ABSTRACT
Management of cardiac arrhythmias often requires direct current cardioversion (DCC) to restore sinus rhythm. This intervention varies greatly between countries and hospitals, mostly regarding the organization of an elective DCC, and the choice of the sedation. The aim of this study is to assess the safety and efficacy of an elective DCC performed in a cardiology day hospital, led by trained nurses, and using intravenous Etomidate as sedation. We performed a retrospective cohort study at a single tertiary hospital in Belgium. Data were collected from January 2017 to October 2020. A total of 788 electrical cardioversions were performed on 574 patients from 2017 to 2020. Age was 70.9 ± 10 years. Restoration of sinus rhythm was obtained in 89.5% of the patients. One (0.1%) patient experienced ischemic stroke within 24 h, despite adequate anticoagulation. There were 4 (0.5%) cases of transient sinus arrest requiring atropine. Three patients (0.4%) experienced respiratory depression, requiring bag-mask ventilation but not oro-tracheal intubation. There were no cases of hypotension. No periprocedural death was reported. In conclusion, an elective electrical cardioversion performed and led by trained nurses, using Etomidate as sedation, appears to be both safe and effective.
ABSTRACT
Atherosclerosis is a progressive chronic arterial disease characterised by atheromatous plaque formation in the intima of the arterial wall. Several invasive and non-invasive imaging techniques have been developed to detect and characterise atherosclerosis in the vessel wall: anatomic/structural imaging, functional imaging and molecular imaging. In molecular imaging, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) is a promising target for the non-invasive detection of atherosclerosis and for the assessment of novel antiatherogenic treatments. VCAM-1 is an adhesion molecule expressed on the activated endothelial surface that binds leucocyte ligands and therefore promotes leucocyte adhesion and transendothelial migration. Hence, for several years, there has been an increase in molecular imaging methods for detecting VCAM-1 in MRI, PET, SPECT, optical imaging and ultrasound. The use of microparticles of iron oxide (MPIO), ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO), microbubbles, echogenic immunoliposomes, peptides, nanobodies and other nanoparticles has been described. However, these approaches have been tested in animal models, and the remaining challenge is bench-to-bedside development and clinical applicability.
ABSTRACT
A single-center prospective study was conducted over one-year period to determine the performance (sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values) of the synovasure test for the diagnosis of prosthetic joint infection using the MSIS consensus criteria as the reference. The study included all patients admitted for resumption of hip or knee prosthesis whatever the reason, all couples of friction, patients under antibiotic treatment, immuno-compromised or with systemic inflammatory diseases. 62 consecutive patients were preoperatively distributed into three groups (infected, uninfected and questionable). In order to determine MSIS criteria, pre-operative blood tests, as well as bacteriological, cytological and histological analyses of intraoperative tissues were performed. The synovasure test was performed following the protocol on articular fluid intraoperatively and showed a sensitivity of 83.3%, a specificity of 95.7%, a positive predictive value of 83.3% and a negative predictive value of 95.7%.
