Transesophageal Echocardiography in Patients in Cardiac Arrest: The Heart and Beyond.

Point of care ultrasound involves different ultrasound modalities and is useful to assist management in emergent clinical situations such as cardiac arrest. The use of point of care ultrasound in cardiac arrest has mainly been described using transthoracic echocardiography as a diagnostic and as a prognostic tool. However, cardiac evaluation using transthoracic echocardiography might be challenging because of patient-related or technical factors. Furthermore, its use during pulse check pauses has been associated with delays in chest compression resumption. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) overcomes these limitations by providing reliable and continuous imaging of the heart without interfering with cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In this narrative review we describe the role of TEE during cardiopulmonary resuscitation in 4 different applications: (1) chest compression quality feedback; (2) rhythm characterization; (3) diagnosis of reversible causes; and (4) procedural guidance. Considering its limitations, we propose an algorithm for the integration of TEE in patients with cardiac arrest with a focus on these 4 applications and extend its use to extracardiac applications.

Postoperative outcomes in surgical COVID-19 patients: a multicenter cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Data on postoperative outcomes of the COVID-19 patient population is limited. We described COVID-19 patients who underwent a surgery and the pandemic impact on surgical activities. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter cohort study between March 13 and June 192,020. We included all COVID-19 patients who underwent surgery in nine centres of the Province of Québec, the Canadian province most afflicted by the pandemic. We also included concomitant suspected COVID-19 (subsequently confirmed not to have COVID-19) patients and patients who had recovered from it. We collected data on baseline characteristics, postoperative complications and postoperative mortality. Our primary outcome was 30-day mortality. We also collected data on overall surgical activities during this first wave and during the same period in 2019. RESULTS: We included 44 COVID-19 patients, 18 suspected patients, and 18 patients who had recovered from COVID-19 at time of surgery. Among the 44 COVID-19 patients, 31 surgeries (71%) were urgent and 16 (36%) were major. In these patients, pulmonary complications were frequent (25%) and 30-day mortality was high (15.9%). This mortality was higher in patients with symptoms (23.1%) compared to those without symptoms (5.6%), although not statistically significant (p = 0.118). Of the total 22,616 cases performed among participating centres during the study period, only 0.19% had COVID-19 at the time of surgery. Fewer procedures were performed during the study period compared to the same period in 2019 (44,486 cases). CONCLUSION: In this Canadian cohort study, postoperative 30-day mortality in COVID-19 patients undergoing surgery was high (15.9%). Although few surgeries were performed on COVID-19 patients, the pandemic impact on surgical activity volume was important. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04458337 .