Decreasing the Incidence of Hypoxia and Airway Maneuvers During GI Procedures.

Many outpatient gastrointestinal procedures are completed with propofol anesthesia. A side effect of propofol is airway obstruction and subsequent hypoxia. This study was designed to determine whether the use of a high-flow nasal cannula is associated with a decreased incidence of hypoxia or airway obstruction in patients undergoing propofol sedation in the gastrointestinal laboratory with a STOP-BANG score ≥5. High-flow nasal cannula was administered at 70 L/min on 27 patients with a STOP-BANG score ≥5 receiving monitored anesthesia care sedation for an esophagogastroduodenoscopy, endoscopic ultrasound, or colonoscopy procedure. Patients were compared to a group from a previous project without the use of high-flow nasal cannula assessing whether hypoxia, apnea, or the need for airway maneuvers occurred. The non-high-flow nasal cannula group required an airway maneuver 53.3% (n = 8) whereas the high-flow nasal cannula group required an airway maneuver 18.5% (n = 5) (p = .021). High-flow nasal cannula was associated with a reduced need for airway maneuvers in patients with a high risk of obstructive sleep apnea undergoing propofol-assisted procedures.

Predictors of operating room extubation in adult cardiac surgery.

OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of the study was to identify perioperative factors associated with successful immediate extubation in the operating room after adult cardiac surgery. The secondary objective was to derive a simplified predictive scoring system to guide clinicians in operating room extubation. METHODS: All 1518 patients in this retrospective cohort study underwent standardized fast-track cardiac anesthetic protocol during adult cardiac surgery. Perioperative variables between patients who had successful extubation in the operating room versus in the intensive care unit were retrospectively analyzed using both univariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses. A predictive score of successful operating room extubation was constructed from the multivariable results of 800 patients (derivation set), and the scoring system was further tested using a validation set of 398 patients. RESULTS: Younger age, lower body mass index, higher preoperative serum albumin, absence of chronic lung disease and diabetes, less-invasive surgical approach, isolated coronary bypass surgery, elective surgery, and lower doses of intraoperative intravenous fentanyl were independently associated with higher probability of operating room extubation. The extubation prediction score created in a derivation set of patients performed well in the validation set. Patient scores less than 0 had a minimal probability of successful operating room extubation. Operating room extubation was highly predicted with scores of 5 or greater. CONCLUSIONS: Perioperative factors that are independently associated with successful operating room extubation after adult cardiac operations were identified, and an operating room extubation prediction scoring system was validated. This scoring system may be used to guide safe operating room extubation after cardiac operations.

Airway fire during double-lung transplantation.

Airway fire is a well-documented event during airway surgery with devastating outcomes. Individuals involved in the care of these patients should be aware of this possible complication and precautions needed to prevent this complication.