Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Claudio S Cinà.
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OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of perioperative beta blocker treatment in patients having non-cardiac surgery. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: Seven search strategies, including searching two bibliographic databases and hand searching seven medical journals. STUDY SELECTION AND OUTCOMES: We included randomised controlled trials that evaluated beta blocker treatment in patients having non-cardiac surgery. Perioperative outcomes within 30 days of surgery included total mortality, cardiovascular mortality, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal cardiac arrest, non-fatal stroke, congestive heart failure, hypotension needing treatment, bradycardia needing treatment, and bronchospasm. RESULTS: Twenty two trials that randomised a total of 2437 patients met the eligibility criteria. Perioperative beta blockers did not show any statistically significant beneficial effects on any of the individual outcomes and the only nominally statistically significant beneficial relative risk was 0.44 (95% confidence interval 0.20 to 0.97, 99% confidence interval 0.16 to 1.24) for the composite outcome of cardiovascular mortality, non-fatal myocardial infarction, and non-fatal cardiac arrest. Methods adapted from formal interim monitoring boundaries applied to cumulative meta-analysis showed that the evidence failed, by a considerable degree, to meet standards for forgoing additional studies. The individual safety outcomes in patients treated with perioperative beta blockers showed a relative risk for bradycardia needing treatment of 2.27 (95% CI 1.53 to 3.36, 99% CI 1.36 to 3.80) and a nominally statistically significant relative risk for hypotension needing treatment of 1.27 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.56, 99% CI 0.97 to 1.66). CONCLUSION: The evidence that perioperative beta blockers reduce major cardiovascular events is encouraging but too unreliable to allow definitive conclusions to be drawn.
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BACKGROUND: Duplex ultrasound is widely used for the diagnosis of internal carotid artery stenosis. Standard duplex ultrasound criteria for the grading of internal carotid artery stenosis do not exist; thus, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the relation between the degree of internal carotid artery stenosis by duplex ultrasound criteria and degree of stenosis by angiography. METHODS: Data were gathered from Medline from January 1966 to January 2003, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, ACP Journal Club, UpToDate, reference lists, and authors' files. Inclusion criteria were the comparison of color duplex ultrasound results with angiography by the North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial method; peer-reviewed publications, and >/=10 adults. RESULTS: Variables extracted included internal carotid artery peak systolic velocity, internal carotid artery end diastolic velocity, internal carotid artery/common carotid artery peak systolic velocity ratio, sensitivity and specificity of duplex ultrasound scanning for internal carotid artery stenosis by angiography. The Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy (STARD) criteria were used to assess study quality. Sensitivity and specificity for duplex ultrasound criteria were combined as weighted means by using a random effects model. The threshold of peak systolic velocity >/=130 cm/s is associated with sensitivity of 98% (95% confidence intervals [CI], 97% to 100%) and specificity of 88% (95% CI, 76% to 100%) in the identification of angiographic stenosis of >/=50%. For the diagnosis of angiographic stenosis of >/=70%, a peak systolic velocity >/=200 cm/s has a sensitivity of 90% (95% CI, 84% to 94%) and a specificity of 94% (95% CI, 88% to 97%). For each duplex ultrasound threshold, measurement properties vary widely between laboratories, and the magnitude of the variation is clinically important. The heterogeneity observed in the measurement properties of duplex ultrasound may be caused by differences in patients, study design, equipment, techniques or training. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians need to be aware of the limitations of duplex ultrasound scanning when making management decisions.
Repair of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAA) is associated with major blood loss, often exceeding the patient's intravascular volume, and complex intraoperative and postoperative coagulopathies necessitating large-volume transfusion of blood products. Abnormalities sufficient to cause thrombocytopenia or clinically important prolongation of clotting parameters are rarely present before surgery in elective aneurysms but are more common with ruptured aneurysms. The finding of intraoperative and postoperative deficiencies of clotting factors, along with thrombin generation and activation of the thrombolytic system, is reflective of massive blood losses, visceral ischemia, and massive transfusions. An aggressive strategy of transfusion of blood products is critical to the prevention of clinically significant coagulopathy during surgery. Adjuncts to reduce blood losses and blood product use include low-dose aprotinin or epsilon -aminocaproic acid, intraoperative blood salvaging, and acute normovolemic hemodilution. In TAAA repair, an average blood loss of 5000 to 6000 mL and average transfusion of allogeneic blood products of 50 to 60 U are to be anticipated.
OBJECTIVES: We undertook a quantitative systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies to determine the effectiveness of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drainage to prevent paraplegia in thoracic aneurysm (TA) and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm (TAAA) surgery. METHODS: We included RCTs and cohort studies that met the following criteria: elective or emergent aneurysm surgery involving the thoracic or thoracoabdominal aorta, documentation of postoperative neurologic deficits, and patient age older than 18 years. We excluded studies that reported results in 10 or fewer patients and duplicate publications. We identified eligible studies by searching computerized databases, our own files, and the reference lists of relevant articles and review articles. Database searching, eligibility decisions, relevance and method quality assessments, and data extraction were performed in duplicate with prespecified criteria. RESULTS: Of 372 publications identified in our search, 14 met our eligibility criteria. Three RCTs reported 289 patients with type I or type II TAAA. Lower limb neurologic deficits occurred in 12% of patients who underwent CSF drainage and 33% of control subjects (number needed to treat, 9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 5-50). The pooled odds ratio (OR) for development of paraplegia in patients in the CSF drainage group was 0.35 (P =.05; 95% CI, 0.12-0.99). Similar results were found in five cohort studies with a control group (pooled OR, 0.26; P =.0002; 95% CI, 0.13-0.53). When all studies were considered together the pooled OR of TA and TAAA was 0.3 (95% CI, 0.17-0.54). There was no statistical heterogeneity among studies included in the meta-analysis. In six cohort studies without a control group, the incidence of paraplegia in high-risk TA and TAAA was 7.6%. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence from randomized and nonrandomized trials and from cohort studies support the use of CSF drainage as an adjunct to prevent paraplegia when this adjunct is used in centers with large experience in the management of TAAA.
Between October 1990 and June 2001, 121 patients underwent surgery for thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm (TAAA)-99 procedures were elective and 22 were for ruptured aneurysms. Between October 1990 and September 1997, the clamp-and-go technique was used for all aneurysms (43 patients), and from October 1997, clamp-and-go was reserved for type IV TAAAs, and atriofemoral bypass (AFB) was used for types I, II, and III (78 patients). Overall hospital mortality was 21.4% (26/121)-12% for the elective group and 64% for the ruptured group. Hospital mortality was associated with age (67 years in survivors vs. 73 years in nonsurvivors, p = 0.03), FEV1<2 L (RR 4.1, p = 0.01), CSF drainage (RR 5.0, p = 0.03), type II aneurysms vs. other aneurysms (RR 3.7, p = 0.02), and relative inexperience (mean rank in the series was 52 in survivors vs. 30 in nonsurvivors, p = 0.01). The overall incidence of neurologic deficits due to spinal cord ischemia was 6.2% (paraplegia in 4.4%). Temporary dialysis was necessary in 13% of patients, and chronic dialysis in 2%. In long-term follow-up of patients undergoing elective repair, 5-year survival was 80% and median survival was 7.9 years. Mortality and neurologic deficits have improved over time as a consequence of either increased surgical experience, the adoption of a protocolized strategy for repair, or secular improvements in ICU care. Long-term survival after elective TAAA repair is excellent.
PURPOSE: We describe outcomes in a cohort of patients undergoing subclavian carotid transposition (SCT) for occlusive disease of the first segment of the subclavian artery and perform a systematic review of the literature on SCT and carotid subclavian bypass grafting (CSB). METHODS: Relevance, validity and extraction of review results were done in duplicate. Data were collected prospectively in our consecutive cohort of patients. RESULTS: From September 1990 to February 2001, we performed 27 SCTs, four for aneurysmal disease and 23 for occlusive disease. SCTs done for aneurysms were excluded from the current analysis. In patients with occlusive disease, the primary indications for surgery were vertebrobasilar and carotid symptoms (10, 44%), vertebrobasilar insufficiency (7, 30%), vertebrobasilar and arm symptoms (4, 17%), carotid symptoms (1, 4%), and vertebrobasilar, carotid, and arm symptoms (1, 4%). An SCT was performed in conjunction with an endarterectomy of the carotid artery in 12 patients (52%), with an endarterectomy of the subclavian artery in seven patients (30%), and with an endarterectomy of the vertebral artery in six patients (26%). A lymph leak complicated two surgeries (9%). In our series, patients improved clinically after surgery, and reconstructions were all found to be patent by means of Doppler ultrasound scanning at a mean follow-up of 25 +/- 21 months. Three patients (13%) died during follow-up of complications of coronary artery disease. From 1966 to 2000, 516 patients who underwent CSB and 511 patients who underwent a SCT were reported in the literature. Patency rates were 84% and 98%, respectively (P <.0001; absolute risk reduction, 15%; number-needed-to-treat-differently, 7), and the rates of freedom from symptoms were 88% and 99%, respectively, at a mean follow-up of 59 +/- 17 months (range, 1-228 months). CONCLUSION: Our cohort study showed that SCT is safe and effective for reconstruction of the first segment of the subclavian artery. The systematic review suggested that rates of patency and freedom from clinical symptoms are higher with SCT than with CSB.
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Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.