PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

C Ori

Publications and source records attributed to C Ori.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

The size 1 LMA-ProSeal: Comparison with the LMA-Classic during pressure controlled ventilation in a neonatal intubation manikin.

BACKGROUND: The classic laryngeal mask airway (cLMA) has been demonstrated to be effective for airway management during neonatal resuscitation. However, high airway pressures, when required, cannot be achieved with this device. A neonatal prototype of the LMA-ProSeal (PLMA), which might improve the oropharyngeal leak pressure, has recently been produced. The airway sealing pressures of the cLMA and the PLMA were compared in a neonatal manikin. METHODS: A neonatal PLMA and a neonatal cLMA were positioned at random in a neonatal intubation manikin (Neonate Airway Trainer; Laerdal, Norway). A Dräeger pressure controlled ventilator (Dräeger 8000; Dräegerwerk AG, Germany) was connected to the airway tubes and increasing inspiratory pressures (from 10 to 40 cm H2O) of positive pressure ventilation applied. The peak and the mean airway pressures obtained with each device were recorded. RESULTS: The airway pressures obtained with PLMA were significantly higher than those obtained with cLMA (p < 0.01) at levels of positive pressure ventilation of 25, 30, 35 and 40 cm H2O. CONCLUSIONS: The neonatal PLMA allows higher airway pressure ventilation than the cLMA, in a neonatal intubation manikin. If confirmed clinically, this may have important implications during neonatal resuscitation when high airway pressures are required.

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation↗

Time- and dose-dependent effects of corticotropin releasing factor on cerebral glucose metabolism in rats.

The time course and the relation to dose of locomotor activity and of the regional cerebral metabolic rates for glucose (rCMRglc) were measured in freely moving Sprague-Dawley rats after intracerebroventricular administration of ovine corticotropin releasing factor (oCRF). Motor activity was determined using a familiar photocage cell. rCMRglc was measured, using the quantitative autoradiographic [(14)C]2-deoxyglucose procedure, in 73 brain regions at 10, 30, 90 and 180 min after administration of oCRF 10 microg and at 90 min after oCRF 0.1, 1 and 100 microg. oCRF 10 microg increased motor activity in a sustained fashion and increased rCMRglc with different time courses throughout brain regions. In cerebellar regions rCMRglc increases peaked at 90 min and were sustained up to 180 min. In non-cerebellar regions rCMRglc increases peaked at 90 min but declined thereafter. At lower doses (0.1 and 1 microg) oCRF increased rCMRglc in fewer brain regions (1 and 5 regions affected, average increases 1% and 7%) including cerebellar areas and brainstem sensory nuclei and decreased rCMRglc in medial prefrontal cortex. At the highest dose (100 microg) oCRF induced large and widespread rCMRglc increases in cerebellar, brainstem, hypothalamic, limbic and neocortical areas (40 brain regions affected, average increase 32%). The findings indicate that cerebellar areas and brainstem nuclei are highly sensitive to oCRF and may mediate oCRF autonomic and behavioral effects.

Animals↗

Hyperthermic isolated liver perfusion for unresectable liver cancers: pilot study.

Isolated hepatic perfusion (IHP) is a recently reconsidered locoregional approach for unresectable primary or metastatic cancer and encouraging results have been achieved from its clinical application. Ten patients underwent hyperthermic IHP with melphalan. There was no intraoperative mortality. In the postoperative period two patients died due to multi-organ failure. Four patients had significant but transient hepatic toxicity. In 8 assessable patients, the overall response rate was 63%. We observed objective tumor regression in a significant percentage of patients refractory to standard treatments. Locoregional toxicity was significant, which underscores the need for a more accurate preoperative evaluation of hepatic function.

Chemotherapy, Cancer, Regional Perfusion↗

Hypoxic antiblastic stop-flow perfusion: clinical outcome and pharmacokinetic findings.

Stop-flow perfusion (SFP) is a recently implemented locoregional treatment based on the vascular isolation of the tumor bearing body district through a radiointerventistic technique. SFP is currently under investigation as a palliative therapeutic option for patients with locally advanced tumors. This paper reports on the results of our prospective study of limb and pelvic SFP. Thirty-seven patients were treated with SFP. No postoperative deaths occurred. Locoregional and systemic toxicity were observed after 22 and 31 treatments, respectively; complete and partial response after 3 (6%) and 24 (51%) SFPs, respectively. The pharmacokinetic study showed that pelvic SFP was associated with a leakage rate higher than femoral SFP (38% vs 28%). In conclusion, SFP is a feasible procedure. Toxicity and tumor response rates strictly depend upon drug leakage control.

Adult↗

A short review of cognitive and functional neuroimaging studies of cholinergic drugs: implications for therapeutic potentials.

In the last 20 years a cholinergic dysfunction has been the major working hypothesis for the pharmacology of memory disorders. Cholinergic antagonists and lesions impair and different classes of cholinomimetics (i.e. acetylcholine precursors, cholinergic agonists and acetylcholinesterase inhibitors) enhance attention and memory in experiment animals, healthy human subjects and Alzheimer disease patients. In addition, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors improve different cognitive (i.e. visuospatial and verbal) functions in a variety of unrelated disorders such as dementia with Lewy bodies, Parkinson disease, multiple sclerosis, schizoaffective disorders, iatrogenic memory loss, traumatic brain injury, hyperactivity attention disorder and, as we recently reported, vascular dementia and mild cognitive impairment. In animals, different cholinomimetics dose-dependently increased regional cerebral metabolic rates for glucose (rCMRglc) and regional blood flow (rCBF), two indices of neuronal function, more markedly in subcortical regions (i.e. thalamus, hippocampus and visual system nuclei). In both healthy human subjects and Alzheimer disease patients acetylcholinesterase inhibitors increased rCMRglc and rCBF in subcortical and cortical brain regions at rest but attenuated rCBF increases during cognitive performances. Hence, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors may enhance cognition and rCMRglc by acting primarily on subcortical regions that are involved in attentional (i.e. thalamus) and memory (i.e. hippocampus) processes; such an effect probably is not specific for Alzheimer disease and can be beneficial in patients suffering from a wide array of neuropsychiatric disorders.

Alzheimer Disease↗

[Endotracheal tube and trachebronchial obstruction due to a large blood clot. Case report].

A case of endotracheal tube and tracheobronchial acute obstruction caused by a large blood clot reproducing in part the trachea and the right bronchial tree is reported. The event has been anticipated by recurring hemoptyses whose source remained unknown despite any examination. Having established by simple manoeuvres that the obstruction was located at the endotracheal tube level, the tube was removed together with the blood clot without more invasive techniques like rigid or flexible bronchoscopy, embolectomy catheter of fibrinolytic agents. On the other side, those techniques should be used in case of obstruction located under the endotracheal tube. Albeit obstruction of endotracheal tubes due to blood clots is a frequent complication in critical care setting, this case is reported for the peculiar dimension and morphology of the clot, underlying that a precise diagnosis of the obstruction level allows the use of the most suitable technique for its removal.

Aged↗

Effects of acute and chronic treatment with fluoxetine on regional glucose cerebral metabolism in rats: implications for clinical therapies.

The wide therapeutic spectrum of fluoxetine (e.g., antidepressant, antipanic, antiphobic, antiobsessive, analgesic, antimigraine) requires long-term administration and adaptive changes. To test whether adaptation involves the serotonin (5-HT) transporters, we measured the effects of fluoxetine on the regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose (rCMRglc) in control rats or in rats pretreated for 2 weeks with fluoxetine (8 mg/kg, i.p., daily, 2 days wash out); rCMRglc was measured in 56 brain regions, using the quantitative [14C]deoxyglucose technique, at 30 min after i.p. administration of fluoxetine 0.4, 4 or 40 mg/kg, i.p., to non-pretreated rats or fluoxetine 4 mg/kg to pretreated rats. In non-pretreated rats, fluoxetine reduced rCMRglc in a dose-dependent fashion in 4 (7%, mean decrease 11%), 28 (50%, mean decrease 23%) and 37 (66%, mean decrease 32%) brain regions. In chronic fluoxetine-pretreated rats, fluoxetine decreased rCMRglc to a substantially lesser degree (eight regions, 14%; mean decrease, 10%). Subcortical brain regions (i.e., hypothalamic paraventricular, locus coeruleus and basal ganglia nuclei) that mediate the physiological responses to stress were very sensitive to fluoxetine acutely and subsensitive after chronic treatment. As kinetic tolerance to fluoxetine does not occur during chronic administration, the diminished rCMRglc responsivity to fluoxetine reflects dynamic, adaptive tolerance of 5-HT transporters and, consequently, increased synaptic 5-HT concentrations; the findings suggest that fluoxetine may be therapeutic by increasing the 5-HT-negative modulation upon areas that drive the abnormally hyperactive responses to stress found in several neuropsychiatric conditions.

Animals↗

Neuromuscular damage after hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion in patients with melanoma or sarcoma treated with chemotherapeutic agents.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the incidence and entity of muscle damage after hyperthermic limb perfusion (HLP) with doxorubicin or melphalan, two widely used chemotherapeutic agents. METHODS: We collected muscle biopsies from eleven patients with lower limb sarcoma or melanoma immediately before and at a variable time after the chemotherapeutic procedure (mean = 49.4 days). Biopsy specimens were stained with standard histochemical and immunohistochemical methods on cryostat sections and the grade of fiber atrophy was calculated. RESULTS: Clear neurogenic alterations were present in pre-HLP biopsies of seven patients related to age and previous therapy. In six patients, the comparison between biopsies before and after HLP demonstrated worsening of preexisting neurogenic condition and appearance of mitochondrial-related damage. Reduction in type I or type II fiber diameter was present in nine patients, but no relation to doxorubicin or melphalan treatment was clear. An unexpected, large accumulation of desmin was detected in the muscle biopsy of one patient receiving doxorubicin, probably related to the mechanism of doxorubicin-induced myotoxicity. CONCLUSIONS: The observed neuromuscular toxic effects could be related to the physical or chemical conditions of HLP, in particular perfusion temperature; in addition, the present study demonstrates that preexisting neuromuscular changes, i.e. neuropathy, modulates the degree of further damage following HLP.

Adult↗

[General anesthesia and undiagnosed cerebral metastasis. Clinical case].

A case of late recovery from anesthesia in a patient undergoing bronchoscopy for surgical removal of metastatic bronchial mass is presented. The patient was comatose and a CT scan revealed the presence of bleeding inside a tumor, probably a metastasis, located in the right cerebellum. This report demonstrates that undetected cerebral metastases might lead to late recovery from anesthesia and underlines that accurate neurologic examination is mandatory in patients affected by tumors potentially spreading to the brain.

Anesthesia Recovery Period↗

[Hyponatremia in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage].

Hyponatremia is a common feature after subarachnoid hemorrhage. Hyponatremia is complex in its origin because different neuroendocrine disturbances are involved: elements of inappropriate secretion of ADH, cerebral salt wasting, and blunted response of the reninangiotensin-aldosterone system may occur simultaneously. Hyponatremia is accompanied by hypovolemia which implies a major risk for vasospasm and cerebral infarction. Hyponatremia itself might cause cerebral edema and intracranial hypertension. Fluid restriction is therefore contraindicated in hyponatremia following subarachnoid hemorrhage because of the negative impact on intravascular volume. On the contrary, replacement of both volume and sodium should be vigorously accomplished.

Humans↗

The effects of propofol on cerebral high energy metabolites, lactate, and glucose in normoxic and severely hypoxic rats.

Study was performed in Fischer-344 rats to test the effects of the intravenous anesthetic propofol on cerebral content of high-energy metabolites, glucose, and lactate in normoxic and severely hypoxic rats. General and local anesthetics (isoflurane, N(2)O 70%, pancuronium bromide, bupivacaine hydrochloride) were used for surgery (tracheostomy, femoral artery and vein cannulation, skull exposure, ligature of right-sided carotid and EEG needle electrodes only in rats devoted to the hypoxia study). For normoxia study, four groups of 7 rats each were treated for 60 min as it follows: the control group with N(2)O plus propofol vehicle and the other three with propofol 12.5, 25, or 50 mg x kg(-1) x h(-1) respectively. For the hypoxia-study five groups of 7 rats each were planned to have two control (one normoxic) and three propofol-treated groups, drug treatments being the above indicated and of 80 min. During the last 20 min Pa(O(2)) was lowered to 15-20 mmHg. Pa(CO(2)) was maintained between 35-40 mmHg, rectal temperature at 37 degrees C, MABP near to 100 mmHg and pH on the basal values during the whole procedure. Then brains were frozen in vivo, and cortical tissue was excised and analyzed for labile metabolites using fluorometric techniques. Propofol, at all the doses tested, did not alter the concentrations of adenine nucleotides, phosphocreatine, lactate, pyruvate, or glucose in normoxic rats. In rat brain, hypoxia did not produce significant changes in the concentrations of adenine nucleotides. PCr concentration was decreased both in the ligated and unligated side, and lactate levels exceeded 21 and 18 micromol/g in the right and left cortices, respectively. While the lowest dose of propofol was ineffective in preventing PCr decrease and lactate increase, both 25 and 50 mg x kg(-1) x h(-1) significantly reduced those adverse effects of hypoxia.

Adenine Nucleotides↗

Hangman's fracture in a paediatric patient: considerations for anaesthesia.

Cervical spine injuries are quite uncommon in children. When occurring, these lesions are of particular concern for the anaesthesiologist. This case refers to an hangman's fracture diagnosed in a four-month-old female infant, which probably occurred at birth. We describe the anaesthetic management adopted in this infant undergoing diagnostic procedures and conservative treatment. The problems related to airway control and the anaesthetic management utilized to diagnose and treat this unusual paediatric pathology are highlighted.

Adjuvants, Anesthesia↗

Respiratory depression following administration of low dose buprenorphine as postoperative analgesic after fentanyl balanced anaesthesia.

Opioids are among the most ancient and widely used drugs in anaesthesiology. The pharmacology of opioid analgesics and their receptors is a complex and not fully understood matter; even more complex are the interactions between different classes of opioids at both molecular and clinical levels. We want to report here a clinical observation to emphasize the importance of the theoretical basis of anaesthesiology. This paper contains a clinical observation of respiratory depression following the administration of buprenorphine as postoperative analgesic after balanced anaesthesia with fentanyl. The observed case is interpreted in the light of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the different classes of opioid drugs (agonists, agonists-antagonists, antagonists) and of the interactions with their respective receptors.

Analgesics, Opioid↗

Concepts of neurotic and personality disorders in ICD-10: results of the Research Criteria Study.

A discussion on personality disorders (F6) is conducted within the framework of the Research Criteria Study on the basis of one case each of borderline syndrome (F60.31), transsexualism (F64.0), and factitious disorder (F68.1). In the Research Criteria Study the main agreement achieved about personality disorders was 77%, for borderline disorders 94%, transsexualism 91%, and factitious disorders 53%. Additional diagnoses were given in the case of factitious disorder by 43%, for borderline disorders in 15%, and for transsexualism in only 3%. Alternative diagnoses improved the overall agreement about factitious disorders by 21%, about borderline disorders and about transsexualism by 3%. It appears justified to introduce a coding for an alternative main diagnosis. The diagnostic concepts are discussed with respect to practicality, suitability, adequacy and reliability. The raters felt fairly secure about the classification. The research diagnostic criteria proved to be very practical. The raters attributed a high reliability to ICD-10 and, with the exception of factitious disorders, a very valid image of patients.

Borderline Personality Disorder↗

[Results of psychoanalytic therapy].

Within a naturalistic design 44 psychoanalytic treated patients are examined with regard to qualitative and quantitative outcome. The results are compared to 56 dynamic and 164 inpatient therapies. A comparison of symptoms, diagnoses and motivation before therapy leads to the conclusion that there are very different patient groups treated within this different settings. Therefore randomization seems to be an inadequate strategy to compare groups in different therapeutic settings. Using different criteria of outcome it can be demonstrated that psychoanalytic treated patients improve very well and to a larger extent than psychodynamically treated patients or inpatients. Different criteria of outcome and different observing perspectives (patient/therapist) lead to interesting results. Patients report primarily improvements in somatic, anxiety and depressive complaints. Therapists moreover report substantial improvements in interactional symptoms and behaviour. The different results in using several criteria are presented and discussed with regard to the methodology of outcome measurement. Finally recommendations for further studies in the psychoanalytic context are presented.

Ambulatory Care↗