[Erythropoietin therapy during frequent autologous blood donations. Dose-finding study]. / Erythropoetintherapie während häufiger Blutspenden. Eine Dosisfindungsstudie.

Avoidance of homologous blood products and patients' demand for preoperative autologous blood donation programs are increasing. As many of these patients are older, with a compromised cardiovascular system and a slow response of the erythropoietic system when anemia occurs, the feasibility and benefit of autologous blood donation is often limited. Augmentation of preoperative blood donation by therapy with recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) has been described in animal models and in patients. METHODS. In a multicenter, controlled, randomized trial, 49 patients scheduled for orthopaedic or vascular surgery received 0 (control group, n = 9), 200 (n = 10), 300 (n = 11), 400 (n = 10) or 500 (n = 9) U/kg rHuEPO (Erypo, Cilag, Sulzbach, distributor Fresenius, Oberursel, Germany) subcutaneously twice a week for 3 weeks while every week 450 ml blood was collected. Iron sulphate 100 mg was prescribed orally twice a day. Patients were ineligible if they had uncontrolled hypertension, recent myocardial infarction, haematological disorders or a history of seizures. Blood donation had to be cancelled if the haematocrit was below 30%. RESULTS. There was a significant (ANOVA) drop of the haematocrit value only in the control group, and end-point values for haematocrit and haemoglobin were significantly elevated in the 400 and 500 U/kg groups compared with the control group (Table 9). DISCUSSION. The erythropoietic stimulus of phlebotomy for autologous blood donations is often not efficient enough to guarantee a constant haematocrit. Lowering of the preoperative haematocrit jeopardizes the aim of avoidance of homologous blood transfusions. rHuEPO increased the efficiency of autologous blood collections, as predonation haematocrit values could be preserved in the high-dosage groups. As a consequence, homologous transfusions could be avoided. However, there were broad interindividual differences in the erythropoietic response, possibly due to limitations in iron availability. Adverse effects of rHuEPO therapy, such as hypertension, thrombosis or neurologic disorders, are mostly reported in patients with terminal kidney failure. No such disturbances were observed in the present study. CONCLUSION. rHuEPO ameliorates the preoperative decrease of haemoglobin and haematocrit values due to autologous blood donations in a dose-related fashion. The individually adjusted dosage of rHuEPO and iron supplementation merits further investigation.

Exaggerated cardiopulmonary response after bacteremia in sheep with week-old thermal injury.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if thermal injury impairs pulmonary intravascular clearance of bacteria and therefore leads to exaggerated cardiopulmonary dysfunction in sheep, since endotoxin infusion has been previously shown to induce more severe pulmonary injury after thermal injury. DESIGN: Prospective, unblinded, randomized, controlled trial. SETTING: Laboratory at a large university medical center. INTERVENTIONS: Chronically instrumented, anesthetized sheep received a 40% total body surface area, third-degree thermal injury. Live Pseudomonas aeruginosa (10(7) P. aeruginosa/min for 1 hr; n = 6) were infused 7 to 10 days after thermal injury. Similarly prepared noninjured sheep received the same pseudomonas infusion (n = 7) or saline (n = 7). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Bacterial clearance, which measures phagocytosis by the pulmonary intravascular macrophages, was equally efficient in intact sheep and sheep with thermal injury. Pulmonary hypertension persisted for 18 hrs after thermal injury, compared with 8 hrs in noninjured sheep. Lung lymph flow significantly increased from 6 to 8 hrs in only the thermal injury group. Both bacteremic groups developed a hyperdynamic circulation from 6 to 8 hrs, but cardiac index was 1 to 1.5 L/min/m2 higher in thermally injured sheep. Total peripheral resistance index decreased significantly from 6 to 24 hrs in thermally injured sheep and from 6 to 12 hrs in intact bacteremic sheep. Mean arterial pressure of thermally injured sheep was increased at baseline and for the first 6 hrs compared with noninjured animals. Mean arterial pressure decreased from 6 to 24 hrs in sheep with thermal injury but did not change in intact bacteremic sheep. CONCLUSIONS: Bacterial clearance was not impaired by preceding thermal injury in sheep. Bacteremia in the presence of a preexisting thermal injury led to more persistent pulmonary hypertension and an exaggerated hyperdynamic circulation.

Hydroxyethyl starch pretreatment in bacteremic sheep.

Live bacteria were infused in a chronic ovine lung lymph model to determine if a preceding infusion of the colloid, hydroxyethyl starch (HES), exaggerated the cardiopulmonary dysfunction or impaired removal of bacteria by macrophages in the pulmonary circulation. HES was infused (3 mL/kg/hr; n = 6) from 24 to 12 hr before the bacteria and decreased plasma protein content and increased pulmonary lymph to plasma protein concentration because of its oncotic properties. Ringer's lactate (2 mL/kg/hr) was given after stopping HES and also to the control group (n = 6). Infusion of live Ps. aeruginosa (2.5 x 10(8) Ps./min for approximately 30 min) induced equivalent pulmonary hypertension, increased pulmonary microvascular permeability, and cardiovascular depression in the two groups. The removal of bacteria in the lungs was not affected, indicating that this measurement of the function of the mononuclear phagocytic system was not impaired by the preceding HES.

[Total intravenous anesthesia using propofol and alfentanil in comparison with balanced anesthesia in neurosurgery]. / Totale intravenöse Anästhesie mit Propofol und Alfentanil im Vergleich zur balancierten Anästhesie in der Neurochirurgie.

Anaesthesia for neurosurgical patients should provide haemodynamic stability, reduce cerebral metabolism, preserve cerebral autoregulation, avoid increases of intracranial pressure and guarantee rapid recovery without respiratory depression. A commonly used Balanced Anaesthesia (BA, n = 20) (thiopental and fentanyl bolus induction and maintenance with repetition boluses of fentanyl and droperidol, thiopental infusion, and isoflurane in N2O/O2) was compared to Total Intravenous Anaesthesia (TIVA, n = 20) with propofol and alfentanil infusion. Pancuronium was employed for muscle relaxation in both groups. The TIVA evinced more haemodynamic stability during induction; notably, there was no increase in blood pressure after intubation, as seen in the BA group. Another advantage of TIVA is that it obviates the use of N2O. Quality of recovery after the procedure was determined by standardised psychometric tests. The time span between awakening of patients to orientation and concentration was significantly shorter in the TIVA group compared to the BA group. There was also a smaller deviation of these parameters in the TIVA group indicating a more predictable recovery.

Myocardial depression in hyperdynamic endotoxemia.

The presence of myocardial depression is difficult to assess in most animal models of septic shock caused by hypovolemia. We studied endotoxemia in fluid-resuscitated conscious sheep. They underwent chronic instrumentation with pulmonary artery, arterial, and left atrial catheters. After 1 week of recovery, 1.5 micrograms/kg of endotoxin (LPS) was administered intravenously over a period of 30 min. One group of nine sheep stayed on baseline fluids (2 ml/kg/h of Ringer's lactate), while a second group (n = 6) was resuscitated with 7 ml/kg/h Ringer's lactate solution over the 24-h study period. Both groups were compared with controls. Eight hours after LPS, left ventricular stroke work index was depressed in both groups. In the group resuscitated with 7 ml/kg Ringer's lactate this depression associated with a normal left atrial pressure and a constant peripheral resistance indicated a shift in the Starling work curve downward and to the right evidencing myocardial depression.

Immunoreactive atrial natriuretic factor is increased in ovine model of endotoxemia.

A bolus of Escherichia coli endotoxin (1.5 micrograms/kg) was administered to chronically instrumented sheep. Immunoreactive atrial natriuretic factor (IR-ANF) was measured in extracted plasma by radioimmunoassay. There was a thirteenfold increase in IR-ANF 2 h after endotoxin administration, and IR-ANF levels remained significantly elevated during the first 6 h. A marked diuresis and natriuresis occurred between 4 and 6 h. ANF not only affects renal function but is also associated with decreased cardiac output, increased peripheral resistance (in sheep), and decreased capillary absorption (in rats). These renal and hemodynamic changes are also characteristic of the early (first 6 h) response to endotoxin. Therefore ANF should be considered as a potential mediator of renal and hemodynamic changes induced by sepsis. It is difficult to determine if ANF elevation is an epiphenomenon or a causative factor, because no antagonist of ANF is currently available.

Pulmonary microvascular changes following fluid resuscitation in an ovine model of endotoxemia.

Fluid resuscitation is complicated in hypotensive septic patients by their susceptibility to pulmonary edema. This problem was evaluated in the ovine model of endotoxemia with a chronic lung lymph fistula. Escherichia coli endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide, 1.5 micrograms/kg) was given intravenously over 30 minutes. Group M (n = 9) continued to receive baseline fluids (2 mL/kg/h), while group R (n = 6) received 7 mL/kg/h of Ringer's lactate. After an initial drop in cardiac index, animals in both groups developed a hyperdynamic state. The fall in mean arterial pressure seen in group M was absent from group R. The higher fluid volume resulted in a rise in left atrial pressure and pulmonary microvascular pressure. The lung lymph flow and permeability index were elevated in both groups but were higher in group R. The calculated filtration coefficient showed a threefold increase in both groups. Augmented fluid resuscitation during endotoxemia resulted in an elevated interstitial fluid flux and permeability index secondary to an increase in pulmonary microvascular pressure and greater surface area of the injured microvascular beds being perfused.

Increasing duration of smoke exposure induces more severe lung injury in sheep.

Eighteen sheep previously prepared for chronic study were divided into three groups of six animals each. These were given graded inhalation injury utilizing smoke obtained from burning cotton-toweling material. Smoke was insufflated into animals with a modified bee smoker at temperatures less than 40 degrees C. Group H, which received 64 breaths of smoke, showed the most pronounced changes in pulmonary function. The changes consisted mainly of a profound increase in lung lymph flow following a reduced P/F ratio (PO2 in arterial blood/inspired O2 fraction) and an elevation in both thermal and gravimetrically measured extravascular lung water. Similar changes were seen in group M (48 breaths of smoke) and group L (32 breaths of smoke). However, the injury was graded based on the changes in gravimetrically measured lung water and lung lymph flow. These were highest in group H and lowest in group L. These studies confirm our ability to accurately quantitate the injury induced by smoke inhalation. In addition, it demonstrates that lung injury associated with the inhalation of smoke can be graded depending on the duration of exposure.

Pulmonary edema with smoke inhalation, undetected by indicator-dilution technique.

Despite experimental evidence for an increase in extravascular lung water (EVLW) after inhalation injury, thermal-dye estimations of EVLW, extravascular thermal volume (EVTV), have repeatedly failed to demonstrate its presence in patients. This situation was evaluated in a sheep model. Under halothane anesthesia one lung was insufflated with cotton smoke and the other with air. EVTV values were 8.4 +/- 0.48 ml/kg at base line and were not elevated at 24 h after smoke inhalation (8.3 +/- 0.45 ml/kg; means +/- SE). Gravimetric analysis 24 h after smoke inhalation showed the development of edema in smoke-exposed lungs. The blood-free wet weight-to-dry weight ratio of the smoke-exposed lungs (5.4 +/- 0.32) was significantly higher compared with the contralateral unsmoked lungs (4.3 +/- 0.15; P less than or equal to 0.05). The thermal-dye technique thus underestimates EVLW. Poor perfusion of the smoke-exposed lungs 24 h after injury was demonstrated indirectly by killing a group of sheep with T-61, an agent that causes a dark red coloration of well-perfused lung areas, as well as directly by measurement of blood flow utilizing a radiolabeled microsphere technique. Thus the inability of the thermal-dye technique to detect the lung edema may be the result of poor perfusion of the injured lung.

[Reparative giant-cell granuloma of the extremities]. / Das reparative Riesenzellgranulom der Extremitäten.

Giant-cell reparative granulomas are observed not infrequently in the mandible as sharply demarcated osteolytic lesions. On the other hand, these tumour-like lesions occurring in short tubular bones are rarely reported in the literature and, so far, only 27 cases have been described. We have records of five cases in the Westphalian Bone Tumour Register. The actual occurrence is probably greater if one assumes that the lesion is caused by an intra-osseous bleeding. This pathogenic mechanism is supported by histological evidence.