Obstetrical providers' preferred mode of delivery and attitude towards non-medically indicated caesarean sections: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To describe obstetrical providers' delivery preferences and attitudes towards caesarean section without medical indication, including on maternal request, and to examine the association between provider characteristics and preferences/attitudes. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Two public and two private hospitals in Argentina. POPULATION: Obstetrician-gynaecologists and midwives who provide prenatal care and/or labour/delivery services. METHODS: Providers in hospitals with at least 1000 births per year completed a self-administered, anonymous survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Provider delivery preference for low-risk women, perception of women's preferred delivery method, support for a woman's right to choose her delivery method and willingness to perform caesarean section on maternal request. RESULTS: 168 providers participated (89.8% coverage rate). Providers (93.2%) preferred a vaginal delivery for their patients in the absence of a medical indication for caesarean section. Whereas 74.4% of providers supported their patient's right to choose a delivery method in the absence of a medical indication for caesarean section and 66.7% would perform a caesarean section upon maternal request, only 30.4% would consider a non-medically indicated caesarean section for their own personal delivery or that of their partner. In multivariate adjusted analysis, providers in the private sector [odds ratio (OR) 4.70, 95% CI 1.19-18.62] and obstetrician-gynaecologists (OR 4.37, 95% CI 1.58-12.09) were more willing than either providers working in the public/both settings or midwives to perform a caesarean section on maternal request. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the ethical debate surrounding non-medically indicated caesarean sections, we observe very high levels of support, especially by providers in the private sector and obstetrician-gynaecologists, as aligned with the high caesarean section rates in Argentina. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: Non-medically indicated c-section? 74% of sampled Argentine OB providers support women's right to choose.

Surgical lung biopsy for diffuse lung disease. Our experience in the last 15 years.

INTRODUCTION: Surgical lung biopsy is a technique that presents a morbi-mortality rate of considerable importance. We analyze our experience with surgical lung biopsies for the diagnosis of diffuse lung disease and the effect produced on the indications for surgical biopsy in these pathologies after the publication of the consensus of the ATS (American Thoracic Society) and ERS (European Respiratory Society) for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of 171 patients operated between January 1997 and December 2011. We divided the series into 2 groups: group 1 (operated between 1997 and 2002) and group 2 (operated between 2003 and 2011). Suspected preoperative diagnosis, respiratory status, pathological postoperative diagnoses, percentage of thoracotomies, mean postoperative stay and perioperative morbidity and mortality were analyzed. RESULTS: Group 1 consisted of 99 patients and group two 72. The most frequent postoperative diagnoses were: usual interstitial pneumonia and extrinsic allergic alveolitis. There were ten (5.84%) deaths. Death was caused by progressive respiratory failure that was related to interstitial lung disease in 7 (70%) of 10 cases, alveolar haemorrhage in 2 (20%) and heart failure in 1 (10%). CONCLUSIONS: Since the publication of the ATS and ERS consensus on the IPF, we have observed a noticeable decrease in the number of indications for surgical lung biopsy. This technique, though simple, has a considerable morbidity and mortality.

Pulmonar collision tumor: metastatic adenoid cystic carcinoma and lung adenocarcinoma.

We report an extraordinary case of collision tumor consisting of a lung adenocarcinoma and a metastatic adenoid cystic carcinoma in a 56 year-old man. He was diagnosed with a pulmonary nodule 11 years after treatment of an adenoid cystic carcinoma of the right maxillary sinus. A non-small cell carcinoma was observed when a transbronchial biopsy was performed. The other component of the nodule was only diagnosed with pathological examination of the resection specimen.

Bronchogenic carcinoma in patients under 50 years old.

INTRODUCTION: Lung cancer in young patients is increasing in frequency. Its clinical course seems to be more aggressive than in the elderly. Our objective is to assess the clinicopathologic characteristics and survival of patients with bronchogenic carcinoma who underwent surgery at our department, comparing people younger than 50 years to older patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We present a retrospective study of 610 patients diagnosed with non-small-cell lung cancer operated on between 1997 and 2006. They were classified into two groups: under 50 (n=60) and equal to or over 50 (n=550). RESULTS: The proportion of women, smokers and adenocarcinoma were significantly higher in young patients. There were no significant differences in survival rate between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: In our series, despite the differences in sex, smoking history and histology, the behaviour of the disease is similar in both age groups.

Isoflurane-induced myocardial preconditioning is dependent on phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/Akt signalling.

BACKGROUND: Isoflurane and other volatile anaesthetics have a cardioprotective effect and limit myocardial infarct size to the same extent as ischaemic preconditioning. Phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) was found to play a key role in myocardial protection by ischaemic preconditioning. The aim of the present investigation was to evaluate whether isoflurane-induced myocardial preconditioning is dependent on PI3K signalling. METHODS: Using a model of regional myocardial ischaemia and reperfusion, New Zealand White rabbits were subjected to 40 min of regional myocardial ischaemia followed by 120 min of reperfusion. The rabbits were randomly assigned to one of the following six experimental groups: sham-operated controls (n=5); ischaemia and reperfusion controls (n=8); isoflurane preconditioning (n=8); a PI3K inhibitor, wortmannin (0.6 mg kg(-1) i.v.) + isoflurane (n=8); and wortmannin+ischaemia and reperfusion (n=8). An additional control group of sham operation+ wortmannin (n=5) was also included. Myocardial injury was assessed by measuring the serum concentration of the MB fraction of creatine kinase (CK-MB) and infarct size was assessed by 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride staining. Phosphorylation of Akt, a downstream target of PI3K, was assessed by western blotting. RESULTS: Isoflurane preconditioning was seen as reduced infarct size compared with control animals: 24 (4) and 41 (5)% respectively (P<0.05). Wortmannin inhibited this cardioprotective effect with myocardial infarct size at 44 (3)% (not significant). Akt phosphorylation was increased after isoflurane preconditioning, but administration of wortmannin blocked this effect. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate that isoflurane protects the heart against ischaemia and decreases myocardial infarction by activation of PI3K.

Isoflurane does not mimic ischaemic preconditioning in decreasing hydroxyl radical production in the rabbit.

BACKGROUND: Reactive oxygen species are an important mediator in isoflurane-induced myocardial preconditioning. However, hydroxyl radicals are also released during reperfusion after regional ischaemia. The purpose of the present study was to test whether ischaemic preconditioning and isoflurane would influence the production of hydroxyl radicals during reperfusion. METHODS: After i.v. administration of salicylate 100 mg kg(-1) and a 30 min stabilization period, New Zealand White rabbits were subjected to 40 min of regional myocardial ischaemia and 2 h of reperfusion. Ischaemic preconditioning was elicited by 5 min ischaemia followed by 10 min reperfusion (before the 40 min ischaemia). In another group, isoflurane (2.1%) was administered for 30 min, followed by 15 min washout, before the long ischaemia. Area at risk and infarct size were assessed by blue dye injection and tetrazolium chloride staining. We quantified the level of OH-mediated conversion of salicylate to its dihydrobenzoate derivatives (2,3- and 2,5-DHBAs). Normalized values of the DHBAs (ng DHBA per mg salicylate) were calculated. RESULTS: Mean (se) infarct size was 57 (6)% of the risk area in the untreated controls. This was significantly smaller in the ischaemic preconditioning and isoflurane groups: 22 (5) and 23 (6)% respectively. At 10 min of reperfusion, ischaemic preconditioning limited the mean increase in 2,3-DHBA to 24% from baseline, compared with 81% in control and 74% in the isoflurane group. Normalized 2,5-DHBA was maximally increased by 75% in the untreated group, 4 min after reperfusion. Ischaemic preconditioning significantly inhibited this increase (24% increase from baseline, P<0.01). However, the increase observed in the isoflurane group was not different from control (71%). CONCLUSIONS: As already known, ischaemic preconditioning and isoflurane markedly reduced infarct size. However, only ischaemic preconditioning decreased postischaemic production of hydroxyl radicals. These different effects suggest different protective mechanisms at the cellular level.

Asymptomatic vallecular cyst: airway management considerations.

Airway problems are easiest to manage when they are anticipated. Difficult intubation might, however, occur in patients with no obvious signs or symptoms suggesting airway difficulty. We describe a case where laryngeal inlet was obscured by a large vallecular cyst that was discovered during rapid-sequence induction of general anesthesia, causing difficulty in tracheal intubation. Once the patient was allowed to recover from general anesthesia, the trachea could be safely intubated using a fiberoptic bronchoscope.