Transfusion of blood components and postoperative infection in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of blood derivatives on the acquisition of severe postoperative infection (SPI) in patients undergoing heart surgery. SETTING: The postoperative ICUs of a tertiary-level university hospital. DESIGN: A cohort study. METHODS: During a 4-year period, 738 patients, classified as patients with SPIs and patients without SPIs (non-SPI patients), were included in the study. We studied the influence of 36 variables on the development of SPI in general and individually for pneumonia, mediastinitis, and/or septicemia. The influence of the blood derivatives on infections was assessed for RBC concentrates, RBC and plasma, and RBC and platelets. RESULTS: Seventy patients (9.4%) were classified as having SPIs, and 668 (90.6%) were classified as not having SPIs. After multivariate analysis, the variables associated with SPI (incidence, 9.4%) were reintubation, sternal dehiscence, mechanical ventilation (MV) for > or = 48 h, reintervention, neurologic dysfunction, transfusion of > or = 4 U RBCs, and systemic arterial hypotension. The variables associated with nosocomial pneumonia (incidence, 5.9%) were reintubation, MV for > or = 48 h, neurologic dysfunction, transfusion of > or = 4 U blood components, and arterial hypotension. The variables associated with mediastinitis (incidence, 2.3%) were reintervention and sternal dehiscence, and those associated with sepsis (incidence, 1.6%) were reintubation, time of bypass > or = 110 min, and MV for > or = 48 h. The mortality rate (patients with SPI, 52.8%; non-SPI patients, 8.2%; p < 0.001) and mean (+/- SD) length of stay in the ICU (patients with SPI, 15.8 +/- 12.9 days; non-SPI patients, 4.5 +/- 4.4 days; p < 0.001) were greater for the infected patients. The transfused patients also had a greater mortality rate (13.3% vs 8.9%, respectively; p < 0.001) and a longer mean stay in the ICU (6.1 +/- 7.2 days vs 3.7 +/- 2.8 days, respectively; p < 0.01) than those not transfused. CONCLUSION: The administration of blood derivatives, mainly RBCs, was associated in a dose-dependent manner with the development of SPIs, primarily nosocomial pneumonia.

Nosocomial pneumonia in patients undergoing heart surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the risk factors related to the presence of postsurgical nosocomial pneumonia (NP) in patients who had undergone cardiac surgery. DESIGN: A case-control study. SETTING: Postcardiac surgical intensive care unit at a university center. PATIENTS: A total of 45 patients with NP and 90 control patients collected during a 4-yr period. INTERVENTIONS: Pre-, intra-, and postoperative factors were collected and compared between two groups of patients (cases vs. controls) to determine their influence on the development of NP. The diagnosis of NP was always microbiologically confirmed as pulmonary specimen brush culture of > or =10(3) colony-forming units/mL or positive blood culture/pleural fluid culture by the growth of identical microorganisms isolated at the lung. For each patient diagnosed with NP, we selected control cases at a ratio of 1:2. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The incidence of NP was 6.5%. Multivariate analysis found a probable association of the following variables with a greater risk for the development of NP: reintubation (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 62.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 8.1-480; p = .01); nasogastric tube (AOR, 19.7; 95% CI, 3.5-109; p = .01), transfusion of > or =4 units of blood derivatives (AOR, 12.8; 95% CI, 2-82; p = .01) and empirical treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics (AOR, 6.6; 95% CI, 1.2-36.8; p = .02). Culture results showed 13.3% of the NP to be of polymicrobial origin, whereas 77.3% of the microorganisms isolated were Gram-negative bacteria. The mortality (51 vs. 6.7%, p < .01) and the length of stay in the intensive care unit (25+/-14.8 days vs. 5+/-5 days, p < .01) were both greater in patients with NP. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the surgical risk factors, except the transfusion of blood derivatives, have little effect on the development of NP. Reintubation, nasogastric tubing, previous therapy with broad-spectrum antibiotics, and blood transfusion are factors most likely associated with NP acquisition.

[The hemolytic-uremic syndrome: a report of a case which started as a massive pulmonary hemorrhage]. / Síndrome hemolítico-urémico: presentación de un caso que debutó como hemorragia pulmonar masiva.

Hemolytic-uremic syndrome is a disease of different etiology, characterized by thrombocytopenia, hemolytic anemia and renal failure. A case of lethal evolution that afflicted a 18 year old male is presented. The exceptional presentation with massive pulmonary hemorrhage highlighted.

[Postoperative care in portal hypertension surgery (author's transl)]. / Cuidados postoperatorios en la cirugía de la hipertensión portal.

The postoperative courses of 26 patients admitted to an Intensive Care Unit after different types of surgery on their portal tree are studied. All were diagnosed as having portal hypertension secondary to chronic liver disease and had presented one or more episodes of bleeding. Those complications of greater risk with an important early mortality rate are: 1) recurrence of the gastrointestinal hemorrhage, independently of the type of lesion which originates it; 2) recurrence of ascites because these patients more often develop dehiscence of the abdominal wall, serious dilutional hyponatremia and severe functional renal insufficiency; 3) acute renal failure, both functional or caused by an organic tubulo-interstitial nephropathy; 4) peritonitis; 5) persistent hepatolytic episode; 6) hyperdynamic heart failure; and 7) re-operations in general, independently of the causes. The frequency of these complications and the greater or lesser seriousness of their development in the postoperative period are dependent on: 1) the age of the patient with a better prognosis for those under 50; 2) the histopathologic type of the hepatic lesion, with hepatic fibrosis having a more favourable evolution in comparison with cirrhosis; 3) the degree of decompensation of the hepatopathy immediately before the operation, evaluating signs of functional hepatic deficit, cytolysis and degree of portal hypertension. The greater the preoperative activity, the worse the postsurgical prognosis. 4) The elective or urgent character of the surgery. During the postoperative course of emergency surgery all types of complications may appear. The emergency operation which has effectively achieved the stopping of the esophageal bleeding has been the porto-azygos disconnection, which allows later a portosystemic shunt with a greater probability of success. 5) The type of anastomosis carried out. Radicular shunts were those which had a lower postoperative mortality rate and those which progressed better because of the small number of problems occurring in the early postoperative period.