Outcomes in cardiac surgery in 500 consecutive Jehovah's Witness patients: 21 year experience.

BACKGROUND: Refusal of heterogenic blood products can be for religious reasons as in Jehovah's Witnesses or otherwise or as requested by an increasing number of patients. Furthermore blood reserves are under continuous demand with increasing costs. Therefore, transfusion avoidance strategies are desirable. We describe a historic comparison and current results of blood saving protocols in Jehovah's Witnesses patients. METHODS: Data on 250 Jehovah's Witness patients operated upon between 1991 and 2003 (group A) were reviewed and compared with a second population of 250 patients treated from 2003 to 2012 (group B). RESULTS: In group A, mean age was 51 years of age compared to 68 years in group B. An iterative procedure was performed in 13% of patients in group B. Thirty days mortality was 3% in group A and 1% in group B despite greater operative risk factors, with more redo, and lower ejection fraction in group B. Several factors contributed to the low morbidity-mortality in group B, namely: preoperative erythropoietin to attain a minimal hemoglobin value of 14 g/dl, warm blood cardioplegia, the implementation of the Cornell University protocol and fast track extubation. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiac surgery without transfusion in high-risk patients such as Jehovah Witnesses can be carried out with results equivalent to those of low risk patients. Recent advances in surgical techniques and blood conservation protocols are main contributing factors.

Use of cardiopulmonary bypass for lung transplantation: a 10-year experience.

OBJECTIVE: The use of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) for lung transplantation (LTx) has been reported previously. This study reports the authors' experience of planned and unplanned use of cardiopulmonary bypass for LTx. DESIGN: Case series. SETTING: A university teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Patients undergoing LTx. INTERVENTIONS: A retrospective analysis of the charts of all patients having undergone LTx over the last 10 years. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Among 140 LTx, 23 (16%) were performed with the use of CPB. CPB was planned in 11 cases and unplanned in the 12 other cases. The use of CPB is associated with a longer period of postoperative mechanical ventilation, more pulmonary edema, more blood transfusion requirement, and an increase in postoperative mortality at 48 hours and 1 month. Surgical difficulties related to the dissection of the native left lung and acute right ventricular failure are the main reasons for unscheduled use of CPB. CONCLUSION: Scheduled and unscheduled CPB for LTx are associated with an increased mortality at 1 month and 1 year.

Treatment of hypoxemia during one-lung ventilation using intravenous almitrine.

UNLABELLED: We performed this prospective randomized double-blinded study to assess the ability of almitrine to treat hypoxemia during one-lung ventilation (OLV). Twenty-eight patients were anesthetized with propofol, sufentanil, and atracurium; lung separation was achieved with a double-lumen tube. A transesophageal Doppler probe was inserted to evaluate cardiac index. If SpO(2) was equal to or decreased to <95% during OLV (inspired fraction of oxygen of 0.6), patients were included in the study and received a placebo or almitrine (12 microg x kg(-1) x min(-1) for 10 min followed by 4 microg x kg(-1) x min(-1)) infusion until SpO(2) reached 90% or decreased to <90% (exclusion from the study). Eighteen of the 28 patients were included and received either almitrine (n = 9) or a placebo (n = 9). Treatment was discontinued in 1 patient in the almitrine group and 6 in the placebo group (P < 0.05). Treatment was successful (SpO(2) remaining >or=95% during OLV) in 8 patients in the almitrine group and 1 in the placebo group (P < 0.01). Heart rate, arterial blood pressure, and cardiac index did not change throughout the study, but we could obtain an adequate aortic blood flow signal in only half of the patients. Almitrine could be used to treat hypoxemia during OLV. IMPLICATIONS: IV almitrine improves oxygenation during one-lung ventilation without hemodynamic modification. Such treatment could be used when conventional ventilatory strategy fails to treat hypoxemia or cannot be used.

The clinical relevance of systolic pressure variations in anesthetized nonhypotensive patients.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy of respiratory-induced systolic pressure variation and its components to detect low left ventricular preload. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: University hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty-seven patients undergoing major surgery under general anesthesia. INTERVENTIONS: Transesophageal echocardiographic measurements during apnea and mechanical ventilation. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Respiratory-induced systolic pressure variation and its components and left ventricular end-diastolic area obtained by transesophageal echocardiography were noted simultaneously. Arterial pressure indices did not allow a reliable diagnosis of a low left ventricular end-diastolic area using a cut-off value of 7.9 cm(2)/m(2) (inferior boundary of the interquartile range of the areas measured in the authors' group). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that systolic pressure variations noticed after induction of general anesthesia do not reflect low left ventricular preload in nonhypotensive patients.

The effects of intravenous almitrine on oxygenation and hemodynamics during one-lung ventilation.

UNLABELLED: One-lung ventilation (OLV) induces an increase in pulmonary shunt sometimes associated with a decrease in PaO2 despite ventilation with 100% oxygen. PaO2 improvement has been reported in one-lung ventilated animals receiving IV almitrine, a pulmonary vasoconstrictor. We evaluated the ability of almitrine to prevent a decrease in PaO2 during OLV. Patients without pulmonary hypertension undergoing OLV for lung surgery were randomly assigned to receive either placebo (Group P, n = 8) or almitrine infusion at a rate of 8 microg x kg(-1) x min(-1) (Group A, n = 8) from the start of OLV. Gasometric and hemodynamic values were recorded with the patient in the lateral decubitus position during two-lung ventilation and at 10-min intervals during OLV over a 30-min period (OLV-10, OLV-20, OLV-30). Compared with the values found during two-lung ventilation (434 +/- 22 mm Hg in Group P and 426 +/- 23 mm Hg in Group A), PaO2 decreased at OLV-10 (305 +/- 46 mm Hg), OLV-20 (203 +/- 20 mm Hg), and OLV-30 (178 +/- 18 mm Hg) in Group P (P < 0.05) and at OLV-20 (354 +/- 25 mm Hg) and OLV-30 (325 +/- 17 mm Hg) in Group A (P < 0.05). PaO2 values differed between the groups at OLV-20 and OLV-30 (P < 0.05). Pulmonary artery pressure and cardiac output did not change. In conclusion, 8 microg x kg(-1) x min(-1) IV almitrine prevents and limits the OLV-induced decrease in PaO2 without causing any hemodynamic modification. IMPLICATIONS: Eight microg x kg(-1) x min(-1) IV almitrine limits one-lung ventilation-induced decrease in PaO2 without causing any hemodynamic modification in patients without pulmonary hypertension.