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P R Satwicz

Publications and source records attributed to P R Satwicz.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

Cardiac outcome after peripheral vascular surgery. Comparison of general and regional anesthesia.

BACKGROUND: Despite evidence that regional anesthesia may be associated with fewer perioperative complications than general anesthesia, most studies that have compared cardiac outcome after general or regional anesthesia alone have not shown major differences. This study examines the impact of anesthetic choice on cardiac outcome in patients undergoing peripheral vascular surgery who have a high likelihood of associated coronary artery disease. METHODS: Four hundred twenty-three patients, between 1988 and 1991, were randomly assigned to receive general (n = 138), epidural (n = 149), or spinal anesthesia (n = 136) for femoral to distal artery bypass surgery. All patients were monitored with radial artery and pulmonary artery catheters. Postoperatively, patients were in a monitored setting for 48-72 h and had daily electrocardiograms for 4-5 days and creatine phosphokinase/isoenzymes every 8 h x 3, then daily for 4 days. Cardiac outcomes recorded were myocardial infarction, angina, and congestive heart failure. RESULTS: Baseline clinical characteristics were not different between anesthetic groups. Overall, the patient population included 86% who were diabetic, 69% with hypertension, 36% with a history of a prior myocardial infarction, and 41% with a history of smoking. Cardiovascular morbidity and overall mortality were not significantly different between groups when analyzed by either intention to treat or type of anesthesia received. In the intention to treat analysis, incidences of cardiac event or death for general, spinal, and epidural groups were 16.7%, 21.3%, and 15.4%, respectively. The absolute risk difference observed between general and all regional anesthesia groups for cardiac event or death was -1.6% (95% confidence interval -9.2%, 6.1%) This reflected a nonsignificant trend for lower risk of postoperative events with general anesthesia. CONCLUSIONS: The choice of anesthesia, when delivered as described, does not significantly influence cardiac morbidity and overall mortality in patients undergoing peripheral vascular surgery.

Aged↗

Mixed venous oximetry.

We now have the technology through reflectance spectrophotometry to evaluate and display continuously mixed venous oxygen saturation SvO2 through use of a modified pulmonary artery catheter. Adding this method of assessing the balance of oxygen supply and demand to our standard armamentarium of hemodynamic monitoring may improve our ability to diagnose and treat cardiovascular aberrations at an earlier stage than was previously possible. Through analysis of the Fick equation, it can be seen that SvO2 depends upon the cardiac output, the arterial oxygen saturation, the hemoglobin level, and the rate of oxygen consumption. These are, in turn, affected by a great number of factors (see Fig 8). As seen in the variety of patient care examples cited above, the usefulness of SvO2 monitoring continues to grow. It appears that there are no intrinsic risks associated with SvO2 monitoring beyond those of customary PA monitoring. This new technology provides us with online information not previously available, at an associated cost that needs to be further examined.

Anesthesiology↗

Potentiation of neuromuscular blockade using a combination of pancuronium and dimethyltubocurarine. Studies in children following acute burn injury or during reconstructive surgery.

The neuromuscular effects of the combined administration of pancuronium and dimethyltubocurarine were evaluated in children undergoing reconstructive surgery (n = 6), or the skin grafting of acute burn wounds: body surface area (BSA) burns less than 40% (n = 5); and BSA burns greater than 40% (n = 6). A dose of pancuronium 0.005 mg kg-1 was considered to be equipotent with dimethyltubocurarine 0.02 mg kg-1, and each dose was defined as being equal to 1 relaxant equivalent (RE). Incremental doses of the combination of pancuronium and dimethyltubocurarine were administered until a 95% depression of twitch height was achieved (ED95). These results were compared with previously published data for pancuronium and dimethyltubocurarine alone. The mean ED95 of the combination in the control population (reconstructive surgery) was 5.1 RE, compared with 10.8 RE and 10.0 RE for pancuronium and dimethyltubocurarine , respectively, administered alone. In the acutely burned population, the mean ED95 for the combination was 9.9 and 15.9 RE, respectively, compared with 26 RE for pancuronium alone in burned patients. In all groups of patients, significantly less total drug was required when the combined therapy was used.

Burns↗