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Cerebral embolism, a serious complication in cardiac surgery, is significantly impacted by atheromatous plaques in the ascending aorta and aortic arch. However, data on the prevalence of these plaques in Asian populations are sparse. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of atheromatous plaques in the ascending aorta among Thai cardiac surgery patients, thereby facilitating risk stratification and improving preoperative management. We conducted intraoperative epiaortic ultrasound examinations on 239 cardiac surgery patients. Clinically significant atheromatous plaques were defined as those exceeding 3.0 mm in thickness. The collected demographic and clinical data included sex, age, body weight, height, American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status classification, smoking status, alcohol consumption, and comorbidities. Atheromatous plaques were found in 33.5 % of the ascending aortas and 41.4 % of the aortic arches. The primary risk factors were advanced age (over 80 years; relative risk (RR) 1.444, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.113-1.874, P  = 0.006) and carotid stenosis (RR 1.247, 95 % CI 1.04-1.495, P  = 0.017). The prevalence of atheromatous plaques in Thai cardiac surgery patients was significant, with older age and carotid stenosis being major risk factors. Preoperative aortic imaging, such as computed tomography angiography or epiaortic ultrasound, should be applied to cardiac surgery candidates. In resource-limited settings, prioritizing patients of advanced age or those with carotid stenosis for imaging is advised., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Background: to examine factors associated with cardiac evaluation and associations between cardiac test abnormalities and clinical outcomes in patients with acute brain injury (ABI) due to acute ischemic stroke (AIS), spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH), and traumatic brain injury (TBI) requiring neurocritical care. Methods : In a cohort of patients ≥18 years, we examined the utilization of electrocardiography (ECG), beta-natriuretic peptide (BNP), cardiac troponin (cTnI), and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). We investigated the association between cTnI, BNP, sex-adjusted prolonged QTc interval, low ejection fraction (EF < 40%), all-cause mortality, death by neurologic criteria (DNC), transition to comfort measures only (CMO), and hospital discharge to home using univariable and multivariable analysis (adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, insurance carrier, pre-admission cardiac disorder, ABI type, admission Glasgow Coma Scale Score, mechanical ventilation, and intracranial pressure [ICP] monitoring). Results : The final sample comprised 11,822 patients: AIS (46.7%), sICH (18.5%), SAH (14.8%), and TBI (20.0%). A total of 63% ( n = 7472) received cardiac workup, which increased over nine years ( p < 0.001). A cardiac investigation was associated with increased age, male sex (aOR 1.16 [1.07, 1.27]), non-white ethnicity (aOR), non-commercial insurance (aOR 1.21 [1.09, 1.33]), pre-admission cardiac disorder (aOR 1.21 [1.09, 1.34]), mechanical ventilation (aOR1.78 [1.57, 2.02]) and ICP monitoring (aOR1.68 [1.49, 1.89]). Compared to AIS, sICH (aOR 0.25 [0.22, 0.29]), SAH (aOR 0.36 [0.30, 0.43]), and TBI (aOR 0.19 [0.17, 0.24]) patients were less likely to receive cardiac investigation. Patients with troponin 25th-50th quartile (aOR 1.65 [1.10-2.47]), troponin 50th-75th quartile (aOR 1.79 [1.22-2.63]), troponin >75th quartile (aOR 2.18 [1.49-3.17]), BNP 50th-75th quartile (aOR 2.86 [1.28-6.40]), BNP >75th quartile (aOR 4.54 [2.09-9.85]), prolonged QTc (aOR 3.41 [2.28; 5.30]), and EF < 40% (aOR 2.47 [1.07; 5.14]) were more likely to be DNC. Patients with troponin 50th-75th quartile (aOR 1.77 [1.14-2.73]), troponin >75th quartile (aOR 1.81 [1.18-2.78]), and prolonged QTc (aOR 1.71 [1.39; 2.12]) were more likely to be associated with a transition to CMO. Patients with prolonged QTc (aOR 0.66 [0.58; 0.76]) were less likely to be discharged home. Conclusions : This large, single-center study demonstrates low rates of cardiac evaluations in TBI, SAH, and sICH compared to AIS. However, there are strong associations between electrocardiography, biomarkers of cardiac injury and heart failure, and echocardiography findings on clinical outcomes in patients with ABI. Findings need validation in a multicenter cohort.

The risk of endotracheal tube (ETT) placement includes endobronchial intubation and subglottic injury. This study aimed to describe the lengths of lower airway parameters related to cuff location and vocal cord markings in different adult-sized ETTs. Eighty cadavers were examined for the lengths of the lower airway, including their correlations and linear regressions with height. Thirty adult-sized ETTs from seven different brands were examined for Mark-Cuff and Mark-Tip distances. The depth of ETT placement was simulated for each brand using vocal cord marking. The mean (standard deviation) lengths from the subglottis, trachea, vocal cord to mid- trachea, and vocal cord to carina were 24.2 (3.5), 97.9 (8.6), 73.2 (5.3), and 122.1 (9.0) mm, respectively. Airway lengths were estimated as: (1) subglottis (mm) = 0.173 * (height in cm) - 3.547; (2) vocal cord to mid-trachea (mm) = 0.28 * (height in cm) + 28.391. There were variations in the Mark-Cuff and Mark-Tip distances among different ETTs. In the simulation, endobronchial intubation ranged between 2.5 and 5% and the cuff in the subglottis ranged between 2.5 and 97.5%. In summary, the lower airway parameters were height-related. ETT placement using vocal cord marking puts the patient at a high risk of cuff placement in the subglottis., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Perioperative evaluation of the left ventricular systolic function is essential information to help diagnose and manage life-threatening perioperative emergencies. Although quantifying the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is recommended to determine the left ventricular function, it may not always be feasible in emergency perioperative settings. This study compared the visual estimation of LVEF (eyeballing) by noncardiac anesthesiologists with the quantitative LVEF measured using a modified Simpson's biplane method., Methods: Transesophageal echocardiographic (TEE) studies of 35 patients were selected and 3 different echocardiographic views (the mid-esophageal four chamber view, the mid-esophageal two chamber view, and the transgastric mid-papillary short axis view) were recovered from each study and displayed in random order. Two cardiac anesthesiologists certified in perioperative echocardiography independently measured LVEF using the modified Simpson method and categorized LVEF into five grades: hyperdynamic LVEF, normal, mildly reduced LVEF, moderately reduced LVEF and severely reduced LVEF. Seven noncardiac anesthesiologists with limited experience in echocardiography also reviewed the same TEE studies and estimated the LVEF and graded LV function. The precision of the LV function classification and the correlation between visual estimation of LVEF and quantitative LVEF were calculated. The agreement of measurements between the two methods was also assessed., Results: Pearson's correlation between the LVEF estimated by the participants and the quantitative LVEF using the modified Simpson method was 0.818 (p < 0.001). Of a total of 245 responses, 120 (49.0%) responses were correct grading of the LV function. Participants were able to classify the LV function more accurately in the LV function grades 1 and 5 (65.3%). The 95% level of agreement of the Bland-Altman method was - 11.3-24.5. -21.9-22.6, - 23.1-26.5, - 20.5-22.0 and - 26.6-11.1 for LV grade 1 to 5, respectively., Conclusion: Visual estimation of LVEF in perioperative TEE has acceptable accuracy in untrained echocardiographers and can be used for rescue TEE., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Postoperative pain from transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate (TRUS-P) biopsy under sedation is often mild. Benefit of opioids used during sedation is controversial., Objective: The objective was to compare numeric rating scale (NRS) score at 30 minutes after TRUS-P biopsy between patients receiving propofol alone or with fentanyl., Methods: We randomly allocated 124 patients undergoing TRUS-P biopsy to receive either fentanyl 0.5 mcg.kg -1 (Group F) or normal saline (Group C). Both groups received titrated propofol sedation via Target-controlled infusion (TCI) with Schneider model until the Observer's Assessment of Alertness/Sedation (OAA/S) scale 0-1 was achieved. Hemodynamic variables, patient movement, postoperative pain score, patient and surgeon satisfaction score were recorded., Results: Overall, most patients (97.5%) had no to mild pain. Group F had significantly lower median NRS score at 30 minutes compared to Group C (0 [0, 0] vs. 0 [0, 0.25], p = 0.039). More patients in Group C experienced pain (90% vs. 75.8%, p =  0.038). Perioperative hypotension was higher in group F (81.7%) compared to Group C (61.3%) (p =  0.013). Thirty-five (56.5%) patients in Group F and 25 (42.7%) patients in Group C had movement during the procedure (p = 0.240). Surgeon's satisfaction score was higher in Group F (10 [9, 10]) than Group C (9 [9, 10]) (p =  0.037)., Conclusion: Combining low dose fentanyl with TCI propofol sedation may provide additional benefit on postoperative pain after TRUS-P biopsy, but results in perioperative hypotension. Fentanyl may attenuate patient movement during the procedure, which leads to greater surgeon's satisfaction., (Copyright © 2021 Sociedade Brasileira de Anestesiologia. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.)

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support has a high incidence of both bleeding and thrombotic complications. Despite clear differences in patient characteristics and pathologies between veno-venous (VV) and veno-arterial (VA) ECMO support, anticoagulation practices are often the same across modalities. Moreover, there is very little data on their respective coagulation profiles and comparisons of thrombin generation in these patients. This study compares the coagulation profile and thrombin generation between patients supported with either VV and VA ECMO. A prospective cohort study of patients undergoing VA and VV ECMO at an Intensive care department of a university hospital and ECMO referral centre. In addition to routine coagulation testing and heparin monitoring per unit protocol, thromboelastography (TEG), multiplate aggregometry (MEA), calibrated automated thrombinography (CAT) and von-Willebrand's activity (antigen and activity ratio) were sampled second-daily for 1 week, then weekly thereafter. VA patients had significantly lower platelets counts, fibrinogen, anti-thrombin and clot strength with higher d-dimer levels than VV patients, consistent with a more pronounced consumptive coagulopathy. Thrombin generation was higher in VA than VV patients, and the heparin dose required to suppress thrombin generation was lower in VA patients. There were no significant differences in total bleeding or thrombotic event rates between VV and VA patients when adjusted for days on extracorporeal support. VA patients received a lower median daily heparin dose 8500 IU [IQR 2500-24000] versus VV 28,800 IU [IQR 17,300-40,800.00]; < 0.001. Twenty-eight patients (72%) survived to hospital discharge; comprising 53% of VA patients and 77% of VV patients. Significant differences between the coagulation profiles of VA and VV patients exist, and anticoagulation strategies for patients of these modalities should be different. Further research into the development of tailored anticoagulation strategies that include the mode of ECMO support need to be completed.