Transoesophageal echo-Doppler vs. thermodilution cardiac output measurement during hepatic vascular exclusion in liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Continuous monitoring of cardiac output during liver transplantation is essential to evaluate the patient's haemodynamic tolerance to acute volume variations. The aim of this study was to compare the cardiac output values obtained with a transoesophageal echo-Doppler and those obtained with a continuous thermodilution cardiac output pulmonary artery catheter. METHODS: Twenty adult patients were prospectively studied during a 5 min hepatic vascular exclusion test performed at the end of the dissection phase. Echo-Doppler and continuous thermodilution cardiac output, mean arterial pressure and end-tidal CO2 were measured before and at the end of the test. RESULTS: Before the test, echo-Doppler cardiac output was 7.0 +/- 2.7 L min(-1) and thermodilution was 9.4 +/- 3.1 L min(-1), (R = 0.85, P < 0.001). The end test values were, respectively, 3.5 +/- 2.7 and 7.8 +/- 3.5 L min(-1) (R = 0.23, P = 0.34). Bland and Altman analysis showed a bias of -2.2 before the test, which increased to -4.4 at the end of the test. Mean arterial pressure decreased from 85.5 +/- 15 to 66.8 +/- 16 mmHg, end-tidal CO2 from 31.4 +/- 2.3 to 23.8 +/- 2.7 mmHg. CONCLUSION: Echo-Doppler cardiac output values are different from those measured by thermodilution cardiac output in these patients. Echo-Doppler cardiac output monitoring seems to detect the output changes, which can occur during acute haemodynamic changes more rapidly than thermodilution cardiac output in the course of liver transplantation.

Extensive burns caused by the abusive use of photosensitizing agents.

Psoralens are photosensitizing agents used in dermatology as reinforcements in psoralen ultraviolet A-range therapy. We report observations of 14 young women hospitalized for severe burns caused by abusive use of psoralens. The burns were of superficial and deep second-degree depth and covered more than 76% of the body surface on average. All patients needed fluid resuscitation. Hospital stay was 11 days on average. Healing was obtained without skin grafting in all cases. Among the six patients who responded to the mailed questionnaire, negative effects are now present in all patients as inflammatory peaks. Two patients have esthetic sequelae such as dyschromia and scars. The misuse of photosensitizing agents poses many problems. These accidents are very expensive. The largeness of the burned surface can involve a fatal prognosis. And finally, one can suspect that a much larger portion of the population regularly uses these products without any serious accident. In this case carcinogenesis can be expected.

[Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor: a dangerous combination during postoperative period]. / Anti-inflammatoire non stéroïdien et inhibiteur de l'enzyme de conversion: association dangereuse en période postopératoire.

A 72-year-old man experienced a postoperative acute renal failure (ARF) from a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) intake and promoted by an unrecognized myeloma, peroperative hypotension and hormonal response to surgical stress. This drug combination can result in ARF through a fall of glomerular filtration by combined renal blood flow changes: NSAID inhibit vasodilation by renal prostaglandins, and the vasoconstrictor effect on the efferent arteriole is inhibited by the ACEI. Nephrotoxicity during the simultaneous use of ACEI and NSAID is increased by other risk factors of renal insufficiency such as ageing, preexisting renal disease and hypovolaemia. In these cases, a preventive therapy should be considered.

Clonidine for major vascular surgery in hypertensive patients: a double-blind, controlled, randomized study.

The utility of clonidine for hypertensive patients presenting for major vascular procedures remains debatable. Twenty-one hypertensive patients presenting for aortic surgery were given clonidine (n = 11) or placebo (n = 10) in a double-blind, randomized manner. Clonidine was administered 6 micrograms/kg per os 120 min before induction of anesthesia and 3 micrograms/kg intravenously (i.v.) over 60 min from aortic declamping to skin closure. Anesthesia was induced with alfentanil 20 micrograms/kg, midazolam, and atracurium and maintained with nitrous oxide 70%, an alfentanil infusion (0.25 microgram.kg-1. min-1), and isoflurane. Anesthetic requirements, circulatory variables, interventions, and isoproterenol dose-response curves (pre- and postoperatively) were determined. Plasma concentrations of clonidine, alfentanil, and vasoactive hormones were measured. When the clonidine group was compared with the placebo group, (a) isoflurane, alfentanil, and midazolam requirements were reduced by 38%, 42%, and 41%, respectively (P = 0.04, 0.03, 0.0002, respectively); (b) supplemental circulatory and anesthetic adjustments were reduced by 51% (P = 0.0006); (c) interventions with vasopressors were not significantly increased (placebo: two; clonidine: five); (d) systolic and mean arterial pressures and heart rate were reduced; (e) increases in norepinephrine, epinephrine, and plasma renin activity were suppressed, whereas vasopressin surge was attenuated; and (f) chronotropic response to isoproterenol was unaffected. Clonidine was effective in reducing anesthetic requirements and in improving circulatory stability in hypertensive patients presenting for major vascular procedures.

[Pediatric liver transplantation and related live donor. Technical and ethical considerations]. / Transplantation hépatique pédiatrique et donneur vivant apparenté. Considérations techniques et éthiques.

With improved results of liver transplantation, the number of candidates is increasing. However the scarcity of suitable grafts from cadaveric donors remains a limitation. In spite of the use of full size or reduced size grafts or partial grafts from split livers, some children still die while waiting for liver transplantation. We describe a successful orthotopic liver transplantation in a 10 months old female using the left lateral lobe (segments II and III) from her 27 years old father. The child suffered from biliary atresia, her condition was deteriorating with intractable ascites and increasing jaundice. The father asked us to give a part of his own liver to his daughter. The concept of this innovative therapy had already been submitted to a research-ethics consultation which gave us favorable conclusions. After careful donor evaluation, the left lateral lobe was harvested on July 22, 1992, including the left hepatic artery, left portal vein and left hepatic vein; hepatic artery for segment IV, which arose from the right structures, was preserved, The graft was immediately transplanted orthotopically after recipient total hepatectomy with inferior vena cava preservation. Cold ischemia time was 1 hour and 45 minutes, revascularization of the graft was homogeneous from the very beginning and its early function was excellent. Thirteen days after the operation, the donor was discharged in good condition. The child was reoperated at day 9 for a small biliary leak originating from the cut surface of the liver. After resolution of an episode of rejection and an intra-abdominal abscess, the child was discharged in good health with normal liver function 1 month post-transplant.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)