Early abolition of cough reflex predicts mortality in deeply sedated brain-injured patients.

BACKGROUND: Deep sedation may hamper the detection of neurological deterioration in brain-injured patients. Impaired brainstem reflexes within the first 24 h of deep sedation are associated with increased mortality in non-brain-injured patients. Our objective was to confirm this association in brain-injured patients. METHODS: This was an observational prospective multicenter cohort study involving four neuro-intensive care units. We included acute brain-injured patients requiring deep sedation, defined by a Richmond Assessment Sedation Scale (RASS) < -3. Neurological assessment was performed at day 1 and included pupillary diameter, pupillary light, corneal and cough reflexes, and grimace and motor response to noxious stimuli. Pre-sedation Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS-II) were collected, as well as the cause of death in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). RESULTS: A total of 137 brain-injured patients were recruited, including 70 (51%) traumatic brain-injured patients, 40 (29%) vascular (subarachnoid hemorrhage or intracerebral hemorrhage). Thirty patients (22%) died in the ICU. At day 1, the corneal (OR 2.69, p = 0.034) and cough reflexes (OR 5.12, p = 0.0003) were more frequently abolished in patients that died in the ICU. In a multivariate analysis, abolished cough reflex was associated with ICU mortality after adjustment to pre-sedation GCS, SAPS-II, RASS (OR: 5.19, 95% CI [1.92-14.1], p = 0.001) or dose of sedatives (OR: 8.89, 95% CI [2.64-30.0], p = 0.0004). CONCLUSION: Early (day 1) cough reflex abolition is an independent predictor of mortality in deeply sedated brain-injured patients. Abolished cough reflex likely reflects a brainstem dysfunction that might result from the combination of primary and secondary neuro-inflammatory cerebral insults revealed and/or worsened by sedation.

Avaliação do foto-eletrocardiograma como ferramenta de segunda opinião formativa / Evaluation of the photo-electrocardiogram as a tool for formative second opinion

Objetivos: Avaliar o foto-eletrocardiograma (foto-ECG), como uma ferramenta de segunda opinião formativa a distância.Métodos: Cinquenta eletrocardiogramas (ECGs) em papel milimetrado foram fotografados duas vezes, a primeira utilizando-se uma câmera digital Canon, na resolução 0,3 megapixel, e a segunda com um celular Nokia com câmera acoplada, na resolução 2,0 megapixels, gerando 100 foto-ECGs. Por meio de estudos-piloto, definiu-se o método de aquisição das imagens. Os 100 foto-ECGs foram randomizados, criptografados e enviados a um cardiologista remoto por e-mail; enquanto os 50 ECGs em papel milimetrado lhe foram entregues pessoalmente, sem randomização. Sexo e idade foram as únicas informações dos pacientes disponibilizadas ao especialista.Resultados: A análise dos dados demonstrou divergência em 14 dos 50 laudos (28%) na comparação dos ECGs originais com os foto-ECGs adquiridos pela câmera Canon e de 13 dos 50 laudos (26%) entre os laudos dos ECGs originais e dos foto-ECGs capturados pelo celular Nokia. Houve concordância considerável (Kappa=0,356) entre as interpretações de foto-ECGs e ECGs em papel, tanto para o celular Nokia quanto para a câmera Canon.Conclusões: A concordância entre o foto-ECG e os traçados originais demonstrou que o método descrito nesse estudo tem potencial de ser utilizado como uma ferramenta de auxílio à prática clínica, desde que a obtenção dos foto-ECGs seja adaptada de forma a melhorar as imagens dos exames. Apenas com concordância boa a ótima em relação aos ECGs originais, o foto-ECG possibilitará a segunda opinião formativa a distância, conferindo melhores opções diagnósticas e terapêuticas...

Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the photo-electrocardiogram (photo-ECG), as an alternative tool to enable remote formative second opinion in cardiology.Methods: Fifty paper electrocardiograms (ECGs) were photographed two times, the first using a Canon digital camera, 0.3 megapixel resolution, and the second using a Nokia mobile phone integrated camera, 2.0 megapixel resolution, resulting in 100 Photo-ECGs. A pilot study was responsible for determining the acquisition method. The 100 Photo-ECGs were randomized, encrypted and sent by e-mail to a remote cardiologist, while the 50 paper ECGs were delivered to him in person, without randomization. Gender and age were the only patient information made available to the specialist.Results: Data analysis demonstrated a disagreement in 14 of 50 interpretations (28%) when comparing paper ECGs to the Canon camera photo-ECGs and in 13 of 50 interpretations (26%) when comparing paper ECGs to the Nokia camera photo-ECGs. The Kappa test revealed a fair agreement (Kappa=0.356) between interpretations when comparing the original ECGs to their respective photo-ECGs for both camera devices.Conclusion: The concordance between photo-ECGs and original tracings demonstrated that the method described herein has the potential for use as a tool to assist clinical practice, provided that the acquisition of photo-ECGs is adapted so as to improve exam images. Only with good to very good concordance between the original ECGs and photo-ECGs will remote formative second opinion be possible, giving better diagnostic and therapeutic options...

Cleland's and Grayson's ligaments of the hand: a morphometrical investigation.

The cutaneous ligaments of the human digits are delicate functional structures essential for normal skin stability during digital movements. These ligaments extend bilaterally between the phalanx and the finger dermis, either posteriorly (Cleland's ligaments) or anteriorly (Grayson's ligaments) to the digital neurovascular bundles. We have performed a series of detailed anatomical dissections of the human digits so as to investigate morphometrically Cleland's and Grayson's ligaments and their topographic arrangements. Data were statistically compared between fingers, respecting both side (left or right) and sex, in an attempt to clarify some of the morphologic variations of these structures. The cutaneous ligaments of the human digits have been analyzed bilaterally both in 30 fixed cadavers (300 adult human digits) and in 10 nonfixed human cadaveric digits. A computerized morphometrical investigation of the human digits and their Cleland's and Grayson's ligaments has been performed and the resulting quantitative data have been statistically assessed, comparing groups according to finger, phalanx, side (left or right hands), and sex. The ratio between the origin and insertion (O:I) of these ligaments indicate a divergent arrangement of fibers, with values varying from 0.52 to 0.84, depending on the phalanx and finger analyzed. Our morphometrical data provide normal reference values, mainly for Grayson's ligaments, that can be useful in the comparison with the respective measurements obtained in Dupuytren's disease. Morphological bases are also provided, which may be relevant either in computerized tomography or magnetic resonance imaging involving the hand region and in their application in surgical procedures of the human hand.