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B de Wit

Publications and source records attributed to B de Wit.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Premature escape beats. A model for triggered activity in the intact heart?

In conscious dogs with complete atrioventricular block, overdrive pacing of the idioventricular rhythm normally results in overdrive suppression (OS). Frequently, however, we observed another response to overdrive, that is, QRS complex or complexes with unexpectedly short coupling intervals followed by normal OS. We have named such a QRS complex a "premature escape beat" (PEB). Based on the response of PEBs to electrical stimulation, we postulate that PEBs are based on triggered activity resulting from delayed afterdepolarizations. This hypothesis was tested in 82 experiments by 1) stimulation under control conditions and in combination with 2) subtoxic and toxic amounts of ouabain 20-50 micrograms/kg, 3) lidocaine 3 mg/kg, and 4) doxorubicin 16-24 mg/m2. The stimulation protocol, which was repeated at random five to 10 times, consisted of 10 and 50 stimuli using interstimulus intervals of 200, 400, 600, and 800 msec. This protocol was not only performed during spontaneous idioventricular rhythm but also during a continuously paced rhythm with interstimulus intervals of 800 msec. It was found that 1) the chance to induce a PEB or PEBs increased and 2) their first postpacing interval significantly decreased using short or fast drives, or both. Ouabain increased significantly and in a dose-dependent manner 1) the ability to induce PEBs and 2) the number of PEBs per stimulation-train, and also shortened their first postpacing interval. Opposite effects were seen after lidocaine, doxorubicin, and continuous pacing as follows: 1) a lower incidence of PEBs and 2) lengthening of their first postpacing interval. These results support our hypothesis that PEBs are based on triggered activity resulting from delayed afterdepolarizations.

Animals↗

Evaluation of two prototype devices producing noninvasive, pulsatile, calibrated blood pressure measurement from a finger.

We evaluated two prototype instruments that measure pulsatile blood pressure continuously and noninvasively and compared the mean arterial pressure obtained from these devices with that obtained invasively in 17 male surgical patients. Each prototype consisted of an infrared photoplethysmograph mounted inside a finger cuff. The cuff was connected to a pressure control valve, which rapidly changed the cuff pressure so as to maintain a null pressure difference across the finger arterial wall. The resultant cuff pressure rapidly tracked the pulsatile intraarterial pressure. The prototypes reproduced absolute pressure, as well as pressure changes, accurately and linearly over a wide range of mean arterial pressures (from 2 to 164 mm Hg), with an average offset error of 0.8 mm Hg (SD +/- 3.8; range, -4.6 to 7.9), a mean scatter error of 5.3 mm Hg (range, 3.6 to 8.6), a mean regression slope of 0.97 (range, 0.79 to 1.22) and a mean correlation coefficient of the regression of 0.96 (range, 0.89 to 0.98). Both prototypes worked satisfactorily on all 17 patients, but not all the time on all patients. In 7 patients, probable arterial spasm prevented measurement of finger blood pressure 12.1% of the time, or 5.4% of the time for all patients. Ninety-six percent of the lost samples occurred with prototype 2, suggesting an instrument-related cause, rather than one related to the principle itself. The prototypes were simple to use and were almost free from artifact. Continuous monitoring for up to 7 hours on a single finger caused no harm to the finger.

Aged↗

A computer module for the continuous monitoring of cardiac output in the operating theatre and the ICU.

A new pulse contour method to determine stroke volume and cardiac output continuously in patients on a beat-to-beat basis from the aortic pressure wave has been implemented in the form of a simple, inexpensive, fully automatic computing module for a commercially available patients monitoring system (Philips Medical Systems). Its reliability has been tested and shown in a computer analog, in experimental studies in 10 dogs (not reported here), in 22 hemodynamic studies on 20 young healthy volunteers and during 41 days in 20 postsurgical patients in the ICU, the most important result being that erros figures (15 and 19% respectively in the two human studies) are of the same order as when two standard methods, Fick and dye dilution are compared. The clinical studies have further indicated the easy applicability of the module 1 degree in the monitoring of critically ill patients in ICU's, 2 degrees as a monitor of the systemic circulation during anesthesia, and 3 degrees as a tool for studying the hemodynamic effects of pharmacological agents. The instrument consitutes no burden to the patients and has, several times during the course of the evaluation, provided an early warning of a deteriorating hemodynamic status of the patient to the physician.

Age Factors↗

Evaluation of the Penàz servo-plethysmo-manometer for the continuous, non-invasive measurement of finger blood pressure.

Blood pressure in the finger was measured by a servo-plethysmomanometer constructed after the design of Penàz, which uses the principle of the unloaded arterial wall. The device contains a photoelectric plethysmograph mounted in an inflatable cuff and an electro-pneumatic transducer to control air pressure in the cuff via a servosystem. Comparison of simultaneous measurements of intra-arterial pressure in the brachial artery was performed on 33 patients suspected of having hypertension. In 12 patients evaluation of the technique could not be carried out due to technical failures or distorted blood pressure wave forms. Results of the remaining 21 patients show a mean underestimation of intra-arterial blood pressure by finger cuff blood pressure of 0.8 kPa (6 mm Hg), both for systolic and diastolic levels. The scatter range of the difference is from 1.9 to -3.5 kPa for systolic and 0.1 to -2.5 kPa for diastolic values. It appears that, although not all technical problems are solved, the Penàz servo-plethysmo-manometer is potentially an elegant method by which to arrive at the fully calibrated wave form of blood pressure in a finger in a non-invasive and continuous fashion.

Adolescent↗