A prospective study of ketamine versus haloperidol for severe prehospital agitation.

CONTEXT: Ketamine is an emerging drug for the treatment of acute undifferentiated agitation in the prehospital environment, however no prospective comparative studies have evaluated its effectiveness or safety in this clinical setting. OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized 5 mg/kg of intramuscular ketamine would be superior to 10 mg of intramuscular haloperidol for severe prehospital agitation, with time to adequate sedation as the primary outcome measure. METHODS: This was a prospective open label study of all patients in an urban EMS system requiring chemical sedation for severe acute undifferentiated agitation that were subsequently transported to the EMS system's primary Emergency Department. All paramedics were trained in the Altered Mental Status Scale and prospectively recorded agitation scores on all patients. Two 6-month periods where either ketamine or haloperidol was the first-line therapy for severe agitation were prospectively compared primarily for time to adequate sedation. Secondary outcomes included laboratory data and adverse medication events. RESULTS: 146 subjects were enrolled; 64 received ketamine, 82 received haloperidol. Median time to adequate sedation for the ketamine group was 5 minutes (range 0.4-23) vs. 17 minutes (range 2-84) in the haloperidol group (difference 12 minutes, 95% CI 9-15). Complications occurred in 49% (27/55) of patients receiving ketamine vs. 5% (4/82) in the haloperidol group. Complications specific to the ketamine group included hypersalivation (21/56, 38%), emergence reaction (5/52, 10%), vomiting (5/57, 9%), and laryngospasm (3/55, 5%). Intubation was also significantly higher in the ketamine group; 39% of patients receiving ketamine were intubated vs. 4% of patients receiving haloperidol. CONCLUSIONS: Ketamine is superior to haloperidol in terms of time to adequate sedation for severe prehospital acute undifferentiated agitation, but is associated with more complications and a higher intubation rate.

Lung ¹8F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography for diagnosis and monitoring of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

RATIONALE: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a proliferative arteriopathy associated with glucose transporter-1 (Glut1) up-regulation and a glycolytic shift in lung metabolism. Glycolytic metabolism can be detected with the positron emission tomography (PET) tracer (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). OBJECTIVES: The precise cell type in which glycolytic abnormalities occur in PAH is unknown. Moreover, whether FDG-PET is sufficiently sensitive to monitor PAH progression and detect therapeutic regression is untested. We hypothesized that increased lung FDG-PET reflects enhanced glycolysis in vascular cells and is reversible in response to effective therapies. METHODS: PAH was induced in Sprague-Dawley rats by monocrotaline or chronic hypoxia (10% oxygen) in combination with Sugen 5416. Monocrotaline rats were treated with oral dichloroacetate or daily imatinib injections. FDG-PET scans and pulmonary artery acceleration times were obtained weekly. The origin of the PET signal was assessed by laser capture microdissection of airway versus vascular tissue. Metabolism was measured in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cell (PASMC) cultures, using a Seahorse extracellular flux analyzer. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Lung FDG increases 1-2 weeks after monocrotaline (when PAH is mild) and is normalized by dichloroacetate and imatinib, which both also regress medial hypertrophy. Glut1 mRNA is up-regulated in both endothelium and PASMCs, but not airway cells or macrophages. PASMCs from monocrotaline rats are hyperproliferative and display normoxic activation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), which underlies their glycolytic phenotype. CONCLUSIONS: HIF-1α-mediated Glut1 up-regulation in proliferating vascular cells in PAH accounts for increased lung FDG-PET uptake. FDG-PET is sensitive to mild PAH and can monitor therapeutic changes in the vasculature.

Therapeutic inhibition of fatty acid oxidation in right ventricular hypertrophy: exploiting Randle's cycle.

Right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) and RV failure are major determinants of prognosis in pulmonary hypertension and congenital heart disease. In RVH, there is a metabolic shift from glucose oxidation (GO) to glycolysis. Directly increasing GO improves RV function, demonstrating the susceptibility of RVH to metabolic intervention. However, the effects of RVH on fatty acid oxidation (FAO), the main energy source in adult myocardium, are unknown. We hypothesized that partial inhibitors of FAO (pFOXi) would indirectly increase GO and improve RV function by exploiting the reciprocal relationship between FAO and GO (Randle's cycle). RVH was induced in adult Sprague-Dawley rats by pulmonary artery banding (PAB). pFOXi were administered orally to prevent (trimetazidine, 0.7 g/L for 8 weeks) or regress (ranolazine 20 mg/day or trimetazidine for 1 week, beginning 3 weeks post-PAB) RVH. Metabolic, hemodynamic, molecular, electrophysiologic, and functional comparisons with sham rats were performed 4 or 8 weeks post-PAB. Metabolism was quantified in RV working hearts, using a dual-isotope technique, and in isolated RV myocytes, using a Seahorse Analyzer. PAB-induced RVH did not cause death but reduced cardiac output and treadmill walking distance and elevated plasma epinephrine levels. Increased RV FAO in PAB was accompanied by increased carnitine palmitoyltransferase expression; conversely, GO and pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) activity were decreased. pFOXi decreased FAO and restored PDH activity and GO in PAB, thereby increasing ATP levels. pFOXi reduced the elevated RV glycogen levels in RVH. Trimetazidine and ranolazine increased cardiac output and exercise capacity and attenuated exertional lactic acidemia in PAB. RV monophasic action potential duration and QTc interval prolongation in RVH normalized with trimetazidine. pFOXi also decreased the mild RV fibrosis seen in PAB. Maladaptive increases in FAO reduce RV function in PAB-induced RVH. pFOXi inhibit FAO, which increases GO and enhances RV function. Trimetazidine and ranolazine have therapeutic potential in RVH.