The impact of iron store on red blood cell transfusion: a multicentre prospective cohort study in cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND: Anaemia is common prior to cardiac surgery and contributes to perioperative morbidity. Iron deficiency is the main cause of anaemia but its impact remains controversial in the surgical setting. We aimed to estimate the impact of iron deficiency on in-hospital perioperative red blood cell transfusion for patients undergoing elective and urgent cardiac surgery. Secondary objectives were to identify risk factors associated with in-hospital red blood cell transfusion. METHODS: We conducted a prospective multicentre observational study in three university hospitals performing cardiac surgery. We determined iron status prior to surgery and collected all transfusion data to compare iron-deficient and iron-replete patients during hospital stay. We performed a multivariable logistic regression to compare transfusion among groups. RESULTS: Five hundred and two patients were included. A trend of low haemoglobin levels associated with iron deficiency persisted until discharge. Red blood cell transfusion was significantly higher in the group of iron deficient patients during surgery (22% vs 13%, p = 0.017), however the incidence during the whole hospital stay was 31% in the iron-deficient group, not significantly different with the non-deficient group (26%, p = 0.28). Iron deficiency was not independently associated with in-hospital red blood cell transfusion (adjusted OR = 0.85 [0.53-1.36], p = 0.49). CONCLUSIONS: In-hospital red blood cell transfusion was not significantly higher in iron-deficient patients and iron deficiency was not associated with in-hospital red blood cell transfusion in patients undergoing elective and urgent cardiac surgery. Iron deficiency was the main cause of anaemia and anaemia was a strong driver of red blood cell transfusion. Further studies should identify sub-population of iron-deficient patients which may benefit from preoperative iron deficiency management and explore the long-term impact of lower haemoglobin levels at discharge in the iron deficient population.

A follow-up of pain reported by children undergoing outpatient surgery using a smartphone application: AlgoDARPEF multicenter descriptive prospective study.

ABSTRACT: In pediatric patients, pain remains the most common complaint after surgery. This French multicenter epidemiological study (AlgoDARPEF) aimed to evaluate the use of a smartphone application (App) to assess the duration and severity of pain experienced by children undergoing outpatient surgery. Children younger than 18 years scheduled for an elective outpatient procedure in one of the participating centers were eligible. Parents were invited to provide daily information for 10 days regarding their child's pain and comfort through a smartphone App using the Parents' Postoperative Pain Measure-Short-Form (PPPM-SF). Children older than 6 years could also provide self-assessments of pain using a numerical rating scale (NRS)-11. Data regarding pain medication, preoperative anxiety, postoperative nausea and vomiting, and parent satisfaction were also analyzed. Repeated-measures analyses of variances (ANOVAs) were used to compare the self-assessments and hetero-assessments of pain. Eleven centers participated in the study, and 1573 patients were recruited. Forty-nine percentage of parents (n = 772) actually used the App at least once. In all surgeries, the average pain rating on the PPPM-SF scale did not exceed 3/10 throughout the follow-up period, as well as for 4 main surgical specialties. Age, visceral surgery, and preoperative anxiety ≥ 4/10 were identified as independent risk factors for experiencing at least 1 episode of pain ≥4/10 during the first 48 postoperative hours. Although these findings indicated that postoperative pain management seems to be satisfactory in the families who used the App, some improvements in anxiety management are suggested. This study shows that inviting parents to use a smartphone App to assess and report the quality of postoperative management in pediatric patients provides useful information. A continuous report regarding pain and adverse events over a 10-day postoperative period by a self-reporting or parent's contribution is possible. Future studies should investigate the ability of live data collection using an App to ensure fast, efficient interactions between patients and physicians.

Clinical Benefit of Extubation in Patients on Venoarterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation.

OBJECTIVES: Although patients on venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for refractory cardiogenic shock are usually supported with mechanical ventilation, it is not clear whether sedation cessation and extubation might improve outcomes. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study with propensity score overlap weighting analysis. SETTING: Three ICUs in a 1,500-bed tertiary university hospital. PATIENTS: From an overall cohort of 641 patients with venoarterial-extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support, the primary analysis was performed in 344 patients who had been successfully decannulated in order to reduce immortal time bias. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Seventy-five patients (22%) were extubated during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support and were subsequently decannulated alive. Forty-nine percent received noninvasive ventilation, and 25% had emergency reintubation for respiratory, neurologic, or hemodynamic reasons. Higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II at admission (odds ratio, 0.97; 95% CI [0.95-0.99]; p = 0.008) was associated with a lower probability of extubation, whereas cannulation in cardiac surgery ICU (odds ratio, 3.14; 95% CI [1.21-8.14]; p = 0.018) was associated with an increased probability. Baseline characteristics were well balanced after propensity score overlap weighting. The number of ICU-free days within 30 days of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation decannulation was significantly higher among extubated patients compared with nonextubated patients (22 d [11-26 d] vs 18 d [7-25 d], respectively; p = 0.036). There were no differences in other outcomes including ventilator-associated pneumonia (odds ratio, 0.96; 95% CI [0.51-1.82]; p = 0.90) and all-cause mortality within 30 days of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation decannulation (5% vs 17%; hazard ratio, 0.54; 95% CI [0.19-1.59]; p = 0.27).As a secondary analysis, outcomes were compared in the overall cohort of 641 venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation-supported patients. Results were consistent with the primary analysis as extubated patients had a higher number of ICU-free days (18 d [0-24 d] vs 0 d [0-18 d], respectively; < 0.001) and a lower risk of death within 30 days of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation cannulation (hazard ratio, 0.45; 95% CI [0.29-0.71]; p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Extubation during venoarterial-extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support is safe, feasible, and associated with greater ICU-free days.

[Assessment of Teleconsultation for planned orthopaedic surgery]. / Faisabilité d'une téléconsultation d'anesthésie en chirurgie orthopédique programmée.

The COVID-19 pandemic has motivated the development of teleconsultation in anaesthesia. We have conducted a single centre prospective study in patients scheduled for planned orthopaedic surgery during 9 weeks between may and july 2020 to assess its practicability. The quality of the consultation and patients' satisfaction, were evaluated during this period. The teleconsultation was successful in 90% of the patients without the need of attendance to the hospital for assessment before anaesthesia. The process was satisfactory for 97% of these patients. The mean duration was 15 minutes. The support of a third party was required in 46% of patients older than 65 years. The main cause of failure was the poor quality of the connection. Only two patients were cancelled for surgery because they did not understand fasting rule. The teleconsultation is now an integral part of preoperative assessment of patients for anaesthesia with good practicability and reliability.

Epinephrine administration in venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation patients is associated with mortality: a retrospective cohort study.

AIMS: Knowledge about the impact of epinephrine on the outcome in venoarterial (VA) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) patients is limited, and existing data are conflicting. METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study in a 1500 bed tertiary university hospital. Five hundred and eighty-nine VA-ECMO patients were analysed. The median age was 57 years [47-65], 68% of male. The major indications for ECMO were post-cardiotomy cardiogenic shock (CS) (38%) and medical CS (36%). Two hundred and sixty-two (44.5%) patients received epinephrine alone or associated with another catecholamine while on ECMO. Baseline factors significantly associated with epinephrine administration were younger age, higher sequential organ failure assessment score, cardiac arrest at implantation, and intra-aortic balloon pump support at implantation, whereas medical CS and dobutamine administration were significantly associated with a lower risk of epinephrine administration. Epinephrine administration was independently associated with death [hazard ratio = 1.68 (1.44-2.23); P < 0.01]. A sensitivity analysis with propensity score inverse probability weighting in complete cases confirmed a significant association of epinephrine administration with death [hazard ratio = 1.69 (1.43-2.00); P < 0.001]. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients who required VA-ECMO, epinephrine administration was associated with an increased risk for death.

A national healthcare response to intensive care bed requirements during the COVID-19 outbreak in France.

BACKGROUND: Whereas 5415 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds were initially available, 7148 COVID-19 patients were hospitalised in the ICU at the peak of the outbreak. The present study reports how the French Health Care system created temporary ICU beds to avoid being overwhelmed. METHODS: All French ICUs were contacted for answering a questionnaire focusing on the available beds and health care providers before and during the outbreak. RESULTS: Among 336 institutions with ICUs before the outbreak, 315 (94%) participated, covering 5054/5531 (91%) ICU beds. During the outbreak, 4806 new ICU beds (+95% increase) were created from Acute Care Unit (ACU, 2283), Post Anaesthetic Care Unit and Operating Theatre (PACU & OT, 1522), other units (374) or real build-up of new ICU beds (627), respectively. At the peak of the outbreak, 9860, 1982 and 3089 ICU, ACU and PACU beds were made available. Before the outbreak, 3548 physicians (2224 critical care anaesthesiologists, 898 intensivists and 275 from other specialties, 151 paediatrics), 1785 residents, 11,023 nurses and 6763 nursing auxiliaries worked in established ICUs. During the outbreak, 2524 physicians, 715 residents, 7722 nurses and 3043 nursing auxiliaries supplemented the usual staff in all ICUs. A total number of 3212 new ventilators were added to the 5997 initially available in ICU. CONCLUSION: During the COVID-19 outbreak, the French Health Care system created 4806 ICU beds (+95% increase from baseline), essentially by transforming beds from ACUs and PACUs. Collaboration between intensivists, critical care anaesthesiologists, emergency physicians as well as the mobilisation of nursing staff were primordial in this context.

Guidelines: Anaesthesia in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: The world is currently facing an unprecedented healthcare crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of these guidelines is to produce a framework to facilitate the partial and gradual resumption of intervention activity in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: The group has endeavoured to produce a minimum number of recommendations to highlight the strengths to be retained in the 7 predefined areas: (1) protection of staff and patients; (2) benefit/risk and patient information; (3) preoperative assessment and decision on intervention; (4) modalities of the preanaesthesia consultation; (5) specificity of anaesthesia and analgesia; (6) dedicated circuits and (7) containment exit type of interventions. RESULTS: The SFAR Guideline panel provides 51 statements on anaesthesia management in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. After one round of discussion and various amendments, a strong agreement was reached for 100% of the recommendations and algorithms. CONCLUSION: We present suggestions for how the risk of transmission by and to anaesthetists can be minimised and how personal protective equipment policies relate to COVID-19 pandemic context.

Post Ambulatory Discharge Follow-up Using Automated Text Messaging.

Ambulatory surgery has grown to be the most common procedure in developed countries. Efficient quality of care and safety often require calling patient at day one after outpatient surgery to check patient's recovery and search for complications. This increasing flow in same day surgery centres motivates the use of automatic systems to contact patients. The overall objective of this study was to evaluate automated software sending text messages (TM) to patients at day 1 after ambulatory surgery compared to classical phone calls. This prospective study took place in Rennes Teaching Hospital, France, from June 1st, 2015 to December 15th, 2016. All patients owning a mobile phone were included, adults and children by means of their parents. The primary end point was the rate of successfully contacted patients, compared to usual phone calls in 2014. In cases of no response or an abnormal response, an automatic alert was sent to the ambulatory unit. Within the 7246 patients included, response rate to TM was significantly higher than response to phone calls in 2014 (87% vs 57%, respectively p < 0.0001). Most patients (85%) responded in less than 60 min. The TM algorithm detected 36% alerts (12% for lack of response to TM and 24% for TM's content). The total of reached patients' rate with TM and then phone call after an alert was 90%. Post ambulatory discharge follow-up using automated TM was successfully and easily experienced as more patients were contacted.

Impact of Preoperative Iron Deficiency on Blood Transfusion in Elective Cardiac Surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the incidence and consequences of preoperative iron deficiency in elective cardiac surgery. DESIGN: A prospective observational study. SETTING: The cardiac surgery unit of a university hospital, from November 2016 to February 2017. PARTICIPANTS: All patients presenting for elective cardiac surgery during the study period, with the exclusion of noncardiac thoracic surgeries, surgeries of the descending aorta, endovascular procedures, and patients affected by an iron-metabolism disease. INTERVENTIONS: Transferrin saturation and serum ferritin levels were systematically assessed before surgery, and the care of patients was maintained as usual. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Routine analyses, clinical data, and the number of blood transfusions were recorded during the hospital stay. Among the 272 patients included, 31% had preoperative iron deficiency and 13% were anemic. Patients with iron deficiency had significantly lower hemoglobin levels throughout the hospital stay and received blood transfusions more frequently during surgical procedures (31% v 19%, p = 0.0361). Detailed analysis showed that patients with iron deficiency received more red blood cell units. There were no differences in postoperative bleeding, morbidity, or mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Iron deficiency appears to be related to lower hemoglobin levels and more frequent transfusions in elective cardiac surgery. Assessing iron status preoperatively and correcting any iron deficiencies should be one of the numerous actions involved in patient blood management for such surgeries, with the aim of reducing morbidity associated with both anemia and transfusion.

Perioperative pain and post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV) management after day-case surgery: The SFAR-OPERA national study.

OBJECTIVES: Since pain and post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV) are the main reasons for failed discharge after day-case surgery, assessing pain and PONV is important. The aim was to describe the perioperative pain and PONV management within selected day-case surgical procedures in France. METHODS: The OPERA trial was carried out on given days between December 2013 and December 2014. Each participating centre was required to fill out 3 separate questionnaires aiming at describing (1) protocols about pain and PONV, (2) patients' characteristics and procedures, (3) analgesic and PONV practice patterns for selected procedures. RESULTS: Over the two days of investigation in each of the 221 randomly selected healthcare institutions, 7382 patients were included, of whom 2144 patients above 12 years underwent one of 10 selected procedures. Among responding institutions, 40% [33;47] had a dedicated pain management written protocol. Combination of tramadol and paracetamol was the most commonly prescribed (78% [71;83] of centres). Oral morphine was prescribed in 59/199 (30% [23; 37]) centres, for home treatment in 25/59 (42% [30; 56]) centres. However, there was no standardised take-home analgesic and PONV strategies for selected surgical procedures at risk of moderate to severe pain. PONV management guidance after discharge was included in only 12 % of centres. CONCLUSION: This survey demonstrates that practice patterns for pain treatment and PONV prophylaxis after ambulatory surgery vary among French centres and are not always in line with national guidelines. Strategies to improve practices and make them more homogeneous are necessary.

Perioperative Use of Intravenous Lidocaine.

Lidocaine is an amide local anaesthetic initially used intravenously as an antiarrhythmic agent. At some point it was proposed that intravenous lidocaine (IVL) had an analgesic effect that could be potentially beneficial in perioperative settings. Since these preliminary reports, a large body of evidence confirmed that IVL had anti-inflammatory and opiate-sparing effects, a combination of characteristics leading to an array of effects such as a decrease in postoperative pain and opiate consumption, and a reduction in the duration of digestive ileus. Additional studies demonstrated IVL to possess antithrombotic, antimicrobial and antitumoral effects. Beneficial effects of IVL have been characterized in abdominal surgery but remain controversial in other types of surgeries. Because the quality of evidence was limited, due to inconsistency, imprecision and study quality, recent conclusions from meta-analysis pooling together all types of surgery stated the uncertainty about IVL benefits. Additional indications such as the prevention of propofol-induced injection pain, prevention of hyperalgesia, protection against bronchial reactivity by bronchotracheal relaxation during surgery, and the increase in depth of general anaesthesia have since emerged. IVL is rapidly distributed in the body and metabolized by the liver. With the commonly recommended doses, lidocaine's therapeutic index remains very high and the plasma concentrations stay largely below the cardiotoxic and neurotoxic threshold levels, a notion that may be used by clinicians to draw conclusions on the benefit-risk profile of IVL in comparison to other analgesic strategies. The purpose of this review is to address the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of lidocaine in healthy and pathological conditions.

Is intravenously administered, subdissociative-dose KETAmine non-inferior to MORPHine for prehospital analgesia (the KETAMORPH study): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Acute pain is a common condition among prehospital patients and prompt management is pivotal. Opioids are the most frequently analgesics used in the prehospital setting. However, opioids are highly addictive, and some patients may develop opioid dependence, even when they are exposed to brief opioid treatments. Therefore, alternative non-opioid analgesia should be developed to manage pain in the prehospital setting. Used at subdissociative doses, ketamine, a noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate and glutamate receptor antagonist, provides analgesic effects accompanied by preservation of protective airway reflexes. In this context, we will carry out a randomized controlled, open-label, multicenter trial to compare a subdissociative dose of ketamine to morphine to provide pain relief in the prehospital setting, in patients with traumatic and non-traumatic pain. METHODS/DESIGN: This will be a multicenter, single-blind, randomized controlled trial. Consecutive adults will be enrolled in the prehospital setting if they experience moderate to severe, acute, non-traumatic and traumatic pain, defined as a numeric rating scale score greater or equal to 5. Patients will be randomized to receive ketamine or morphine by intravenous push. The primary outcome will be the between-group difference in mean change in numeric rating scale pain scores measured from the time before administration of the study medication to 30 min later. DISCUSSION: This upcoming randomized clinical trial was design to assess the efficacy and safety of ketamine, an alternative non-opiate analgesia, to manage non-traumatic and traumatic pain in the prehospital setting. We aim to provide evidence to change prescribing practices to reduce exposition to opioids and the subsequent risk of addiction. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, ID: NCT03236805 . Registered on 2 August 2017.

The European Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Therapy/American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine Recommendations on Local Anesthetics and Adjuvants Dosage in Pediatric Regional Anesthesia.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Dosage of local anesthetics (LAs) used for regional anesthesia in children is not well determined. In order to evaluate and come to a consensus regarding some of these controversial topics, The European Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Therapy (ESRA) and the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA) developed a Joint Committee Practice Advisory on Local Anesthetics and Adjuvants Dosage in Pediatric Regional Anesthesia. METHODS: Representatives from both ASRA and ESRA composed the joint committee practice advisory. Evidence-based recommendations were based on a systematic search of the literature. In cases where no literature was available, expert opinion was elicited. RESULTS: Spinal anesthesia with bupivacaine can be performed with a dose of 1 mg/kg for newborn and/or infant and a dose of 0.5 mg/kg in older children (>1 year of age). Tetracaine 0.5% is recommended for spinal anesthesia (dose, 0.07-0.13 mL/kg). Ultrasound-guided upper-extremity peripheral nerve blocks (eg, axillary, infraclavicular, interscalene, supraclavicular) in children can be performed successfully and safely using a recommended LA dose of bupivacaine or ropivacaine of 0.5 to 1.5 mg/kg. Dexmedetomidine can be used as an adjunct to prolong the duration of peripheral nerve blocks in children. CONCLUSIONS: High-level evidence is not yet available to guide dosage of LA used in regional blocks in children. The ASRA/ESRA recommendations intend to provide guidance in order to reduce the large variability of LA dosage currently observed in clinical practice.

Effect of Xenon Anesthesia Compared to Sevoflurane and Total Intravenous Anesthesia for Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery on Postoperative Cardiac Troponin Release: An International, Multicenter, Phase 3, Single-blinded, Randomized Noninferiority Trial.

BACKGROUND: Ischemic myocardial damage accompanying coronary artery bypass graft surgery remains a clinical challenge. We investigated whether xenon anesthesia could limit myocardial damage in coronary artery bypass graft surgery patients, as has been reported for animal ischemia models. METHODS: In 17 university hospitals in France, Germany, Italy, and The Netherlands, low-risk elective, on-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery patients were randomized to receive xenon, sevoflurane, or propofol-based total intravenous anesthesia for anesthesia maintenance. The primary outcome was the cardiac troponin I concentration in the blood 24 h postsurgery. The noninferiority margin for the mean difference in cardiac troponin I release between the xenon and sevoflurane groups was less than 0.15 ng/ml. Secondary outcomes were the safety and feasibility of xenon anesthesia. RESULTS: The first patient included at each center received xenon anesthesia for practical reasons. For all other patients, anesthesia maintenance was randomized (intention-to-treat: n = 492; per-protocol/without major protocol deviation: n = 446). Median 24-h postoperative cardiac troponin I concentrations (ng/ml [interquartile range]) were 1.14 [0.76 to 2.10] with xenon, 1.30 [0.78 to 2.67] with sevoflurane, and 1.48 [0.94 to 2.78] with total intravenous anesthesia [per-protocol]). The mean difference in cardiac troponin I release between xenon and sevoflurane was -0.09 ng/ml (95% CI, -0.30 to 0.11; per-protocol: P = 0.02). Postoperative cardiac troponin I release was significantly less with xenon than with total intravenous anesthesia (intention-to-treat: P = 0.05; per-protocol: P = 0.02). Perioperative variables and postoperative outcomes were comparable across all groups, with no safety concerns. CONCLUSIONS: In postoperative cardiac troponin I release, xenon was noninferior to sevoflurane in low-risk, on-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery patients. Only with xenon was cardiac troponin I release less than with total intravenous anesthesia. Xenon anesthesia appeared safe and feasible.

The European society of regional anesthesia and pain therapy and the American society of regional anesthesia and pain medicine joint committee practice advisory on controversial topics in pediatric regional anesthesia I and II: what do they tell us?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To summarize the two recent sets of European and American Societies of Regional Anesthesia (ESRA-ASRA) Practice Advisory Guidelines for the performance of pediatric regional anesthesia (PRA). RECENT FINDINGS: Owing to the still ongoing debate regarding crucial issues concerning the effective and safe conduct of PRA and because of the lack of any generally accepted guidelines regarding PRA the (ESRA-ASRA) have addressed these in two topical publications. SUMMARY: Following an extensive literature search and an evidence-based approach the ESRA-ASRA task force have now provided a practice advisory on the following hot topics in PRA: the safety and appropriateness of placing block during general anesthesia or deep sedation, the use of test dosing, whether to use air or saline when performing loss-of-resistance, the risk of masking an acute compartment syndrome by use of PRA, dosing of local anesthetics for neuroaxial nerve blocks as well as peripheral nerve blocks, and finally the use of various drugs as adjuncts to local anesthetics.