AKI is a serious complication after AAA repair, especially in octogenarians, and is associated with high failure to rescue rates. A careful assessment of risk factors for AKI in elderly patients should be performed to inform clinical decision making.

Objectives: Manual ventilation of intubated patients is a common intervention. It requires skill as well as physical effort and is typically restricted to brief periods. Prolonged manual ventilation may be unavoidable in some scenarios, for example, extreme mass casualty incidents. The present study tested whether nurses are capable of appropriately manually ventilating patients for 6 hours. Design: Volunteers performed ventilation on an electronic simulator for 6 hours while their own cardiorespiratory variables and the quality of the delivered ventilation were measured and recorded. The volunteers scored their perceived level of effort on a standard Borg Scale. Setting: Research laboratory at the Emergency Department, Tel Aviv Medical Center. Subjects: Ten nursing staff members of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, 25–43 years old. Interventions: Volunteers ventilated manually a lung simulator for 6 hours. Measurements and Main Results: The subjects’ physiologic states, including blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation, showed no significant changes over time. The quality of delivered ventilation was somewhat variable, but it was stable on the average: average tidal volume ranged between 524.8 and 607.0 mL (p = 0.33). There was a slight but significant increase (7.3–10.9 L/min [p = 0.048]) in minute volume throughout the test period, reaching values consistent with mild hyperventilation. The subjects scored their perceived working effort as very light to fairly light, with a nonsignificant gradual increase in the Borg score as the study progressed. Conclusions: Manual ventilation of intubated patients can be performed continuously for 6 hours without excessive physical effort on the part of the operator. The quality of delivered ventilation was clinically adequate for all of them. There was a mild but significant trend toward hyperventilation, albeit within safe clinical levels, which was due to an increasing ventilatory rate rather than an increase in tidal volume.

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Objectives: Carotid artery endarterectomy (CEA) and carotid artery stenting (CAS) are 2 effective treatment options for carotid revascularization and stroke prevention. The long-term outcomes of Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy versus Stenting Trial (CREST) reported similar stroke and death rate between the 2 procedures. This study presents the short-and longterm outcomes of CEA and CAS of all risk patients performed by a single vascular surgeon in a real-world setting. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all patients who underwent CEA and CAS from September 2005 to June 2017 at our institute. Student t test, w 2 , and Fisher exact tests were used to compare patient's characteristics. Multivariate logistic, cox regression models and survival analysis were used to compare postoperative and long-term outcomes between the 2 groups. Results: Over 2000 patients were evaluated for carotid artery stenosis during the study period, and 313 revascularization procedures were performed (CEA: 47%, CAS: 53%). Patients' age (Mean [95% confidence interval, CI] 68.8 [67.2-70.4] vs 69.7 [68.2-71.3], P ¼ .40) was similar between CEA and CAS. Patients who underwent CAS had significantly higher comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD], chronic heart failure [CHF], hyperlipidemia, and prior ipsilateral intervention, all P < .05). No difference was found in 30-day complications after CEA versus CAS including stroke (2.0% vs 1.2%), myocardial infarction (MI; 0.7% vs 1.2%), death (0% vs 1.2%) as well as combined major adverse events (stroke/death/MI; 2.7% vs 3.0%; all P > .05). Overall 7-year survival, stroke-free survival and restenosis-free survival were similar between the 2 groups (P > .5). Significant predictors of mortality were diabetes (hazard ratio, HR [95% CI]: 2.41 [1.15-5.08]), chronic kidney disease (HR [95% CI]: 4.89 [1.97-12.13]), and COPD (HR [95% CI]: 3.31 [1.43-7.71]; all P values <.05). Statin use was protective with 71% reduction in risk of mortality (HR [95% CI]: 0.29 [0.12-0.67], P ¼ .004). Conclusion: Our experience showed comparable short-and long-term outcomes of CAS and CEA performed for carotid artery stenosis by vascular surgeon. There was no difference between single institutional long-term outcomes and CREST outcomes following CEA and CAS.

Objective: Although blood transfusion can be lifesaving in active hemorrhage or severe anemia, it is also associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Several trials have established this risk and therefore defined a restrictive standard for transfusion, but this threshold and the risk of transfusions have not been specifically examined in vascular surgery patients. We therefore sought to assess transfusion practices and outcomes of anemic patients undergoing elective endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). Methods:The Vascular Quality Initiative database was queried for patients undergoing EVAR between the years 2008 and 2017. Anemic patients were included in the study and were further stratified into mild anemia, defined by a hemoglobin level of 10 to 13 g/dL in men or 10 to 12 g/dL in women, and moderate to severe anemia, defined by a hemoglobin level <10 g/dL. The primary study outcomes were in-hospital mortality and complications.Results: Among 27,777 EVAR patients, one-third (n ¼ 9232) were anemic and included in the study. One-fifth (n ¼ 1866) of anemic patients received a perioperative transfusion. Transfused patients were more likely to have a history of cardiovascular disease. In-hospital mortality was significantly higher for anemic patients who received transfusions, both in mild anemia (mortality, 3.6% vs 0.4% in no transfusion; P < .001) and in moderate to severe anemia (4.5% vs 1.3%; P < .01). Morbidity was also significantly higher, with anemic patients who received a transfusion having higher rates of myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, dysrhythmias, renal complications, leg ischemia, respiratory complications, and reoperation compared with anemic patients who did not receive any transfusion. The 30-day mortality was also higher in transfused patients (P < .001). After adjustment for patients' demographics, comorbidities, and operative factors, transfusion in anemic patients was associated with a nearly 4.4-fold increased odds of in-hospital mortality (odds ratio [OR], 4.38; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.72-7.05; P < .001) and 4.3-fold higher odds of any in-hospital complication (OR, 4.31; 95% CI, 3.47-5.34; P < .001). This was more pronounced among patients with mild anemia, with 5.7 times (OR, 5.7; 95% CI, 1.78-18.0) and 4.3 times (OR, 4.3; 95% CI,) the odds of in-hospital mortality and complications, respectively.Conclusions: Among anemic patients undergoing elective EVAR, transfusion is associated with an increased risk of death and in-hospital complications, even after controlling for patients' comorbidities and operative factors. These data suggest that the restrictive use of blood transfusions might be safer in vascular surgery EVAR patients. Medical management of anemia may be warranted in these patients to reduce morbidity and mortality; however, further studies are needed to evaluate effectiveness. (J Vasc Surg 2020;71:75-85.)