Point-of-care echocardiography and thoracic ultrasound in the management of critically ill patients with COVID-19 infection: Experience in three regional UK intensive care units.

Introduction: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has an established role in the management of the critically ill. Information and experience of its use in those with COVID-19 disease is still evolving. We undertook a review of cardiac and thoracic ultrasound examinations in patients with COVID-19 on the intensive care unit (ICU). Our aim was to report key findings and their impact on patient management. Methods: A retrospective evaluation of critically ill patients with COVID-19 was undertaken in three adult ICUs, who received point-of-care cardiac and/or thoracic ultrasound during the 2019-2020 COVID-19 pandemic. We recorded baseline demographic data, principal findings, change in clinical management and outcome data. Results: A total of 55 transthoracic echocardiographic examinations scans were performed on 35 patients. 35/55 (64%) echocardiograms identified an abnormality, most commonly a dilated or impaired right ventricle (RV) and 39/55 (70%) scans resulted in a change in management. Nine patients (26%) were found to have pulmonary arterial thrombosis on CTPA or post-mortem. More than 50% of these patients showed evidence of right ventricular dilatation or impairment. Of the patients who were known to have pulmonary arterial thrombosis and died, 83% had evidence of right ventricular dilatation or impairment. 32 thoracic ultrasound scans were performed on 23 patients. Lung sliding and pleural thickening were present bilaterally in all studies. Multiple B-lines were present in all studies, and sub-pleural consolidation was present bilaterally in 72%. Conclusion: POCUS is able to provide useful and clinically relevant information in those critically ill with COVID-19 infection, resulting in change in management in a high proportion of patients. Common findings in this group are RV dysfunction, multiple B-lines and sub-pleural consolidation.

The impact of focused echocardiography using the Focused Intensive Care Echo protocol on the management of critically ill patients, and comparison with full echocardiographic studies by BSE-accredited sonographers.

INTRODUCTION: Focused echocardiography is widely used to assist clinical decision-making in critically ill patients. In the UK, the Focused Intensive Care Echo protocol is recommended by the Intensive Care Society to ensure consistency of approach and guarantee training standards. Concerns remain about the reliability of information attained by non-expert clinicians in focused echocardiography, particularly when this is used to alter clinical management. METHODS: A prospective, observational evaluation of 60 consecutive patients undergoing Focused Intensive Care Echo studies in a single ICU. RESULTS: A complete Focused Intensive Care Echo study was possible in 43/60 scans (72%) and new diagnostic information obtained following 41/60 scans (68%), which lead to a change of clinical management in 28/60 (47%) of cases. In 24/60 (40%) of cases, a full transthoracic study was subsequently undertaken by a fully accredited sonographer. There were no cases where the results from the full study contradicted those from the limited Focused Intensive Care Echo study; additional diagnostic information was attained following 68% of full studies. CONCLUSION: Focused echocardiography using the Focused Intensive Care Echo protocol is feasible and clinically useful in a high proportion of ICU patients. However, many still require additional expert echocardiographic assessment. Focused echocardiography delivered by non-experts is clinically useful in this setting but its limitations must be understood and access to expert assessment should be available.

Plasma transfusions prior to insertion of central lines for people with abnormal coagulation.

BACKGROUND: The insertion of central venous catheters (CVCs) may be associated with peri- and post-procedural bleeding. People who require a central line often have disorders of coagulation as a result of their underlying illness, co-morbidities or the effects of treatment. Clinical practice in some institutions is to mitigate the risk of bleeding in these patients by prophylactically transfusing fresh frozen plasma (FFP) in order to correct clotting factor deficiencies prior to central line insertion. However, FFP transfusion is not without risk, and it remains unclear whether this intervention is associated with reduced rates of bleeding or other clinically-meaningful outcomes. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of different prophylactic plasma transfusion regimens prior to central line insertion in people with abnormal coagulation. SEARCH METHODS: We searched for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (the Cochrane Library 2016, Issue 3), PubMed (e-publications only), Ovid MEDLINE (from 1946), Ovid Embase (from 1974), the Transfusion Evidence Library (from 1950) and ongoing trial databases to 1 March 2016. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included RCTs involving transfusions of plasma to prevent bleeding in people of any age with abnormal coagulation requiring insertion of a central venous catheter, published in English. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane. MAIN RESULTS: We identified four trials eligible for inclusion, of which three are ongoing. We did not exclude any studies because they were not published in English.The included study randomised 81 adults in intensive care whose INR (International Normalised Ratio) was greater than or equal to 1.5 to no FFP or to a single dose of 12 mL/kg FFP prior to undergoing central venous catheterisation (58 participants) or other invasive procedure (23 participants). It is the subgroup of 58 adults undergoing CVC insertion that were included in this review, the study authors provided unpublished data for this review's outcomes.The quality of the evidence was low or very low across different outcomes according to the GRADE methodology. The included study was at high risk of bias due to lack of blinding of participants and personnel and imbalance in the number of participants who had liver disease between study arms.There was insufficient evidence to determine a difference in major procedure-related bleeding within 24 hours (one RCT; 58 participants; no events in either study arm, very low-quality evidence). We are very uncertain whether FFP reduces minor procedure-related bleeding within 24 hours of the study (one RCT; 58 participants, RR 0.67, 95% CI 0.12 to 3.70, very low-quality evidence).No studies were found that looked at: all-cause mortality; the proportion of participants receiving plasma or red cell transfusions; serious adverse reactions (transfusion or line-related complications); number of days in hospital; change in INR; or quality of life.The three ongoing studies are still recruiting participants (expected recruitment: up to 355 participants in total). and are due to be completed by February 2018. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is only very limited evidence from one RCT to inform the decision whether or not to administer prophylactic plasma prior to central venous catheterisation for people with abnormal coagulation. It is not possible from the current RCT evidence to recommend whether or not prophylactic plasma transfusion is beneficial or harmful in this situation. The three ongoing RCTs will not be able to answer this review's questions, because they are small studies and do not address all of the comparisons included in this review (355 participants in total). To detect an increase in the proportion of participants who had major bleeding from 1 in 100 to 2 in 100 would require a study containing at least 4634 participants (80% power, 5% significance).

Plasma transfusions prior to insertion of central lines for patients with abnormal coagulation.

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To assess the effect of different prophylactic plasma transfusion regimens prior to central line insertion in patients with abnormal coagulation.

Network analysis reveals distinct clinical syndromes underlying acute mountain sickness.

Acute mountain sickness (AMS) is a common problem among visitors at high altitude, and may progress to life-threatening pulmonary and cerebral oedema in a minority of cases. International consensus defines AMS as a constellation of subjective, non-specific symptoms. Specifically, headache, sleep disturbance, fatigue and dizziness are given equal diagnostic weighting. Different pathophysiological mechanisms are now thought to underlie headache and sleep disturbance during acute exposure to high altitude. Hence, these symptoms may not belong together as a single syndrome. Using a novel visual analogue scale (VAS), we sought to undertake a systematic exploration of the symptomatology of AMS using an unbiased, data-driven approach originally designed for analysis of gene expression. Symptom scores were collected from 292 subjects during 1110 subject-days at altitudes between 3650 m and 5200 m on Apex expeditions to Bolivia and Kilimanjaro. Three distinct patterns of symptoms were consistently identified. Although fatigue is a ubiquitous finding, sleep disturbance and headache are each commonly reported without the other. The commonest pattern of symptoms was sleep disturbance and fatigue, with little or no headache. In subjects reporting severe headache, 40% did not report sleep disturbance. Sleep disturbance correlates poorly with other symptoms of AMS (Mean Spearman correlation 0.25). These results challenge the accepted paradigm that AMS is a single disease process and describe at least two distinct syndromes following acute ascent to high altitude. This approach to analysing symptom patterns has potential utility in other clinical syndromes.

The use of a portable digital thoracic suction Thopaz drainage system for the management of a persistent spontaneous secondary pneumothorax in a patient with underlying interstitial lung disease.

We present the case of a 68-year-old woman who presented in extremis with a secondary pneumothorax with a past history of severe idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Following insertion of a 32F intercostal drain, she developed a persistent broncho-pleural fistula and became dependent on negative-pressure wall-mounted suction to prevent respiratory compromise. She declined definitive surgical intervention and was therefore managed conservatively. After adhering to the wall-mounted suction method for 49 days, we obtained for use a portable digital thoracic drainage system previously used only in the cardiothoracic postoperative patient. This electronically delivered, negative-pressure drainage system induced radiographic improvement within 24 h, and allowed the patient to mobilise for the first time since admission. The patient was discharged home with the Thopaz drain in situ 8 weeks after placing it, and the drain was removed successfully with a resolved pneumothorax 20 weeks after her initial presentation.

Patient-reported outcome following metal-on-metal resurfacing of the hip and total hip replacement.

Patient-reported outcome and satisfaction scores have become increasingly important in evaluating successful surgery. This case-matched control study compared patient-reported outcome and satisfaction data following hip resurfacing and total hip arthroplasty. Thirty-three consecutive patients selected for hip resurfacing were compared with 99 patients undergoing cemented total hip replacement (THR), matched for age, sex and pathology. Participants completed a Short-Form 12 Health Survey (SF-12) and Oxford Hip Score questionnaire preoperatively and 6 months post operatively with an additional patient satisfaction questionnaire. There was no difference in length of hospital stay. While both groups reported improved outcome scores, multivariate regression analysis did not demonstrate any significant benefit for one group over the other. Both groups reported high levels of satisfaction, which tended to be better in patients undergoing hip resurfacing.

The vascular effects of rotigaptide in vivo in man.

Endothelium-derived hyperpolarising factor (EDHF) causes vasorelaxation and may contribute to the release of the endogenous fibrinolytic factor, tissue-plasminogen activator (t-PA). Rotigaptide enhances communication via the connexin 43 gap junction subunit and may potentiate the vascular actions of EDHF. The aims of the present study were therefore to determine whether rotigaptide influences basal and stimulated endothelium-dependent vasodilatation and t-PA release in vivo in man. Using venous occlusion plethysmography, forearm blood flow was measured in 27 healthy volunteers during intra-brachial infusions of rotigaptide (0.25-25 nmol/min) alone, or co-administered with endothelium-dependent (acetylcholine [5-20 microg/min] and bradykinin [30-300 pmol/min]) and independent (sodium nitroprusside [2-8 microg/min]) vasodilators in the presence or absence of aspirin and the 'nitric oxide clamp'. The 'nitric oxide clamp' inhibits endogenous nitric oxide synthesis with L-N-monomethylarginine and restores resting blood flow with the exogenous nitric oxide donor, sodium nitroprusside. Basal blood flow was unaffected by rotigaptide (P=NS). Acetylcholine, bradykinin and sodium nitroprusside all caused dose-dependent vasodilatation in the presence and absence of aspirin and the 'nitric oxide clamp' (P< or =0.005 for all). These responses were unaffected by rotigaptide (P=NS). Bradykinin caused t-PA antigen and activity release (P=0.04, P<0.0001, respectively) that was unaffected by rotigaptide. Augmentation of connexin 43 communication has no effect on basal vascular tone and does not enhance endothelium-dependent or independent vasodilatation, or t-PA release in the forearm arterial circulation of healthy men. It remains to be established whether augmentation of connexin 43 communication improves endothelial function in patients with vascular disease.