As the Turkish Journal of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation Leaves Its 50th Anniversary Behind.

The Turkish Journal of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation, established in 1972, is 50 years old now. The number of citations of the journal and the interest of national and international researchers are high. This success has been achieved by the editorial boards who have contributed to the journal since its establishment and the writers who have contributed to its development, and this success will continue to increase.

Use of software in the ICU.

In the continuum of the complex therapy process of a critically ill patient, the intensive care unit (ICU) period must be followed very meticulously because of the extremely data-intensive circumstances. Intensive care medicine is a lot more reliant on 'numbers' than most of the other medical disciplines, and minor errors in the records may lead to wrong decisions, which may cause major harm to the patient. Manual records are prone to errors, inaccuracies and are time-consuming for both nurses maintaining them and physicians trying to interpret them, especially in patients with complex pathologies and long-term stays. Since the introduction of the first general-purpose computer, ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) in 1946, there have been attempts to integrate computers into medicine and in the last decades, we are witnessing the emergence of intensive care information systems (ICIS). ICIS has the potential to increase the quality and accuracy of the medical records, while also decreasing the incidence of medical errors. They present electronic decision support and tools for quality control and performance evaluation. More importantly, they allow a medium where the physician can easily assess the current condition of the patient from different perspectives. So far, the usage of ICIS has been limited due to high costs and some other factors. Although we are in a technologically advanced position today, it is still a challenge to implement an ICIS successfully. If not planned properly, it is a process prone to significant delays in time, additional costs, poor acceptance by the staff and even total failure. In this study, we are going to evaluate the past, present and future of intensive care information systems and share our experiences in implementing them.

A Different Approach to the Nutritional Therapy in Intensive Care Units: Nutrition Software (ICNUS).

Critically ill patients receive nutritional support in addition to extensive organ support therapies in the intensive care units. The transcription of the data obtained by multiple devices from a wide spectrum of usage areas is a challenging process and is prone to errors. Software specifically designed for usage in intensive care units do offer numerous advantages. Primarily, it facilitates to improve the management of time and workflow for the benefit of patients. Therefore, we believed that a different approach was needed for the nutritional regime of our critically ill patients. Following nearly 2 years of research, we developed and implemented the Intensive Care Nutrition Software (ICNUS), which is explained in this article.

Does preoperative oral carbohydrate treatment reduce the postoperative surgical stress response in lumbar disc surgery?

OBJECTIVES: Surgical trauma produces metabolic and hormonal responses, which are characterized by insulin resistance. Due to extension of the preoperative fasting period, which increases the magnitude of postoperative insulin resistance, preoperative oral carbohydrates (POC) have been developed. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This prospective, randomized, controlled study was performed on 43 ASA I-II patients undergoing elective microsurgical lumbar discectomy. The intervention group received oral carbohydrate solution 800mL the night before and 400mL 2h prior to operation. The other group fasted for 8h prior to operation. Blood samples were obtained the day before the operation, before induction of anesthesia, after skin incision, 1h, 2h, 6h and 24h following skin incision. Blood glucose, plasma insulin, cortisol and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels were determined. The primary endpoint was to assess the effect of POC treatment on insulin resistance and surgical stress response following lumbar disc surgery. The secondary endpoint was to assess POC's effects on postoperative nausea and vomiting. RESULTS: The serum insulin levels were higher before induction of anesthesia in the study group and returned to fasted group levels by 2h after skin incision. The plasma IL-6 levels were higher in the intervention group at 6h after the skin incision. There were no differences between the two groups with respect to blood glucose, plasma cortisol levels and the incidence of nausea and vomiting. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that use of POC treatment does not attenuate development of insulin resistance in patients undergoing lumbar disc surgery.

Lithium Intoxication Accompanied by Hyponatremia.

Lithium is frequently used in the management of bipolar affective disorders. It has a narrow therapeutic index and can cause acute or chronic intoxication. Toxic symptoms may be present even when concentrations are within the recommended therapeutic range. We believe that lithium intoxication is a very important issue for a physician. In this report, we aimed to evaluate the pathophysiological view of two chronic lithium intoxication cases accompanied by hyponatremia.

An unexpected tetanus case.

1 million cases of tetanus are estimated to occur worldwide each year, with more than 200 000 deaths. Tetanus is a life-threatening but preventable disease caused by a toxin produced by Clostridium tetani-a Gram-positive bacillus found in high concentrations in soil and animal excrement. Tetanus is almost completely preventable by active immunisation, but very rarely unexpected cases can occur in individuals who have been previously vaccinated. We report a case of generalised tetanus in a 22-year-old woman that arose despite the protective antitoxin antibody in her serum. The patient received all her vaccinations in the USA; her last vaccination was 6 years ago. The case was unusual because the patient had received all standard vaccinations, had no defined port of entry at disease onset, and had symptoms lasting for 6 months. Tetanus can present with unusual clinical forms; therefore, the diagnosis and management of this rare but difficult disease should be updated. In this Grand Round, we review the clinical features, epidemiology, treatment, and prognosis of C tetani infections.

Postoperative analgesia for supratentorial craniotomy.

OBJECTIVES: The prevalence of moderate to severe pain is high in patients following craniotomy. Although optimal analgesic therapy is mandatory, there is no consensus regarding analgesic regimen for post-craniotomy pain exists. This study aimed to investigate the effects of morphine and non-opioid analgesics on postcraniotomy pain. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This prospective, randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study included eighty three patients (ASA 1, II, and III) scheduled for elective supratentorial craniotomy. Intravenous dexketoprofen, paracetamol and metamizol were investigated for their effects on pain intensity, morphine consumption and morphine related side effects during the first 24h following supratentorial craniotomy. Patients were treated with morphine based patient controlled analgesia (PCA) for 24h following surgery and randomized to receive supplemental IV dexketoprofen 50mg, paracetamol 1g, metamizol 1g or placebo. The primary endpoint was pain intensity, secondary endpoint was the effects on morphine consumption and related side effects. RESULTS: When the whole study period was analyzed with repeated measures of ANOVA, the pain intensity, cumulative morphine consumption and related side effects were not different among the groups (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: This study showed that the use of morphine based PCA prevented moderate to severe postoperative pain without causing any life threatening side effects in patients undergoing supratentorial craniotomy with a vigilant follow up during postoperative 24h. Although we could not demonstrate statistically significant effect of supplemental analgesics on morphine consumption, it was lower in dexketoprofen and metamizol groups than control group.

Neurosurgery in the sitting position: retrospective analysis of 692 adult and pediatric cases.

AIM: The sitting position is routinely used in many centers, although its use remains controversial and appears to be diminishing because of the risk of venous air embolism (VAE). MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of 601 adult and 91 pediatric cases underwent neurosurgery from January 1995 through December 2010 in the sitting position. The incidence of VAE and other complications related to the sitting position has been determined. VAE was defined as a sudden and sustained decrease of end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) ≥0.7 kPa. RESULTS: The incidence of VAE in children and adults were found to be 26.3% (n=24) and 20.4% (n=123) consecutively but the difference was not significant. The incidence of positioning induced hypotension was more in adults (37.6%) compared to children (18.6%, p=0.00001). The presence of COPD (p=0.04) and ASA status (p=0.03) showed a correlation with 'hypotension with positioning'. There was no peroperative mortality. CONCLUSION: The study provides a significant body of data on neuroanesthesia for the sitting position and our results suggest that if the sitting position is a neurosurgical necessity it can be used with vigilant follow up throughout the procedure to detect any occurrence of VAE by ETCO2 monitoring if you do not have the chance to use more sensitive tools.

The effects of analgesia-sedation on the immune system before and after cerebral digital subtraction angiography.

AIM: Cerebral digital subtraction angiography (DSA) is an invasive procedure and may cause inflammatory responses in the body. This study aims to provide cytokine and lymphocyte profile in a population of patients underwent cerebral DSA. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty-one male patients who admitted for cerebral DSA were included in this study. Patients were divided into two groups: Group I (n = 7) included patients who did not receive analgesia-sedation and group II (n = 34) received analgesia-sedation before procedure. For the molecules, a venous blood samples from every patient was collected before and after cerebral DSA. RESULTS: Cytokine levels in group I showed a trend to increase in the majority of the molecules after the procedure except IL-1ß. In group II, cytokines showed variable trend. When comparing the two groups regarding cytokine levels after cerebral DSA, IL-1ß, IL-10, IL-12, and IFN-γ levels increased significantly in group II. Comparing the two groups with respect to lymphocytes after cerebral DSA showed that CD56 levels were significantly higher in group II and other parameters did not show significant differences. CONCLUSION: It can be possible that delimitation of the action(s) of the cytokines affecting the secretion or activation of CD56 (natural killer) may avoid complications of inflammation after invasive procedures.

Efficacy of intravenous paracetamol, metamizol and lornoxicam on postoperative pain and morphine consumption after lumbar disc surgery.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The combination of opioids with supplemental analgesics is commonly used for additive or synergistic analgesic effects. We aimed to determine the most advantageous supplemental analgesic for postoperative pain relief after lumbar disc surgery. METHODS: This prospective, placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind study compared the effects of intravenous metamizol, paracetamol and lornoxicam on postoperative pain control, morphine consumption and side effects after lumbar disc surgery. Eighty patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists classification 1 or 2 scheduled for elective lumbar disc surgery under general anaesthesia were treated using patient-controlled analgesia with morphine until 24 h postoperatively and randomized to receive additional intravenous injections of metamizol 1 g, paracetamol 1 g, lornoxicam 8 mg or isotonic saline 0.9% (placebo). The primary endpoint was pain over 24 h after surgery measured by visual analogue scale. Secondary endpoints were morphine consumption and side effects. RESULTS: During the 24 h study period, pain was reduced in the metamizol (P = 0.001) and paracetamol (P = 0.04) groups, but not in the lornoxicam (P = 0.20) group compared with the control group. Further analysis revealed that pain scores in the metamizol group were significantly lower than in the lornoxicam group (P = 0.031). Although the rate of morphine consumption in the paracetamol group was decreased over time (P < 0.001), the total amounts of morphine consumed in 24 h were not different between groups. No significant differences with respect to morphine-related side effects were observed between groups. CONCLUSION: Metamizol or paracetamol, but not lornoxicam, provides effective analgesia following lumbar disc surgery.

Nutritional risk of hospitalized patients in Turkey.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: We conducted a multicentre study to assess nutritional risk at hospital admission, hospital-associated iatrogenic malnutrition and the status of nutritional support in Turkish hospitals. METHODS: A database which allowed for online submission of hospital and patient data was developed. A nutritional risk screening system (NRS-2002) was applied to all patients and repeated weekly in patients with hospital stays greater than one week and no invasive procedures. Patient-specific nutritional support was recorded during the study period. RESULTS: Thirty-four hospitals from 19 cities contributed data from 29,139 patients. On admission, 15% of patients had nutritional risk. Nutritional risk was common (52%) in intensive care unit patients and lowest (3.9%) in otorhinolaryngology patients. Only 51.8% of patients with nutritional risk received nutritional support. Nutritional risk was present in 6.25% of patients at the end of the first week and 5.2% at the end of the second week, independent of nutritional support. In patients with nutritional risk on admission who were hospitalized for two weeks and received nutritional support, the NRS-2002 score remained > or =3 in 83% of cases. CONCLUSIONS: Nutritional risk is common in hospitalized Turkish patients. While patients at nutritional risk often do not receive nutritional support when hospitalized, nutritional risk occurs independent of nutritional support.

Detection of epithelial cell transfer in spinal areas by light microscopy and determining any tissue coring via cell culture during combined spinal-epidural interventions.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Epithelial tissue coring by spinal needles during subarachnoid injections may cause intraspinal epidermal tumors. Previous studies have investigated tissue transfer with different needle types during subarachnoid or epidural injection. This study deals with the transfer of epithelial tissue during combined spinal-epidural (CSE) anesthesia. METHODS: We studied 68 American Society of Anesthesiologists I to III adult patients. CSE anesthesia was induced under aseptic conditions at the L2-3 or L3-4 interspace with patients in the lateral decubitus position. Cerebral spinal fluid, spinal needle stylet, fluid used to flush the interior of the spinal needle, fluid used to wash the exterior of the spinal needle, fluid used to flush the interior of the epidural needle, and fluid used to wash the exterior tip of the epidural needle were examined under light microscopy (n = 30 patients) or incubated in a cell-culture medium (n = 38 patients). Samples were incubated in cell-culture medium alone (n = 13) or in a cell-culture medium for 3 weeks and then in a medium with epidermal growth factor (n = 25). As a positive control, skin tissue samples were taken by punch biopsy from 10 randomly chosen patients who underwent CSE interventions. These samples were incubated in an enriched medium serum. RESULTS: Light microscopy revealed that there was cell transfer in all phases in various rates: samples 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 contained epithelial cells and debris in ratios of 6.9%, 20.7%, 6.9%, 20.7%, 26.7%, and 33.3%, respectively. Epithelial cell colonization was detected in the cell-culture samples taken from the control group but not in the samples taken from the CSE group. CONCLUSIONS: We could not reproduce the cells or cell debris obtained during the CSE interventions in vivo, which can be explained by a possible structural deformation of cells or the inadequacy of the amount of cells that were transferred.

Effectiveness of morphine via thoracic epidural vs intravenous infusion on postthoracotomy pain and stress response in children.

BACKGROUND: Thoracotomy causes severe pain in the postoperative period. The aim was to evaluate effectiveness of two pain treatment methods with morphine on postthoracotomy pain and stress response. METHODS: Thirty-two children undergoing major thoracotomy for noncardiac thoracic surgery were allocated to receive either single dose of thoracic epidural morphine 0.1 mg x kg(-1) in 0.2 ml x kg(-1) saline (TEP group, n = 16) or morphine infusion at 0.02 mg x kg(-1) h(-1) (INF group, n = 16) following bolus dose of 0.05 mg x kg(-1) postinduction. Pain and sedation scores and incidence of complications were recorded for 24 h and cortisol, blood glucose, insulin and morphine serum levels were evaluated following induction, 1, 8, 12, and 24 h after initial morphine administration. RESULTS: Five patients in TEP and one in INF required rescue morphine. The cortisol, insulin and blood glucose increased during the study and returned to normal levels at 24th hour (P < 0.05), similarly in both groups (P > 0.05). The morphine levels were variable within and between groups (P < 0.05). A common complication was nausea and vomiting with both the techniques (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Single dose TEP morphine offers no advantage over INF for pain treatment for thoracotomy in children and neither technique provided suppression of stress hormones in the first 24 h postoperatively.