Reliability of point-of-care hematocrit, blood gas, electrolyte, lactate and glucose measurement during cardiopulmonary bypass.

BACKGROUND: Recently, the GEM Premier blood gas analyser was upgraded to the GEM Premier 3000. In addition to pH, pCO2, pO2, Na+, K+, Ca2+, and hematocrit measurement, glucose and lactate can be measured on the GEM Premier 3000. In this prospective clinical study, the analytical performance of the GEM Premier 3000 was compared with the Ciba Corning 865 analyser for blood gas/electrolytes/metabolites, and for hematocrit with the Sysmex XE 2100 instrument. METHODS: During a 6-month period, 127 blood samples were analysed on both the GEM Premier 3000 analyser and our laboratory analysers (Ciba Corning 865/Sysmex 2100 instrument), and compared using the agreement analysis for quantitative data. RESULTS: With the exception of K+, the other parameters (pCO2, pO2, Na+, Ca2+, hematocrit, glucose, and lactate) can be described in terms of the mean and standard deviation of the differences. For K+ measurement, a clear linear trend (r=0.79, p<0.001) in the deviation of the GEM Premier 3000 from the Ciba Corning was noticed, ie, in the lower or upper K+ reference range, the GEM Premier 3000 measured systematically too low or too high, respectively. Furthermore, in comparison with the other parameters, a therapeutically unacceptable systematic difference (mean of difference: -2.2%, p=0.05) in hematocrit measurement on the GEM Premier 3000 was observed for hematocrit values below 30%. The variance of the readings for the GEM Premier 3000 measurements was at clinically acceptable levels. CONCLUSION: The GEM Premier 3000 analyser seems to be suitable for point-of-care testing of electrolytes, metabolites, and blood gases during cardiopulmonary bypass. However, its downward bias in hematocrit values below 30% suggests that using the GEM Premier 3000 as a transfusion trigger leads to overtreatment with packed red cells.

Leukocyte removal efficiency of cell-washed and unwashed whole blood: an in vitro study.

Leukocyte filtration of the cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) perfusate after cardiac surgery has evolved as an important technique to prevent effector functions mediated by activated leukocytes. However, little is known about the filtration efficiency. Therefore, an in vitro study was conducted to define the leukocyte removal rate of a transfusion leukocyte-depletion filter, using cell-washed and unwashed whole porcine blood. In addition, the influence of different cell-washing protocols on the elimination rate of blood cells (leukocytes and platelets) was investigated. Fresh, diluted, pooled, heparinized, porcine blood was processed using either a high-flow (HF, n = 5) or quality-wash (QW, n = 5) protocol on a continuous auto-transfusion system, or was left unprocessed (control n=5). Thereafter, all samples were filtered using a transfusion leukocyte-depletion filter. Blood samples for measurement of hematocrit, white blood cell count, including leukocyte differentiation and platelet count, were taken before and after filtration. To compare the experimental groups, the removal rate was presented as the fraction of leukocytes or platelets removed per plasma volume. Cell washing significantly altered the fraction of leukocytes removed per plasma volume when compared to unprocessed blood (2.07 and 2.36 in the HF and QW groups, respectively, versus 1.34 in the control group, p = 0.008 for both). No statistically significant difference in leukocyte removal rate was observed between the different cell-washing protocols. The leukocyte differential count showed that, during all experiments, the neutrophils were removed most efficiently (99.7%). Overall, significantly more platelets were depleted after cell washing compared to the control group (1.47 and 1.60 in the HF and QW groups, respectively, versus 1.12 in the control group, p =0.008 and 0.032, respectively). Furthermore, the amount of blood that could be filtered using a single pass technique did not significantly differ between the experimental groups. However, a larger variation in the total amount of filtered blood was observed in the unprocessed group (570+/-398 mL) compared to the cell-washed groups (360+/-42 and 430+/-97 mL in the HF and QW groups, respectively). In conclusion, blood processing with an auto-transfusion system significantly enhances the leukocyte and platelet removal efficiency of the transfusion leukocyte-depletion filter that was studied. In particular, neutrophils were efficiently removed.

FDG-PET in staging lung cancer: how does it change the algorithm?

BACKGROUND: In patients with lung cancer, positron emission tomography (PET) using fluor-18-fluorodesoxyglucose (FDG) may be used both to detect extrathoracic metastases (ETM) and for mediastinal lymph node staging (MLS), potentially reducing the need for mediastinoscopy. We assessed the added value of FDG-PET in detecting ETM and focused on the reliability of FDG-PET and mediastinoscopy for MLS. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In 72 consecutive patients with non-small cell lung cancer, the impact of adding FDG-PET to full conventional clinical staging was prospectively analyzed. The predictive value of FDG-PET findings and tumor location for pathologic mediastinal lymph node status were assessed in a logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Unexpected extrathoracic metastases were detected by FDG-PET in 15% of patients. In MLS overall negative and positive predictive values were 71 and 83% for FDG-PET, and 92 and 100% for mediastinoscopy. However, the negative predictive value of FDG-PET was only 17% in case of FDG-PET positive N1 nodes and/or a centrally located primary tumor, whereas it was 96% in case of FDG-PET negative N1 nodes and a non-centrally located primary tumor. CONCLUSION: By incorporating FDG-PET in clinical staging, 15% of patients with lung cancer are upstaged due to unexpected extrathoracic metastases. In case of a negative mediastinal FDG-PET, mediastinoscopy can only be omitted in the presence of a non-centrally located primary tumor and without FDG-PET positive N1 nodes.

Between the devil and the deep blue sea: an unusual kind of late cardiac tamponade with a therapeutic dilemma.

A 67-year-old patient underwent a left pneumectomy because of a moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. Two weeks later, while still in hospital, he suddenly experienced an acute increase in dyspnoea. Pulmonary embolism was considered. However, echocardiography showed compression of the right ventricle and right atrium by an intrapericardial mass, confirmed by computed tomography. Following signs of a large thrombus in the inferior vena cava, pericardiocentesis was considered undesirable due to possible dislocation resulting from the sudden changes in intrapericardial pressure. Re-thoracotomy was equally undesirable because of the recent operation and status of the patient. After stabilisation and extensive consulting the patient was referred for pericardiocentesis by sternotomy. Huge blood clots were removed from the pericardial space. No thrombus mass was found in the inferior vena cava. The patient recovered uneventfully.