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E Soreide

Publications and source records attributed to E Soreide.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Rapid implementation of therapeutic hypothermia in comatose out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors.

BACKGROUND: The implementation of therapeutic hypothermia (TH) into daily clinical practice appears to be slow. We present our experiences with rapid implementation of a simple protocol for TH in comatose out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survivors. METHODS: From June 2002, we started cooling pre-hospitally with sport ice packs in the groin and over the neck. In the intensive care unit (ICU), we used ice-water soaked towels over the torso. All patients were endotracheally intubated, on mechanical ventilation and sedated and paralysed. The target temperature was 33 +/- 1 degrees C to be maintained for 12-24 h. We used simple inclusion criteria: (i) no response to verbal command during the ambulance transport independent of initial rhythm and cause of CA; (ii) age 18-80 years; and (iii) absence of cardiogenic shock (SBP < 90 mmHg despite vasopressors). We compared the first 27 comatose survivors with a presumed cardiac origin of their OHCA with 34 historic controls treated just before implementation. RESULTS: TH was initiated in all 27 eligible patients. The target temperature was reached in 24 patients (89% success rate). ICU- and hospital- length of stay did not differ significantly before and after implementation of TH. Hypokalemia (P= 0.001) and insulin resistance (P= 0.025) were more common and seizures (P= 0.01) less frequently reported with the use of TH. The implementation of TH was associated with a higher hospital survival rate (16/27; 59% vs. 11/34; 32%, respectively; P< or = 0.05). Our results indicate a population-based need of approximately seven cooling patients per 100,000 person-years served. CONCLUSION: Our simple, external cooling protocol can be implemented overnight in any system already treating post-resuscitation patients. It was well accepted, feasible and safe, but not optimal in terms of cooling rate. Neither safety concerns nor costs should be a barrier for implementation of TH.

Adult↗

[Preoperative fasting. An update].

In Germany the predominant standard of preoperative care for elective surgery is fasting after midnight, with the aim of reducing the risk of pulmonary aspiration. However, for the past several years the scientific evidence supporting such a practice has been challenged. Experimental and clinical studies prove a reliable gastric emptying within 2 h suggesting that, particularly for limited intake of clear fluids up to 2 h preoperatively, there would be no increased risk for the patient. In addition, the general incidence of pulmonary aspiration during general anaesthesia (before induction, during surgery and during recovery) is extremely low, has a good prognosis and is more a consequence of insufficient airway protection and/or inadequate anaesthetic depth rather than due to the patient's fasting state. Therefore, primarily to decrease perioperative discomfort for patients, several national anaesthesia societies have changed their guidelines for preoperative fasting. They recommend a more liberal policy regarding per os intake of both liquid and solid food, with consideration of certain conditions and contraindications. The following article reviews the literature and gives an overview of the scientific background on which the national guidelines are based. The intention of this review is to propose recommendations for preoperative fasting regarding clear fluids for Germany as well.

Fasting↗

Ropivacaine 1 mg/ml, plus fentanyl 2 microg/ml for epidural analgesia during labour. Is mode of administration important?

BACKGROUND: Patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) with a moderate to high concentration of bupivacaine in obstetrics has been shown to give comparable analgesia and even higher level of satisfaction compared to continuous epidural infusion. We hypothesised that the use of a very low concentration technique (ropivacaine/fentanyl) might result in excessive dosing in the PCEA group, more motor blockade and a negative impact on spontaneous delivery rate. METHODS: We conducted a randomised, double-blind study of 60 nulliparous women at term comparing low concentration ropivacaine/fentanyl administered in either patient-controlled or fixed continuous infusion mode. Parturients with known predictors of painful deliveries, i.e. breech presentation, primary induction of labour, were not included. Deliveries within 90 min from the start of epidural analgesia were omitted from the evaluation. RESULTS: We found that both groups required a mean of 12 ml/h low concentration mixture (loading and midwife rescue boluses included). There was no difference between groups with respect to spontaneous delivery rate (71%). This low concentration technique resulted in haemodynamic stability without crystalloid preloading, infusion or vasopressor use. Motor blockade of clinical importance was not detected in any patient. CONCLUSION: We conclude that epidural use of ropivacaine 1 mg/ml+fentanyl 2 microg/ml provides effective analgesia with equal volume requirements irrespective of administration mode, with a high spontaneous delivery rate. Choice of PCEA or CEI (continuous epidural infusion) should be directed by other considerations, most importantly compliance of midwife and possible reduction in workload for anaesthesiology staff.

Adult↗

"Recommendations for uniform reporting of data following major trauma--the Utstein style" (as of July 17, 1999). An International Trauma Anaesthesia and Critical Care Society (ITACCS).

Basic and advanced care of trauma patients has always been an important aspect of prehospital and immediate in-hospital emergency medicine, involving a broad spectrum of disciplines, specialties and skills delivered through Emergency Medical Services Systems which, however, may differ significantly in structure, resources and operation. This complex background has, at least in part, hindered the development of a uniform pattern or set of criteria and definitions. This in turn has hitherto rendered data incompatible, with the consequence that such differing systems or protocols of care cannot be readily evaluated or compared with acceptable validity. Guided by previous consensus processes evolved by the ERC, the AHA and other International Organizations--represented in ILCOR--on 'Uniform reporting of data following out-of-hospital and in-hospital cardiac arrest--the Utstein style' an international working group of ITACCS has drafted a document, 'Recommendations for uniform reporting of data following major trauma--the Utstein style'. The reporting system is based on the following considerations: A structured reporting system based on an "Utstein style template" which would permit the compilation of data and statistics on major trauma care, facilitating and validating independent or comparative audit of performance and quality of care (and enable groups to challenge performance statistics which did not take account of all relevant information). The recommendations and template should encompass both out-of-hospital and in-hospital trauma care. The recommendations and template should further permit intra- and inter-system evaluation to improve the quality of delivered care and identification of the relative benefits of different systems and innovative initiatives. The template should facilitate studies setting out to improve epidemiological understanding of trauma; for example such studies might focus on the factors that determine survival. The document is structured along the lines of the original Utstein Style Guidelines publication on 'prehospital cardiac arrest'. It includes a glossary of terms used in the prehospital and early hospital phase and definitions, time points and intervals. The document uses an almost identical scheme for illustrating the different process time clocks--one for the patient, one for the dispatch centre, one for the ambulance and, finally, one for the hospital. For clarity, data should be reported as core data (i.e. always obtained) and optional data (obtained under specific circumstances). In contrast to the graphic approach used for the Utstein template for pre- or in-hospital cardiac arrest, respectively, the present template introduces, for the time being, at least, a number of terms and definitions and a semantic rather than a graphic report form. The document includes the following sections: The Section Introduction and background The Section on Trauma Data Structure Development: presents a general outline of the development of structured data using object-orientated modelling (which will be discussed in due course) and includes a set of explanatory illustrations. The Section on Terms and Definitions: outlines terms and definitions in trauma care, describing different types of trauma (blunt, penetrating, long bone, major/combined, multiple/polytrauma and predominant trauma). The Section on Factors relating to the circumstances of the injury describes the following items: cause of injury (e.g. type of injury (blunt or penetrating), burns, cold, crush, laceration, amputation, radiation, multiple, etc. Severity of Injury e.g. prehospital basic abbreviated injury score developed by the working group. The score contains anatomical and physiological disability data, with the anatomical scale ranging ordinally from 1. Head to 9. External; the physiological disability scale ranging ordinally from 0--unsurvivable. Mechanism of injury recording for transportation incidents etc. e.g. the type of impact, po

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An audit of perioperative aspiration pneumonitis in gynaecological and obstetric patients.

Obstetric patients are considered to be at increased risk of anaesthesia-related Aspiration Pneumonitis. Less is known about the incidence and morbidity of this complication in younger women undergoing gynaecological surgery. We performed a 4-year audit of perioperative Aspiration Pneumonitis, defined as bronchospasm, hypoxia, cough and dyspnea, together with radiographic or auscultatory abnormalities, following a witnessed episode of gastric content entering the trachea or an intraoperative episode making pulmonary aspiration likely, in two larger Norwegian hospitals. Eleven cases were identified; 4 in Caesarean Section (C-section) patients, 5 in gynaecological (GYN) outpatients and 2 in GYN inpatients, with incidences of 0.11%, 0.04% and 0.01% respectively (P = 0.03). Risk factors were present in all patients. No patient died, but the short-time morbidity in the form of prolonged ICU stay and hospitalisation was significant. At discharge all patients noted symptoms of dyspnea, cough, and tightness of the chest; symptoms explainable by bronchial hyperreactivity. Five patients felt these symptoms did not disappear within 3 months and were followed up for a median of 2 years (range 4 months to 4 years). All were smokers and had multiple confounding causes, which made it hard to link their prolonged complaints directly to the pulmonary aspiration incident. All experienced improvement of symptoms during the follow-up period. Compared to gynaecological patients of similar age, C-section patients still have an increased risk of suffering Aspiration Pneumonitis. Prevention can be further improved in both groups. A cause-relationship between the incidence and respiratory complaints lasting longer than 3 months could not be established, and a structured follow-up may be helpful to avoid later medicolegal claims.

Adult↗

A non-invasive means to effectively restore normothermia in cold stressed individuals: a preliminary report.

The combined application of subatmospheric pressure and heat to a forearm and hand has been previously reported to be an effective method for restoring normothermia in hypothermic postoperative patients. The objective of this study was to determine whether this technique also could be useful for the treatment of accidental hypothermia. Four otherwise healthy cold-stressed soldiers (core temperature <36.0 degrees C) were studied. In all four cases, application of the subatmospheric pressure induced an immediate local distention of the subcutaneous vasculature of the hand and fingers. Tympanic temperature reached a plateau in a normothermic range within 15 min in all subjects. The subjects also noted rapid elimination of shivering and improvement in subjective assessment of thermal comfort. These results are encouraging and warrant further investigation of the technique.

Adult↗