[Criteria for efficacy of anticoagulant therapy in patients with thromboses of deep veins of lower limbs].

The authors analysed the results of a prospective study of dynamics of laboratory indices of plasma haemostasis on the background of anticoagulant therapy in a total of 60 patients (23 women and 37 men) presenting with idiopathic thromboses of deep veins of lower limbs in order to work out criteria for its efficacy and safety. Anticoagulant therapy was carried out using nonfractionated heparin according to the standard regimens. The patients' mean age amounted to 57.4±13.6 years. Studying the system of haemostasis along with generally known standard laboratory indices (activated partial prothrombin time, D-dimer, fibrinogen, prothrombin level, INR, PTI) included one of the global coagulogical tests - a method of thrombodynamics whose main parameter was Vs (stationary clot growth rate). The results of anticoagulant therapy were assessed by dynamics of clinical symptomatology, the findings of ultrasonographic angioscanning, and by the dynamics of laboratory parameters of plasma haemostasis. The obtained findings demonstrated that anticoagulant therapy with nonfractionated heparin followed by switching to warfarin is an effective method of conservative treatment of patients with idiopathic thromboses, making it possible to attain laboratory confirmed hypocoagulation accompanied by both clinical and US-controlled improvements. The results of the thrombodynamics assay by the dynamics of a decrease in the D-dimer level made it possible to statistically significantly single out a group with no effect of heparin (no effect of hypocoagulation) and high sensitivity in singling out groups of ineffective therapy with warfarin, which on the background of normo- or hypercoagulation is a marker of increased fibrinogenesis and, consequently, of high risk for the development of recurrent thrombosis in such patients.

[Criteria for the safety of transfusion of colloidal solutions in patients with acute lung lesions].

The prospective study explored the hemodynamic effects of colloidal solution replacement therapy and the criteria for its safety in patients with acute lung parenchymatous lesions (ALPL) attended by hypoalbuminemia and coagulopathy. There were 68 observations of the effects of colloidal solutions: 20% albumin solution (n=25), freshly frozen plasma (FFP) (n=20), 6% hydroxyethylated starch (HES) 130/0.4 9:1 (n=23). The colloidal solutions were infused at a constant rate; the infusion was stopped until pulmonary wedge pressure (PWP) was 25% greater than its baseline value. Before and after infusion, the parameters of central hemodynamics and oxygen transport, extravascular lung water index (ELWI), pulmonary vascular permeability index (PVPI), and colloid-osmotic pressure (COP) were measured. The infusion volumes were 3.8 +/- 0.4, 13.7 +/- 1.4, and 13.4 +/- 1.3 ml/kg for 20% albumin solution, 6% HES 130/0.4, and FFP, respectively. The PWP-COP gradient increased in all groups. After FFP infusion, there was an increase in ELWI and lung shunt. After 20% albumin solution, there was a delayed increase in ELWI. There was no rise in ELWI after 6% HES administration. In the 20% albumin solution group, the increased ELWI was recorded in patients who had positive baseline PWP-COP gradients (p < 0.05). A combination of higher PVPI and a positive PWP-COP value causes a greater increase in ELWI after 20% albumin solution infusion than in the normal PVPI group. In patients with ALPL, FFP infusion may lead to an increase in the accumulation of extravascular lung water. A negative preinfusion PWP-COP gradient is a safety criterion for the infusion of 20% albumin solution in patients with ALPL. The increased PVPI in combination with a positive PWP-COP gradient is an aggravating factor.

[Pulmonary extravascular water in patients with acute respiratory failure].

The purpose of the investigation was to study pulmonary extravascular water levels and pulmonary vascular permeability (PVP) in the pathogenesis of acute respiratory failure (ARF)/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Twenty-nine patients with ARF/ARDS and 10 healthy volunteers were examined. Central hemodynamics and oxygen transport were explored, by using a Swan-Ganz catheter. Intrathoracic volemic parameters were studied by the transpulmonary thermodilution technique. PVP was assessed by the pulmonary 67Ga-labelled transferrin leakage index. Plasma colloid osmotic pressure (COP) was measured on an osmometer. In most patients with ARF/ARDS, the pulmonary extravascular water index (PEVWI) was found to be higher (mean 16.9 +/- 1.5 ml/kg). At the same time its value was not greater than 10 ml/kg in 7 (24%) of 29 patients. There were no correlations between PEVWI and PaO2/FiO2 and between pulmonary extravascular water and AaDO2. The PVP index (PVPI) measured by transpulmonary thermodilution was 3.2 +/- 0.2, it being normal in 13 (45%) out of 29 patients. The pulmonary 67Ga-transferrin leakage index was higher in all the patients than in healthy individuals (23.2 +/- 2.9 x 10(-3) vs 5.7 +/- 9.9 x 10(-3)) and correlated with PaO2/FiO2 (r = 0.71; p = 0.01). In patients with ARF/ARDS, COP was lower (19.9 +/- 0.7 mm Hg). There were correlations between COP and PEVWI (r = -0.34; p = 0.01), COP and PVPI (r = -0.40; p = 0.044), COP and PaO2/FiO2 (r = 0.35; p = 0.02). PEVWI correlated with the COP-pulmonary wedge pressure gradient (r = -0.45; p = 0.0024). Hypoxemia correlated with intrapulmonary shunt (Qs/Qt). There was no relationship between Qs/Qt and PEVWI in the group as a whole. According to the ratio of Qs/Qt to PEVWI, the patients were divided into 2 groups. Group 1 comprised 11 patients with the ratio < or = 2; Group 2 included 18 patients with the ratio > or = 2, i.e. with an unproportional shunt enlargement as to the severity of pulmonary edema. A correlation between Qs/Qt and PEVWI was found in both groups: r = 0.82; p = 0.001 with the ratio < or = 2 and r = 0.48; p = 0.04 with the ratio > or = 2. Diverse causes of shunt formation were histologically detected. Thus, pulmonary edema was not identified in 24% of patients with ARF/ARDS. Arterial hypoxemia is associated with the increase in the shunt, but, in a portion of patients, the shunt was caused with atelectasis unassociated with pulmonary edema. Increased pulmonary permeability for transferrin is detectable in ARF/ARDS irrespective the severity of pulmonary edema. The pathogenetic features of lung lesions should be taken into account while choosing a treatment for ARF/ARDS.