Epidemiology and complications of anaesthesia in the French centres that participated to NECTARINE: A secondary analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Neonatal and infant anaesthesia are associated with a high risk of perioperative complications. The aim of the current study was to describe those risks in France using the French data from the NECTARINE study. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data from the French centres that participated to the NECTARINE study were analysed. The primary goal of the study was the description of patients' characteristics, procedures and perioperative management and their comparison with the results of the European NECTARINE study. Secondary outcomes were the description of major perioperative complications and death. RESULTS: Overall, 926 procedures collected in 15 centres (all teaching hospitals) were analysed. Comparison between the French and European NECTARINE cohorts found few differences related to patients' characteristics and procedures. The rate of interventions for critical events (respiratory, haemodynamic, and metabolic) was similar between the two cohorts. Near-infrared spectroscopy monitoring was used in 12% of procedures. Nearly none of the thresholds for these interventions met the published standards. By day 30, complications (respiratory, haemodynamic, metabolic, renal, and liver failure) and death were observed in 14.4% [95% CI 11.6-16.4]% and 1.8% [95% CI 1.1-2.9] of cases, respectively. DISCUSSION: Although the health status of the patients in the French cohort was less severe, procedures, management and postoperative complications and mortality rates were similar to the European cohort. However, thresholds for interventions were often inadequate in both cohorts. Efforts should be undertaken to improve the knowledge and use of new monitoring devices in this population.

Correction to: Impact of intravascular thrombosis on failure of radial arterial catheters in critically ill patients: a nested case-control study.

Owing to an error in typesetting, Table 2 was not structured correctly.

Impact of intravascular thrombosis on failure of radial arterial catheters in critically ill patients: a nested case-control study.

PURPOSE: The patency of arterial catheters is essential for reliable invasive blood pressure monitoring. We sought to determine whether radial catheter failures were associated with intravascular thrombosis in critically ill adult patients. METHODS: This unmatched case-control study was conducted within a prospective cohort of patients admitted to an intensive care unit. The arterial catheter failure was the main outcome, which identified cases. Controls were patients with patent catheter until removal or 28 days of follow-up. The prevalence of intravascular thrombosis in cases and controls was determined by ultrasonography of the cannulated radial artery. Assessors were blinded to clinical findings. Failing catheters were removed and examined microscopically. RESULTS: Catheter failures occurred in 25.5% of 200 patients during 584 catheter-days (incidence rate, 87/1000 catheter-days). The median patency duration was 13.1 days. An intravascular thrombosis located in front of the catheter tip was diagnosed in 42 of 50 cases (84.0%) and 24 of 139 controls (17.3%). In multivariable logistic regression analysis, the probability of catheter failure was higher in patients with intravascular thrombosis [odds ratio (OR), 36.52; 95% confidence interval (CI), 12.86-103.74] and females (OR, 3.45; 95% CI 1.32-9.05), increased proportionally to arterial blood sampling frequency (OR, 1.20; 95% CI 1.04-1.38), and decreased in thrombocytopenia (OR, 0.28; 95% CI 0.10-0.78). After removal, 15.7% of failing catheters had some luminal fibrin deposits, but none were occluded. CONCLUSIONS: Most failing radial arterial catheters had no luminal obstruction, but were associated with an intravascular thrombosis. Among predictive factors, arterial blood sampling frequency is the most susceptible to intervention.

Markedly blunted metabolic effects of fructose in healthy young female subjects compared with male subjects.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the metabolic effects of fructose in healthy male and female subjects. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Fasting metabolic profile and hepatic insulin sensitivity were assessed by means of a hyperglycemic clamp in 16 healthy young male and female subjects after a 6-day fructose overfeeding. RESULTS: Fructose overfeeding increased fasting triglyceride concentrations by 71 vs. 16% in male vs. female subjects, respectively (P < 0.05). Endogenous glucose production was increased by 12%, alanine aminotransferase concentration was increased by 38%, and fasting insulin concentrations were increased by 14% after fructose overfeeding in male subjects (all P < 0.05) but were not significantly altered in female subjects. Fasting plasma free fatty acids and lipid oxidation were inhibited by fructose in male but not in female subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Short-term fructose overfeeding produces hypertriglyceridemia and hepatic insulin resistance in men, but these effects are markedly blunted in healthy young women.