Sepsis -- an ever new challenge.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H Bause.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
OBJECTIVE: Assessment of respiratory depression caused by long-term sedation with sufentanil, midazolam and clonidine. DESIGN: Retrospective assessment using data from a patient data management system. SETTING: University hospital anaesthesiological ICU. PATIENTS: Three hundred ninety-five surgical and trauma patients with an ICU stay of more than 48 h. INTERVENTION: None. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Arterial blood partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PCO2) was evaluated during mechanically assisted spontaneous ventilation (continuous positive airway pressure, synchronised intermittent mandatory ventilation, mandatory minute ventilation, bilevel positive airway pressure). Continuous sedation with sufentanil, midazolam or clonidine or a combination of those drugs was administered to achieve a Ramsay score between 2 and 4. Spontaneously breathing patients without continuous sedation and patients on controlled mechanical ventilation (and sedation) served as control groups. Mean arterial PCO2 from spontaneously breathing patients without continuous sedation was 39.5 +/- 7.3 torr compared with 42.7 +/- 6.8 torr under sufentanil (median 0.44 microg x kg(-1) x h(-1), 98 % of observations between 0.1 and 2.1 microg x kg(-1) x h(-1)), 41.5 +/- 6.1 torr under sufentanil (median 0.90 microg x kg(-1) x h(-1) (0.1-2.8)) plus midazolam (median 45 microg x kg(-1) x h(-1) (7-170)) and 39.8 +/- 5.6 torr under a combination of sufentanil (median 1.15 microg x kg(-1) x h(-1) (0.2-3.6)), midazolam (median 45 microg x kg(-1) x h(-1) (11-216)) and clonidine (median 1.3 microg x kg(-1) x h(-1) (0.2-2.5)). Mean arterial PCO2 from patients on controlled mechanical ventilation was 39.9 +/- 6.1 torr. CONCLUSION: Patients under continuous sedation with sufentanil exhibit a statistically significant rise in arterial PCO2, however this respiratory depression is only slight and has no clinical significance. Mechanically assisted spontaneous ventilation modes can safely be used under continuous sedation with sufentanil, midazolam or clonidine.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Indication, timing and technique of tracheostomy in intensive care medicine have changed significantly during the last decade. Benefits and risks of percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy are reviewed in the current literature. Typical complications are misplacement of the tracheal cannula, injury to the trachea, trachealstenosis, rupture of the cuff-ballon and death. The results of a questionnaire about the use, timing and complications of percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy at 651 German intensive care units are presented. In Germany tracheostomy is performed within 20 days in 75% of patients on mechanical ventilation, following the recommendation of the Consensus Conference on Artificial Airways in Patients Receiving Mechanical Ventilation from 1989. Percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy in Germany is performed following the methods described by Ciaglia in 58% of intensive care units, Griggs in 35% and Fantoni in 7%.
OBJECTIVE: The efficacy of a 3-level regimen of analgesia and sedation was investigated in a clinical setting. Level 1 consisted of continuous administration of sufentanil, in level 2 continuous administration of midazolam and level 3 continuous administration of midazolam and clonidine was added according to patients' needs. METHODS: Sufentanil at 1 microgram/kg/h was given initially. Later it was adjusted to patients' requirements in accordance with the Ramsay score (group 1). Long-term intubated patients received in addition midazolam 0.05 mg/kg/h (group 2). If needed, clonidine 1 microgram/kg/h was added (group 3). Mean drug requirements were investigated during controlled ventilation and during assisted ventilation with spontaneous breathing > 25% of total minute ventilation. In group 1 arterial paCO2 was measured to estimate drug-induced respiratory depression. Values given are median and ranges. RESULTS: With the 3-level-regimen of analgesia and sedation a Ramsay score of 2-3 was achieved in all intensive-care patients. In group 1 (n = 109; 36.7%) paCO2 values were similar at all times. Patients on controlled ventilation needed sufentanil 0.6 (0.075-2.5) microgram/kg/h, on assisted ventilation 0.4 (0.05-2.5) microgram/kg/h. Patients of group 2 (n = 113; 38.1%) had on controlled ventilation a higher requirement of sufentanil 1.2 (0.09-2.7) micrograms/kg/h, in addition Midazolam 0.05 (0.002-0.56) mg/kg/h was given. On assisted ventilation with spontaneous breathing > 25% sufentanil 0.9 (0.05-2.6) microgram/kg/h plus midazolam 0.04 (0.002-0.38) mg/kg/h was sufficient. Group 3 (n = 75; 25.2%) had on controlled ventilation a higher requirement of sufentanil with 1.5 (0.09-4.0) micrograms/kg/h and midazolam 0.05 (0.005-0.52) mg/kg/h, in addition clonidine 1.1 (0.12-2.88) micrograms/kg/h was given. On assisted ventilation with spontaneous breathing > 25% requirement of sufentanil with 1.1 (0.15-2.6) micrograms/kg/h and of midazolam with 0.05 (0.002-0.22) mg/kg/h was slightly lower, whereas more clonidine was needed with 1.3 (0.12-2.88) micrograms/kg/h. CONCLUSION: Continuous infusion of sufentanil only for analgesia and sedation is suitable for intensive-care patients with a short stay in the ICU. Respiratory depression during spontaneous breathing is not significant. The supplementary administration of midazolam and clonidine according to the presented regimen was shown to be of advantage for patients with a longer stay in ICU.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
BACKGROUND: Alfentanil is commonly used as opioid analgesic for short surgical procedures. Little is known about the usefulness of sufentanil for this purpose. We investigated the effects of alfentanil and sufentanil on haemodynamic characteristics, catecholamine levels, and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol contents during elective laryngomicroscopy and short laryngeal surgery (LM). METHODS: 100 patients (ASA class I or II) were randomly allocated into one of four groups to receive either 10 micrograms/kg alfentanil (group I, ALF 10), 20 micrograms/kg alfentanil (group II, ALF 20), 0.25 micrograms/kg sufentanil (group III, SUF 0.25), or 0.5 micrograms/kg sufentanil (group IV, SUF 0.5) given intravenously before induction of anaesthesia. After administration of the opioid analgesic all patients received 2.0 mg/kg propofol, 15 micrograms/kg vecuronium, and 1 mg/kg succinylcholine. Anaesthesia was maintained as total intravenous anaesthesia with propofol (8 mg/ kg/h) and oxygen (33%) in air. Heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), adrenaline (ADR), noradrenaline (NADR), ACTH, and cortisol were measured before (baseline) and after induction of anaesthesia, at the beginning and cessation of LM, and 2 h after LM. RESULTS: In group I (ALF 10) a significant increase in all variables was observed at the beginning and at the end of LM when compared with baseline. Two hours after LM all parameters were found to be at baseline levels. In groups II and III (ALF 20 and SUF 0.25) a significant increase in HR, MAP and catecholamine levels was observed at the end of LM compared to baseline. ACTH and cortisol contents were unchanged throughout. In group IV (SUF 0.5) HR was significantly reduced after induction, at the beginning and cessation of LM, and 2 hours following operation, whereas MAP was only decreased after induction (P < 0.05 vs. baseline). ADR, NADR, ACTH, and cortisol were similar throughout. If the duration of surgery was shorter than 12 min (20%) in group III (SUF 0.25) and 20 min (44%) in group IV (SUF 0.5), the patients had to be treated with naloxone 10 min after cessation of LM in order to antagonize respiratory depression. This side effect was not observed in group I (ALF 10) and in only one patient (4%) of group II (ALF 20) for whom surgery lasted 5 min. CONCLUSION: Clinical recovery is achieved most rapidly with alfentanil in ultra short surgical procedures. However, if surgery is expected to be longer than about 12 min also sufentanil at a dose of 0.25 micrograms/kg seems to be useful for this kind of surgery.
Fluconazole is effective for the treatment of fungal infections. A continuous venovenous hemofiltration (CVVH) was necessary in a liver transplant patient with anuria. Fluconazole treatment was started after the diagnosis of systemic candidiasis. There was no adverse effect on liver function, and the immunosuppression with cyclosporine was not affected. It is shown for the first time that CVVH effectively removes fluconazole from the blood circulation by a clearance into the hemofiltrate of approximately 21 ml/min. These data suggest that the treatment of fungal infections with fluconazole does not necessitate a reduction of the dosage during CVVH.
UNLABELLED: Left ventricular afterload is most accurately represented by left ventricular end-systolic wall stress, but in clinical practice is commonly estimated by the systemic vascular resistance (SVR). End-systolic wall stress can be derived from M-mode and two-dimensional (2D) echocardiograms in combination with systolic arterial pressure (SAP). We tested transoesophageal echocardiography for the assessment of acute left ventricular afterload alterations in ventilated patients requiring cardiovascular support with noradrenaline or nitroglycerine. METHOD. With approval from the local ethics committee, we studied afterload alterations in 11 hypotensive patients who were treated by increasing the dosage of i.v. noradrenaline by 2-5 micrograms/min in order to raise mean arterial pressure (MAP) by 20 mmHg. In another 10 patients with MAP over 95 mmHg, nitroglycerine was raised from 2 to 4 mg/h, aiming at a 20 mmHg MAP reduction. MAP and SAP were monitored via a radial artery cannula, cardiac output (CO) was measured with the thermodilution technique using a Swan-Ganz catheter, and SVR was calculated from CO, MAP, and right atrial pressure. M-mode and 2D echocardiograms were obtained from the cross-sectional short-axis view of the left ventricle and recorded shortly before and during treatment when MAP had changed by 20 mmHg. Left ventricular total area (TA) and cavity area (A) including the papillary muscles were obtained from end-systolic 2D echocardiograms, while end-systolic internal diameter (ID) and posterior wall thickness (HW) were measured in the M-mode. Wall stress was calculated in the M-mode as: WSM = 0.33 x SAP x ID/(HW x (1+HW/ID)), and in the 2D mode as: WS2D = 1.33 x SAP x A/(TA-A). STATISTICS: paired t-test (P < 0.05), regression analysis. RESULTS. Afterload alterations were reflected by significant changes of WS2D (-41%, +68%), WSM (-26%, +38%), and SVR (-15%, +50%). WSM and SVR underestimated changes of WS2D by 15%-30%. WSM changes due to SAP rather than to left-ventricular dimensional changes. No correlation was found between WS2D or WSM and SVR. Inter-observer variability for echocardiographic wall stress was reasonable (WS2D 4%, WSM 10%). CONCLUSIONS. Acute changes of left ventricular afterload and dimensions were clearly indicated by 2D measurements. As M-mode measures were not conclusive for left ventricular dimensional changes, WSM was not an appropriate parameter for acute afterload alterations. WS2D is an afterload index superior to WSM that cannot be estimated by SVR.
OBJECTIVE: Since the different techniques of percutaneous dilatational tracheotomy were introduced they have attracted particular attention in the intensive care setting. We present here a modification of the technique first described by Ciaglia in 1985. Objective of this study was to evaluate the frequency of complications of this modification in comparison with published data. METHODS: 151 dilatational tracheotomies were performed on 141 patients of an anaesthesiologic intensive care unit. Ciaglia originally presented an approach between the cricoid cartilage and the first tracheal cartilage. We found it preferable to insert the cannula between the 2nd and 3rd tracheal cartilage after blunt dissection of the pretracheal tissues. The Dilators of Cook Critical Care Ltd. were used in this study. RESULTS: With 151 tracheotomies only 11 complications were noted: pneumothorax (1), bleeding (2), mucosal lesion of the trachea (2), others (6). None of these complications was considered to be serious. There was no tracheotomy-related death. Tracheotomy was performed within 11.5 min (range 5 to 23 min). The duration of artificial ventilation following tracheotomy was 21.1 days (range 1 to 142 days). CONCLUSION: The presented modification of dilatational tracheotomy is a safe and effective technique which can be performed on the intensive care unit. Compared with conventional tracheotomy the new method is quickly done and will be an integral part of intensive care treatment.
BACKGROUND: The current study investigates the effects of sufentanil on cerebral blood flow velocity and intracranial pressure (ICP) in 30 patients with intracranial hypertension after severe brain trauma (Glasgow coma scale < 6). METHODS: Mechanical ventilation (FIO2 0.25-0.4) was adjusted to maintain arterial carbon dioxide tensions of 28-30 mmHg. Continuous infusion of midazolam (200 micrograms/kg/h intravenous) and fentanyl (2 micrograms/kg/h intravenous) was used for sedation. Mean arterial blood pressure (MAP, mmHg) was adjusted using norepinephrine infusion (1-5 micrograms/min). Mean blood flow velocity (Vmean, cm/s) was measured in the middle cerebral artery using a 2-MHz transcranial Doppler sonography system. ICP (mmHg) was measured using an epidural probe. After baseline measurements, a bolus of 3 micrograms/kg sufentanil was injected, and all parameters were continuously recorded for 30 min. The patients were assigned retrospectively to the following groups according to their blood pressure responses to sufentanil: group 1, MAP decrease of less than 10 mmHg, and group 2, MAP decrease of more than 10 mmHg. RESULTS: Heart rate, arterial blood gases, and esophageal temperature did not change over time in all patients. In 18 patients, MAP did not decrease after sufentanil (group 1). In 12 patients, sufentanil decreased MAP > 10 mmHg from baseline despite norepinephrine infusion (group 2). ICP was constant in patients with maintained MAP (group 1) but was significantly increased in patients with decreased MAP. Vmean did not change with sufentanil injection regardless of changes in MAP. CONCLUSIONS: The current data show that sufentanil (3 micrograms/kg intravenous) has no significant effect on middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity and ICP in patients with brain injury, intracranial hypertension, and controlled MAP. However, transient increases in ICP without changes in middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity may occur concomitant with decreases in MAP. This suggests that increases in ICP seen with sufentanil may be due to autoregulatory decreases in cerebral vascular resistance secondary to systemic hypotension.
Ten patients with head trauma received an intravenous bolus of sufentanil (2 micrograms kg-1) followed at 30 min by infusion of sufentanil (median 150 micrograms h-1) and midazolam (median 9.0 mg h-1) over 48 h. Median (range) values of pharmacokinetic parameters for sufentanil were: t1/2,z = 16 (7-49) h; CL = 1215 (519-2550) ml min-1; CLR = 7 (2-38) ml min-1; Vss = 10.0 (6.8-24.2) 1 kg-1. Decreases in intracranial pressure (ICP) (from 16.1 +/- 1.7 to 10.8 +/- 1.3 mm Hg; P < 0.05) and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) (from 85.5 +/- 3.9 to 80.2 +/- 4.9 mm Hg; P < 0.05) were observed within 15 min of the bolus injection of sufentanil and remained unchanged thereafter. Thus, cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP = MAP-ICP) was stable.
A patient with refractory diarrhoea (up to 10 l/d) following colectomy and ileostomy was treated with clonidine, after loperamide, tinctura opii, cholestyramine and somatostatin had failed to reduce stool volume to less than 6 l/d. Under combined treatment with clonidine (1200 micrograms/d) and somatostatin (6 mg/d), which was well tolerated, stool weights were normalised within 24 hours. This case report on the successful anti-diarrhoeic effect of clonidine is completed by experimental data from rat jejunal and duodenal segments. In the presence of the adenylate cyclase-stimulating agent forskolin, clonidine normalised both mucosal cAMP content and cAMP-induced hypersecretion in rat intestine. This suggests that the anti-diarrhoeic effect of clonidine in-vitro results from an alpha 2-receptor mediated inhibition of the stimulated adenylate cyclase. Case report and experimental data therefore support the theory that therapeutical application of clonidine in diarrhoea may be successful.
Volume expansion for the establishment of normal to slightly hyperdynamic systemic circulation has become part of a standard concept in the treatment of septicemic patients. The goal is an improvement of microcirculation with beneficial effects on tissue oxygen supply. This study investigates the effect of hydroxyethyl starch solution (HES 6%: mean molecular weight = 40,000) versus ringer's solution on tissue oxygen tensions in human skeletal muscle during periods of septicemia in 10 mechanically ventilated ICU-patients. Measurement of tissue oxygen tension was achieved by a polarographic pO2-sensitive flexible probe. After computer assisted analysis pO2-histograms were calculated out of 200 single pO2-values measured consecutively within a time period of 4 min. Infusions of 500 ml ringer's solution or 500 ml HES were given over 60 min in each patient in a randomized order. The second infusion was begun when the pO2-histogram had reproducibly regained control values as measured before treatment. Measurements were made every 30 min after starting the infusion for a total period of 150 min. As a result the median pO2 improved by 24.5% 90 min after the infusion of HES was begun with a simultaneous significant (30 to 150 min; p less than 0.05) drop in hematocrit from 34.3% to 32.4%. In contrast ringer's solution had no significant effect on tissue pO2 whereas the hematocrit was comparable to the HES group in the time period of 30-60 min. In both groups no linear correlation between hematocrit and pO2-tensions could be established. It remains unclear if pO2-tensions during and after HES infusion can be correlated to an improved capillary perfusion. However, as was clearly demonstrated, different types of solutions used for volume expansion may exert different effects on pO2-tissue tension in septic patients.
The digital luminescence-radiography (DLR) technique relies on a complete digitalization of the X-ray image. Luminescence crystals on the imaging plate serve as an energy reservoir following their exposure to ionized radiation from any conventional X-ray source. A Helium-Neon laser stimulates the electrons in their high energy bands and therefore will be dropped back emitting luminescence. This luminescence is digitized by the DLR-System thus delivering a complete digital image to the image processor for subsequent processing and evaluation. The processed digital image is then recorded on a conventional film or a monitor screen. More than 3000 chest examinations using DLR have been performed on intensive care unit (ICU) patients at the University Hospital Eppendorf following the first eleven months since the clinical introduction of this new technique. The positive aspects of DLR such as high-contrast resolution and optimal reproducibility were clinically evaluated under ICU conditions. It was shown that DLR greatly improves the quality of the chest X-rays of all ICU patients and offers the following advantages: reproducibility, lateral chest projection, no insufficient exposure, reduction of exposure dose, electronical post-processing and storage, quality preserving digital storage and copying.