Using multivariate probit analysis, the data of 565 patients who underwent major abdominal surgery were retrospectively analyzed, and the etiologic role of blood transfusion in organ system failure (OSF), which includes respiratory failure, gastrointestinal stress bleeding, renal failure, nonobstructive, nonhepatitic jaundice, and coagulopathy, was studied. Apart from the amount of blood transfusion, the following factors were included in the analysis as possible contributors to OSF: age, preoperative hematocrit, organ failure risk (diffuse peritonitis, obstructive cholangitis, liver cirrhosis, terminal cancer, and hemorrhagic shock), operative time, blood loss, and postoperative highest hematocrit. The results showed that, except for preoperative hematocrit, all the factors are statistically significant contributors, blood transfusion being the most significant. There was no statistically significant interaction between blood transfusion and organ failure risk. It is concluded that blood transfusion is an important, independent factor contributing to OSF, and its contribution cannot be attributed to the underlying conditions that require blood transfusion.
Failure of control of calcium-phosphate metabolism at the start of and early during RRT is strongly associated with PTx during long-term follow-up. Given the high prevalence of insufficient phosphate control, patients may benefit from aggressive correction of serum phosphate in the pre-dialysis and early dialysis period.
The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of late potentials and their relation to QT prolongation in a family with a high incidence of sudden death during sleep at a young age and bradycardia-dependent QT prolongation (n = 9) and to compare the findings with those in consanguineous family members without QT prolongation (n = 13). Six (67%) of the 9 family members with QT prolongation had late potentials on the signal-averaged electrocardiogram (ECG) compared with 1 of the 13 normal subjects (p less than 0.007). Positive predictive accuracy of the signal-averaged ECG for the detection of subjects with QT prolongation was 86%; negative predictive accuracy was 80%. During exercise testing, the QT interval normalized, whereas late potentials did not change significantly. Exercise testing did not reveal the presence of coronary artery disease as a possible cause of late potentials. It is concluded that 1) compared with family members with a normal QT interval, patients with this type of bradycardia-dependent QT prolongation have a high incidence of late potentials; 2) late potentials persist despite normalization of the QT interval at high heart rates, indicating that there is no direct relation between late potentials and QT prolongation; and 3) late potentials are not caused by coronary artery disease in these subjects. Therefore, the detection of late potentials might be a new aid in the detection and risk stratification of patients with the long QT syndrome. Late potentials possibly indicate a substrate for ventricular tachyarrhythmias in this type of bradycardia-dependent QT prolongation.
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