DeltaScan for the Assessment of Acute Encephalopathy and Delirium in ICU and non-ICU Patients, a Prospective Cross-Sectional Multicenter Validation Study.

OBJECTIVES: To measure the diagnostic accuracy of DeltaScan: a portable real-time brain state monitor for identifying delirium, a manifestation of acute encephalopathy (AE) detectable by polymorphic delta activity (PDA) in single-channel electroencephalograms (EEGs). DESIGN: Prospective cross-sectional study. SETTING: Six Intensive Care Units (ICU's) and 17 non-ICU departments, including a psychiatric department across 10 Dutch hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: 494 patients, median age 75 (IQR:64-87), 53% male, 46% in ICUs, 29% delirious. MEASUREMENTS: DeltaScan recorded 4-minute EEGs, using an algorithm to select the first 96 seconds of artifact-free data for PDA detection. This algorithm was trained and calibrated on two independent datasets. METHODS: Initial validation of the algorithm for AE involved comparing its output with an expert EEG panel's visual inspection. The primary objective was to assess DeltaScan's accuracy in identifying delirium against a delirium expert panel's consensus. RESULTS: DeltaScan had a 99% success rate, rejecting 6 of the 494 EEG's due to artifacts. Performance showed and an Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC) of 0.86 (95% CI: 0.83-0.90) for AE (sensitivity: 0.75, 95%CI=0.68-0.81, specificity: 0.87 95%CI=0.83-0.91. The AUC was 0.71 for delirium (95%CI=0.66-0.75, sensitivity: 0.61 95%CI=0.52-0.69, specificity: 72, 95%CI=0.67-0.77). Our validation aim was an NPV for delirium above 0.80 which proved to be 0.82 (95%CI: 0.77-0.86). Among 84 non-delirious psychiatric patients, DeltaScan differentiated delirium from other disorders with a 94% (95%CI: 87-98%) specificity. CONCLUSIONS: DeltaScan can diagnose AE at bedside and shows a clear relationship with clinical delirium. Further research is required to explore its role in predicting delirium-related outcomes.

Absence of interaction of fondaparinux sodium with aspirin and piroxicam in healthy male volunteers.

OBJECTIVE: Patients undergoing major orthopaedic surgery who are being treated with fondaparinux sodium for prevention of venous thromboembolism may be receiving treatment for coronary artery disease or chronic inflammatory disease of the joints or arthritis. Two separate studies assessed any possible interaction between fondaparinux sodium at steady state and aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) or piroxicam in healthy volunteers. DESIGN: In the first study a single dose of aspirin 975mg was assessed initially, followed by single doses of aspirin or placebo on the fourth day of an 8-day regimen of subcutaneous fondaparinux sodium (10mg once daily). The second study was a three-way crossover, double-blind, randomised study which investigated fondaparinux sodium 10mg + placebo, fondaparinux sodium 10mg + piroxicam 20mg, or placebo + piroxicam 20mg. METHODS: Both studies obtained plasma concentration-time profiles of fondaparinux sodium administered alone and with aspirin or piroxicam. Noncompartmental parameters - peak concentration, trough concentration, time to reach peak concentration, and area under the concentration-time curve - were obtained. Both studies measured the pharmacodynamic parameters bleeding time and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT). Safety was monitored. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Neither aspirin nor piroxicam influenced the pharmacokinetics of fondaparinux sodium at steady state. Two hours after administration, prolongation of bleeding time with aspirin alone or with aspirin plus fondaparinux sodium was significantly greater than with fondaparinux sodium alone (p = 0.003 and p = 0.004, respectively). No significant differences were observed between aspirin alone or aspirin + fondaparinux sodium in effect on bleeding time. A small decrease in collagen-induced platelet aggregation was observed after administration of piroxicam alone or piroxicam + fondaparinux sodium. A small effect on aPTT was observed; it was similar for fondaparinux sodium whether administered alone or in combination with either aspirin or piroxicam. No serious adverse events were reported.