Update on early warning scores.

Early warning scores (EWS) have the objective to provide a preventive approach for detecting those patients in general wards at risk of deterioration before it begins. Well implemented and combined with a tiered response, the EWS expect to be a relevant tool for patient safety. Most of the evidence for their use has been published for the general EWS. Their strengths, such as objectivity and systematic response, health provider training, universal applicability and automatization potential need to be highlighted to counterbalance the weakness and limitations that have also been described. The near future will probably increase availability of EWS, reliability and predictive value through the spread and acceptability of continuous monitoring in general ward, its integration in decision support algorithms with automatic alerts and the elaboration of temporal vital signs patterns that will finally allow to perform a personal modelling depending on individual patient characteristics.

Individualised perioperative open-lung approach versus standard protective ventilation in abdominal surgery (iPROVE): a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The effects of individualised perioperative lung-protective ventilation (based on the open-lung approach [OLA]) on postoperative complications is unknown. We aimed to investigate the effects of intraoperative and postoperative ventilatory management in patients scheduled for abdominal surgery, compared with standard protective ventilation. METHODS: We did this prospective, multicentre, randomised controlled trial in 21 teaching hospitals in Spain. We enrolled patients who were aged 18 years or older, were scheduled to have abdominal surgery with an expected time of longer than 2 h, had intermediate-to-high-risk of developing postoperative pulmonary complications, and who had a body-mass index less than 35 kg/m2. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1:1:1) online to receive one of four lung-protective ventilation strategies using low tidal volume plus positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP): open-lung approach (OLA)-iCPAP (individualised intraoperative ventilation [individualised PEEP after a lung recruitment manoeuvre] plus individualised postoperative continuous positive airway pressure [CPAP]), OLA-CPAP (intraoperative individualised ventilation plus postoperative CPAP), STD-CPAP (standard intraoperative ventilation plus postoperative CPAP), or STD-O2 (standard intraoperative ventilation plus standard postoperative oxygen therapy). Patients were masked to treatment allocation. Investigators were not masked in the operating and postoperative rooms; after 24 h, data were given to a second investigator who was masked to allocations. The primary outcome was a composite of pulmonary and systemic complications during the first 7 postoperative days. We did the primary analysis using the modified intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02158923. FINDINGS: Between Jan 2, 2015, and May 18, 2016, we enrolled 1012 eligible patients. Data were available for 967 patients, whom we included in the final analysis. Risk of pulmonary and systemic complications did not differ for patients in OLA-iCPAP (110 [46%] of 241, relative risk 0·89 [95% CI 0·74-1·07; p=0·25]), OLA-CPAP (111 [47%] of 238, 0·91 [0·76-1·09; p=0·35]), or STD-CPAP groups (118 [48%] of 244, 0·95 [0·80-1·14; p=0·65]) when compared with patients in the STD-O2 group (125 [51%] of 244). Intraoperatively, PEEP was increased in 69 (14%) of patients in the standard perioperative ventilation groups because of hypoxaemia, and no patients from either of the OLA groups required rescue manoeuvres. INTERPRETATION: In patients who have major abdominal surgery, the different perioperative open lung approaches tested in this study did not reduce the risk of postoperative complications when compared with standard lung-protective mechanical ventilation. FUNDING: Instituto de Salud Carlos III of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and Grants Programme of the European Society of Anaesthesiology.

Rationale and study design for an individualised perioperative open-lung ventilatory strategy with a high versus conventional inspiratory oxygen fraction (iPROVE-O2) and its effects on surgical site infection: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Surgical site infection (SSI) is a serious postoperative complication that increases morbidity and healthcare costs. SSIs tend to increase as the partial pressure of tissue oxygen decreases: previous trials have focused on trying to reduce them by comparing high versus conventional inspiratory oxygen fractions (FIO2) in the perioperative period but did not use a protocolised ventilatory strategy. The open-lung ventilatory approach restores functional lung volume and improves gas exchange, and therefore it may increase the partial pressure of tissue oxygen for a given FIO2. The trial presented here aims to compare the efficacy of high versus conventional FIO2 in reducing the overall incidence of SSIs in patients by implementing a protocolised and individualised global approach to perioperative open-lung ventilation. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a comparative, prospective, multicentre, randomised and controlled two-arm trial that will include 756 patients scheduled for abdominal surgery. The patients will be randomised into two groups: (1) a high FIO2 group (80% oxygen; FIO2 of 0.80) and (2) a conventional FIO2 group (30% oxygen; FIO2 of 0.30). Each group will be assessed intra- and postoperatively. The primary outcome is the appearance of postoperative SSI complications. Secondary outcomes are the appearance of systemic and pulmonary complications. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The iPROVE-O2 trial has been approved by the Ethics Review Board at the reference centre (the Hospital Clínico Universitario in Valencia). Informed consent will be obtained from all patients before their participation. If the approach using high FIO2 during individualised open-lung ventilation decreases SSIs, use of this method will become standard practice for patients scheduled for future abdominal surgery. Publication of the results is anticipated in early 2019. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02776046; Pre-results.

Influence of the thoracic epidural anesthesia on the left ventricular function: an echocardiographic study.

BACKGROUND: Thoracic epidural anesthesia (TEA) is widely used for major surgery, but studies assessing its impact on left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function are limited, and such studies have assessed patients already under general anesthesia and/or receiving volume expansion between examinations. METHODS: Observational study at a secondary university hospital including consecutive awake patients undergoing major abdominal surgery without significant pre-existing cardiac disease. Patients received a pre-emptive intravenous volume loading before epidural catheter placement with puncture between T6-T7 and T8-T9. Hemodynamic and trans-thoracic echocardiography (TTE) parameters were assessed before and after establishing TEA with a 10 mL bolus of 2% lidocaine. Changes in heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO), LV systolic function (as evaluated by fractional shortening [FS]; ejection fraction [EF]; Simpson; S prime [S`]), and LV diastolic function were recorded. RESULTS: Twenty-four awake patients were included. After TEA, HR, MAP, SV and CO significantly decreased (15.0%, 29.3%, 6.8% and 22%, respectively; all P<0.01); LV systolic function was also reduced by TEA (FS by 28%, EF-Simpson by 26%, S' by 15.3%, all P<0.001). TEA non-significantly reduced the incidence of diastolic dysfunction, from 65% (N.=15/23) to 43% (N.=10/23) patients (P=0.13) in the 23 complete diastolic function evaluations. CONCLUSIONS: The net effect of TEA in awake patients is a reduction of HR and LV systolic function, which results in a reduction of the CO and the MAP. The effect of TEA on LV diastolic function remains to be addressed by larger studies.

Postoperative bilateral adrenal hemorrhage: correlation between clinical and radiological signs.

The case of a patient who developed progressive hemodynamic instability during the late postoperative period following oncologic abdominal surgery is presented. Suspecting the onset of intraabdominal infection, we ordered a computed tomographic scan of the area, on which bilateral adrenal hemorrhage was observed. Adrenal function tests confirmed the presence of adrenal insufficiency.

Pulsed radiofrequency in lumbar radicular pain: clinical effects in various etiological groups.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) applied to the lumbar dorsal root ganglion (DRG). METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 54 consecutive patients who underwent 75 PRF procedures was performed. The patients were divided into three groups according to the etiology of the lesion (herniated disc [HD], spinal stenosis [SS], and failed back surgery syndrome [FBSS]). The analgesic efficacy of the technique was assessed using a 10-point Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) at baseline and, along with the Global Perceived Effect (GPE), at 30, 60, 90, and 180 days. The reduction in medications and the number of complications associated with the technique were assessed. RESULTS: A decrease in the NRS score was observed in patients with HD (P < 0.05) and SS (P < 0.001), but not in those with FBSS. The GPE scores confirmed this finding. No complications were noted. CONCLUSIONS: We observed that PRF of the DRG was significantly more efficacious in HD and SS than in FBSS patients. The application of PRF was not effective in FBSS.

Seguridad del paciente y sistemas de comunicación de incidentes / Patient safety and adverse incident reporting systems

La utilización de sistemas de comunicación de incidentes ha proporcionado información determinante para mejorar la seguridad en ámbitos médicos y no médicos. Aunque existe controversia sobre las características de un sistema de comunicación ideal, para que tenga éxito se necesita una cultura de seguridad implantada en la organización. Los sistemas de comunicación recogen información sobre sucesos adversos, errores o incidentes, con el objetivo de analizar sus causas e implantar cambios en el sistema para evitar su repetición. Una de las limitaciones más importantes de estos sistemas es la infracomunicación, que tiene su origen en el miedo a medidas disciplinarias o legales y la falta de convicción en su eficacia. Presentamos nuestra experiencia en la utilización de un sistema informatizado de comunicación y análisis de incidentes críticos en un servicio de anestesia. En un período de 6 años y 52.259 procedimientos anestésicos realizados, se comunicaron 513 incidentes críticos (0,98%). Los registros más frecuentes fueron los relacionados con el equipamiento, la comunicación y los fármacos. Los factores asociados con mayor frecuencia al desarrollo de incidentes fueron la falta de comprobación del equipamiento y de los fármacos, los problemas de comunicación y la incapacidad para aplicar conocimientos aprendidos. El 81,8% de los incidentes no tuvo ningún efecto sobre el paciente o produjo sólo morbilidad menor. En el 78,9% de los casos el incidente se consideró evitable. Como consecuencia del análisis sistemático de los incidentes se adoptaron distintas medidas correctoras, algunas de las cuales demostraron una reducción estadísticamente significativa en los incidentes de equipamiento y farmacológicos

The use of adverse incident reporting systems has provided key information for improving safety in medical and nonmedical settings. Although the characteristics of the ideal reporting system are controversial, for this type of system to work, a culture of safety in the organization is required. Reporting systems gather information on adverse events, errors, or incidents with the aim of analyzing the causes and implementing changes in the system to prevent their repetition. One of the most important limitations of these systems is under-reporting, caused by fear of disciplinary or legal repercussions and lack of belief in the effectiveness of reporting. We present our experience of the use of a computerized system for reporting and analyzing critical incidents in an anesthesiology department. Over a period of 6 years, with 52,259 anesthesiology procedures performed, 513 critical incidents were reported (0.98%). The most frequently registered incidents were related to equipment, communication, and drugs. The factors most frequently associated with adverse incidents were failure to check equipment and drugs, communication problems, and inability to put knowledge into practice. Most (81.8%) of the incidents had no effect on the patient or produced only minor morbidity. In 78.9% of cases, the incident was considered avoidable. As a result of systematic analysis of the incidents, various corrective measures were adopted, some of which produced a statistically significant reduction in equipment-and drug-related incidents

Oxygen consumption measurement: agreement between the closed-circuit PhysioFlex anesthesia machine and the Deltatrac II indirect calorimeter.

UNLABELLED: We designed this study to ascertain whether, for the purpose of clinical interpretation, the direct measurement of O(2) consumption with the PhysioFlex closed-circuit anesthesia machine and with the Deltatrac II indirect calorimeter are interchangeable. Oxygen consumption was measured using the two instruments successively in critically-ill, mechanically-ventilated patients. Measurements were recorded as the mean of 10 consecutive, minute-by-minute, stable readings. The degree of agreement between the measurements obtained with the two systems was estimated using Bland-Altman analysis and the intraclass correlation coefficient. Forty-four pairs of measurements made in 21 patients were analyzed, yielding a mean bias of 6.32 mL/min and limits of agreement of 40.28 and -27.63 mL/min. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.95, and the 95% confidence interval ranged from 0.91 to 0.97. The measurement of O(2) consumption obtained with the PhysioFlex anesthesia machine is interchangeable with that obtained by indirect calorimetry. IMPLICATIONS: The PhysioFlex anesthesia machine (Dräger Inc., Lübeck, Germany) is a closed circuit anesthesia delivery device. The oxygen delivered by this device to maintain a steady-state inspired oxygen concentration is therefore a measure of the patient's oxygen consumption. This study was designed to evaluate the accuracy of the PhysioFlex for measuring oxygen consumption by comparing it with an established technology (Deltatrac II Calorimeter) for making this measurement.