Epidemiology and complications of anaesthesia in the French centres that participated to NECTARINE: A secondary analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Neonatal and infant anaesthesia are associated with a high risk of perioperative complications. The aim of the current study was to describe those risks in France using the French data from the NECTARINE study. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data from the French centres that participated to the NECTARINE study were analysed. The primary goal of the study was the description of patients' characteristics, procedures and perioperative management and their comparison with the results of the European NECTARINE study. Secondary outcomes were the description of major perioperative complications and death. RESULTS: Overall, 926 procedures collected in 15 centres (all teaching hospitals) were analysed. Comparison between the French and European NECTARINE cohorts found few differences related to patients' characteristics and procedures. The rate of interventions for critical events (respiratory, haemodynamic, and metabolic) was similar between the two cohorts. Near-infrared spectroscopy monitoring was used in 12% of procedures. Nearly none of the thresholds for these interventions met the published standards. By day 30, complications (respiratory, haemodynamic, metabolic, renal, and liver failure) and death were observed in 14.4% [95% CI 11.6-16.4]% and 1.8% [95% CI 1.1-2.9] of cases, respectively. DISCUSSION: Although the health status of the patients in the French cohort was less severe, procedures, management and postoperative complications and mortality rates were similar to the European cohort. However, thresholds for interventions were often inadequate in both cohorts. Efforts should be undertaken to improve the knowledge and use of new monitoring devices in this population.

Estimation of optic nerve sheath diameter on an initial brain computed tomography scan can contribute prognostic information in traumatic brain injury patients.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) measured on the initial brain computed tomography (CT) scan for intensive care unit (ICU) mortality in severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. METHODS: A prospective observational study of all severe TBI patients admitted to a neurosurgical ICU (over a 10-month period). Demographic and clinical data and brain CT scan results were recorded. ONSD for each eye was measured on the initial CT scan. The group of ICU survivors was compared to non-survivors. Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) was evaluated six months after ICU discharge. RESULTS: Seventy-seven patients were included (age: 43±18; 81% males; mean Injury Severity Score: 35±15; ICU mortality: 28.5% (n=22)). Mean ONSD on the initial brain CT scan was 7.8±0.1 mm in non-survivors vs. 6.8±0.1 mm in survivors (P<0.001). The operative value of ONSD was a good predictor of mortality (area under the curve: 0.805). An ONSD cutoff≥7.3 had a sensitivity of 86.4% and a specificity of 74.6% and was independently associated with mortality in this population (adjusted odds ratio 95% confidence interval: 22.7 (3.2 to 159.6), P=0.002). There was a relationship between initial ONSD values and six-month GOS (P=0.03). CONCLUSIONS: ONSD measured on the initial brain CT scan is independently associated with ICU mortality rate (when ≥7.3 mm) in severe TBI patients.See related commentary by Masquère et al.,http://ccforum.com/content/17/3/151.