Heparin Loading Dose in Patients Undergoing Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.

OBJECTIVE: To study the differences in hemorrhagic and embolic complications among extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) patients who received and did not receive a loading dose of heparin. DESIGN: This study is a controlled before-after monocentric retrospective study. SETTING: The emergency department of the Aerospace Center Hospital (ASCH). PARTICIPANTS: The authors studied a total of 28 patients who, after a cardiac arrest, underwent ECPR in the emergency department of the ASCH from January 2018 to May 2022. INTERVENTIONS: The authors compared the hemorrhagic and embolic complications and prognosis of the 2 groups based on whether they received a loading dose of heparin anticoagulation therapy before catheterization (a loading-dose group and a non-loading dose- group). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: There were 12 patients in the loading-dose group and 16 in the nonloading-dose group. There was no statistically significant difference in age, sex, underlying diseases, causes of cardiac arrest, and hypoperfusion time between the 2 groups. The incidence of hemorrhagic complications was 75% in the loading-dose group and 67.5% in the nonloading-dose group. The difference between the 2 groups was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The incidence of life-threatening massive hemorrhage in the loading-dose group was 50%, and in the nonloading-dose group, it was 12.5%. The difference between the 2 groups was statistically significant (p = 0.03). The incidence of embolic complications in the loading-dose group and nonloading-dose group was 8.3% and 12.5%, respectively, and the difference between the 2 groups was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The survival rates of the 2 groups were 8.3% v 18.8%, respectively, and the difference between the 2 groups was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, in the authors' study of patients undergoing ECPR, administering a loading dose of heparin was associated with an increased risk of early fatal hemorrhage. However, stopping this loading dose did not raise the risk of embolic complications. It also did not lower the risk of total hemorrhage and transfusion.

Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation versus conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation for patients with refractory out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A retrospective propensity matching analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is high. Though extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) has been considered a potential treatment for refractory cardiac arrest after failure of conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CCPR), the benefit of ECPR in refractory OHCA remains uncertain. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, we included patients with refractory OHCA who visited the Emergency Department of the Aerospace Center Hospital between January 2018 and April 2023. We divided the patients into the ECPR Group and the CCPR Group. The primary endpoint of the study was the neurological function of the patients in both groups 3 months after the cardiac arrest. We used propensity score matching to reduce selection bias and identified factors associated with good neurological function when OHCA was treated with ECPR by performing univariate and multivariate correlation analyses on surviving patients with good neurological function in the ECPR group. RESULTS: During the study period, we enrolled 133 patients, consisting of 33 in the ECPR group and 100 in the CCPR group. The survival rate of patients with good neurological function at discharge was 18.2% (6/33 cases) in the ECPR group and 9% (9/100 cases) in the CCPR group, p = .20. Three months after discharge, the survival rate of patients with good neurological function was 15.2% (5/33 cases) in the ECPR group and 8% (8/100 cases) in the CCPR group, p = .31. Using propensity score matching, we identified 22 pairs of patients for further analysis. Among these, 3 months after discharge, the survival rate of patients with good neurological function was 13.6% (3/22 cases) in the ECPR group and 4.5% (1/22 cases) in the CCPR group, p = .61, and the survival rate at discharge was 18.2% (4/22 cases) in the ECPR group and 4.5% (1/22 cases) in the CCPR group, p = .34. The univariate analysis of patients with good neurological function in the ECPR group showed that time without perfusion, hypoperfusion time, and PCI treatment were associated factors affecting the prognosis of neurological function in patients, while multivariate analysis showed that hypoperfusion time was independently associated with good neurological function, with an OR (95% CI) of 1.06 (1.00-1.14) and p = .05. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggested that ECPR failed to significantly improve neurological outcome in patients with refractory OHCA; however, the small sample size in this study may be insufficient to detect clinically relevant differences. In addition, hypoperfusion time may be a key predictive factor in identifying candidates for ECPR.

Impact of independent early stage extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the emergency department following the establishment of an extracorporeal life support team.

Objective: In this paper, we present a comprehensive overview of our experience in establishing and leading distinct extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR)-related teams to independently handle ECPR in the early stages in the emergency department. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 29 patients who underwent ECPR treatment in the emergency room between May 2018 and April 2022. A control group, consisting of 10 patients treated between May 2018 and September 2019 was managed using a standard rescue coordination mode. The 19 patients who received ECPR between October 2019 and April 2022 were treated by members of the department's 24-h extracorporeal life support team. We compared the implementation and operational challenges faced by the two groups, including item preparation, circuit setup, and ECPR initiation times, among other factors. Results: Gender, age, cardiac arrest risk factors, and other baseline data did not significantly differ between the two groups. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) pipeline prefilling time (from 35.27±10.34 to 13.46±5.32), ECPR establishment time (from 62.35±29.61 to 30.98±13.41), and item preparation time (from 16.42±9.78 to 3.19±1.49) all considerably decreased when compared to the control group. The rate of return of spontaneous circulation recovery rose from 37.50 % to 77.78 % (P < 0.05). The consequences of gastrointestinal and pulmonary bleeding were greatly reduced while ECPR was being used, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Significant improvements were made in the ECPR weaning rate (from 25.00 % to 38.89 %) and survival rate (from 20.0 % to 36.8 %). Conclusion: The establishment of a 24-h extracorporeal life support team significantly reduced the time needed for rescue during the early stage of independent setup of ECPR in the emergency department and serves as a guide for effective care of critically ill patients.

A prediction model with measured sentiment scores for the risk of in-hospital mortality in acute pancreatitis: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Accurate and prompt clinical assessment of the severity and prognosis of patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) is critical, particularly during hospitalization. Natural language processing algorithms gain an opportunity from the growing number of free-text notes in electronic health records to mine this unstructured data, e.g., nursing notes, to detect and predict adverse outcomes. However, the predictive value of nursing notes for AP prognosis is unclear. In this study, a predictive model for in-hospital mortality in AP was developed using measured sentiment scores in nursing notes. Methods: The data of AP patients in the retrospective cohort study were collected from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) database. Sentiments in nursing notes were assessed by sentiment analysis. For each individual clinical note, sentiment polarity and sentiment subjectivity scores were assigned. The in-hospital mortality of AP patients was the outcome. A predictive model was built based on clinical information and sentiment scores, and its performance and clinical value were evaluated using the area under curves (AUCs) and decision-making curves, respectively. Results: Of the 631 AP patients included, 88 cases (13.9%) cases were dead in hospital. When various confounding factors were adjusted, the mean sentiment polarity was associated with a reduced risk of in-hospital mortality in AP [odds ratio (OR): 0.448; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.233-0.833; P=0.014]. A predictive model was established in the training group via multivariate logistic regression analysis, including 12 independent variables. In the testing group, the model showed an AUC of 0.812, which was significantly greater than the sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) of 0.732 and the simplified acute physiology score-II (SAPS-II) of 0.792 (P<0.05). When the same level of risk was considered, the clinical benefits of the predictive model were found to be the highest compared with SOFA and SAPS-II scores. Conclusions: The model combined sentiment scores in nursing notes showed well predictive performance and clinical value in in-hospital mortality of AP patients.

Pentraxin 3 inhibits acute renal injury-induced interstitial fibrosis through suppression of IL-6/Stat3 pathway.

Acute kidney injury-induced organ fibrosis is recognized as a major risk factor for the development of chronic kidney disease, which remains one of the leading causes of death in the developed world. However, knowledge on molecules that may suppress the fibrogenic response after injury is lacking. The long pentraxin 3 (PTX3), a novel acute renal injury marker, has been reported to be involved in chronic renal injury, but the mechanism is still unknown. In this experiment, the mice subjected to acute kidney injury showed a slow recovery of kidney function compared with PTX3-treated animals. Collagen expression was absent in sham-operated kidneys; however, their expression was significantly increased after reperfusion. And, these changes were reduced in PTX3-treated mouse kidney. Fibrosis was associated with increased expression of IL-6 and extensive activation of Stat3. Administration of IL-6 increased collagen I expression and Stat3 activation in vitro in renal epithelial cells subjected to hypoxia-reoxygenation, which was suppressed by PTX3. Furthermore, we found that the decreased serum creatinine level and the reduced expression of collagen and smooth muscle actin induced by PTX3 were abolished by additional administration of IL-6. The associated p-Stat3 expression which was reduced by PTX3 administration was also inverted by additional IL-6 treatment. Our data suggest that PTX3 inhibits acute renal injury-induced interstitial fibrosis through suppression of IL-6/Stat3 pathway.