Risk Score, EuroSCORE (II), frailty testing, and other predictors. When combined with another left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, careful consideration must be taken prior to proceeding with transcatheter aortic valve replacement because an additional masked left ventricular outflow tract pathology can lead to challenging hemodynamics in the peri-deployment phase, as reported in this case.Case presentationA 56-year-old Caucasian man with multiple comorbidities and severe aortic stenosis underwent transcatheter aortic valve replacement under monitored anesthesia care. During the deployment phase, he developed dyspnea that progressed to pulmonary edema requiring emergent conversion to general anesthesia, orotracheal intubation, acute respiratory distress syndrome-type ventilation, and vasopressor medications. Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography was performed and hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy with systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve was discovered as an underlying pathology, undetected on preoperative imaging. After treatment with beta blockers, fluid resuscitation, and alpha-1 agonists, he stabilized and was eventually discharged from our hospital without any lasting sequelae.ConclusionsPatients with aortic stenosis most often develop symmetric hypertrophy; however, a small subset has asymmetric septal hypertrophy leading to left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. In cases of severe aortic stenosis, however, evidence of left ventricular outflow tract obstruction via both symptoms and echocardiographic findings may be minimized due to extremely high afterload on the left ventricle. Diagnosing a left ventricular outflow tract obstruction as the cause of hemodynamic instability during transcatheter aortic valve replacement, in the absence of abnormal findings on echocardiogram preoperatively, requires a high index of clinical suspicion. The management of acute onset left ventricular outflow tract obstruction intraoperatively consists primarily of medical therapy, including rate control, adequate volume resuscitation, and avoidance of inotropes. With persistently elevated gradients, interventional treatments may be considered.
Jehovah's Witness patients have unique perioperative challenges involving blood products. We describe the use of a novel method to maintain a closed circuit between a Jehovah's Witness patient's arterial blood and the epidural space while performing a blood patch for postdural puncture headache. Previously described methods have utilized venous catheters to maintain a closed circuit between the body and the epidural space. This is the first report we are aware of that utilizes a closed-circuit arterial blood supply to create an epidural blood patch in a Jehovah's Witness patient.
A 50-year-old man presented with a 2-day history of bilateral lower extremity cramping and dark urine. The patient was found to have a creatine phosphokinase (CPK) elevated of up to 2306 U/L, a serum uric acid of 9.7 mg/dL and 101 red blood cell's per high-powered field on urinalysis. On questioning, the patient endorsed daily exercise with free weights. There were no changes in his regular exercise and medication regimen, no muscle trauma, no recent drug use and no illness. The patient did mention using a new fat burner known as 'Fat Burn X', which he had begun taking 2 days prior to the onset of his muscle cramps. The patient was given normal saline intravenous fluid resuscitation for 48 h with resultant normalisation of his CPK and creatinine, and was discharged with primary care follow-up.
preferred that the "wellness half-days" (quarterly afternoons off work to attend dental/medical appointments, counseling, wellness-related seminars, etc) be mandatory. The main reason for mandatory preference was ease of explaining their absence to surgery attendings. Residents preferring optional participation (16%, n ¼ 4), expressed concerns about missing an interesting afternoon case. All residents (100%) supported ongoing development of the program and a reimbursement fund for pre-approved wellness-related activities. Residents planned to spend their funds on a combination of physical activities, stress reduction education, and outdoor/exercise equipment. A portion of residents experienced complaints from others about their wellness half-day (29.6%, n ¼ 8). CONCLUSIONS: One-hundred percent of residents supported implementation of a wellness program. The majority of residents desired mandatory implementation of certain program aspects in order to address potential barriers to change in surgical culture.
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