Ultrasound-Guided Placement of a Hemodialysis Catheter into the Distal Femoral Vein in a Patient with Multiple Catheters: A Case Report.

Cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury may require postoperative renal replacement therapy. Although the right internal jugular vein and femoral veins are generally the preferred insertion sites for the hemodialysis catheter for continuous renal replacement therapy, the presence of other indwelling catheters or prior thrombotic events from previous catheters may preclude use of these sites. We present a case in which the hemodialysis catheter was inserted into the distal femoral vein using point-of-care ultrasound in a patient with multiple catheter insertions after coronary artery bypass grafting. Although the tip of the dialysis catheter was more distal than the classic femoral approach, renal replacement therapy was performed without problems. Moreover, it was easier for the nurses to keep the insertion site clean and to change the patient's position.

Anesthetic Care During Tracheostomy in a Patient with Generalized Tetanus: A Case Report.

Tetanus is a potentially fatal infectious disease caused by the toxins produced by the anaerobic bacterium, Clostridium tetani. Of major concern during the perioperative care of these patients is control of muscle spasms, skeletal rigidity, and autonomic dysfunction. Several of the modern sedative and opioid agents including remifentanil have not been fully evaluated in managing tetanus. We present the intraoperative use of remifentanil in a 75-year-old woman with generalized tetanus who required anesthetic care during placement of a tracheostomy. The end-organ involvement of tetanus is presented, previous reports of anesthetic care reviewed, and the potential utility of remifentanil explored.

Combined Spinal-Epidural Anesthesia for Subtotal Colectomy in a Patient With Hamman Syndrome and Epidural Pneumatosis: A Case Report.

It remains unclear how epidural pneumatosis affects the efficacy of neuraxial anesthesia. Spontaneous pneumomediastinum (Hamman syndrome) with epidural pneumatosis is rare. Regardless of its etiology, general anesthesia with positive pressure ventilation in patients with pneumomediastinum carries the risk of pneumothorax. We present a 19-year-old patient with Hamman syndrome and epidural pneumatosis who required emergency laparotomy. Effective analgesia was obtained using neuraxial anesthesia with a combined spinal-epidural anesthesia technique.

The U-shaped association of serum iron level with disease severity in adult hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging infectious disease that leads to severe respiratory failure (RF). It is known that host exposure to viral infection triggers an iron-lowering response to mitigate pathogenic load and tissue damage. However, the association between host iron-lowering response and COVID-19 severity is not clear. This two-center observational study of 136 adult hospitalized COVID-19 patients analyzed the association between disease severity and initial serum iron, total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), and transferrin saturation (TSAT) levels. Serum iron levels were significantly lower in patients with mild RF than in the non-RF group; however, there were no significant differences in iron levels between the non-RF and severe RF groups, depicting a U-shaped association between serum iron levels and disease severity. TIBC levels decreased significantly with increasing severity; consequently, TSAT was significantly higher in patients with severe RF than in other patients. Multivariate analysis including only patients with RF adjusted for age and sex demonstrated that higher serum iron and TSAT levels were independently associated with the development of severe RF, indicating that inadequate response to lower serum iron might be an exacerbating factor for COVID-19.

Efficacy of continuous versus intermittent subglottic secretion drainage in preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia in patients requiring mechanical ventilation: A single-center randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Aspiration of subglottic secretion is a widely used intervention to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). This study aimed to compare the efficacy of continuous and intermittent subglottic secretion drainage (SSD) in preventing VAP. METHODS: A single-center randomized controlled trial was conducted on adult postoperative patients who were expected to undergo mechanical ventilation for more than 48 hours. Primary outcome measure was incidence of VAP and secondary outcome measures were length of mechanical ventilation and intensive-care unit (ICU) stay. RESULTS: Fifty-nine patients received continuous SSD, while 60 patients received intermittent SSD. Of these 119 patients, 88 (74%) were excluded and 15 and 16 patients were allocated to receive continuous and intermittent SSD, respectively. VAP was detected in 4 (26.7%) and 7 (43.8%) patients in the continuous and intermittent groups, respectively, (p=0.320). The length of mechanical ventilation was significantly shorter (p=0.034) in the continuous group (99.5±47.1 h) than in the intermittent group (159.9±94.5 h). The length of ICU stay was also shorter (p=0.0097) in the continuous group (6.3±2.1 days) than the intermittent group (9.8±4.8 days). CONCLUSIONS: Although continuous SSD did not reduce the incidence of VAP, it reduced the length of mechanical ventilation and ICU stay when compared to intermittent SSD.