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I Schnittger

Publications and source records attributed to I Schnittger.

58 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Ultrasonic characterization of acute cardiac rejection from temporal evolution of echocardiograms.

Two ultrasonic parameters that characterize cardiac contractile performance were tested for their ability to detect the early stages of acute rejection. Five dogs received heart transplants with a heterotopic abdominal model and were given echographic examinations 1, 4, and 8 days after surgery. The ultrasonic measurements were extracted from pairs of cross-sectional echocardiograms, separated in time by approximately half of a cardiac cycle. The contraction-related changes in the portions of the images corresponding to myocardium were characterized by ratio of mean video amplitude and image-pair correlation. Full-thickness biopsies were taken from the left and right ventricles after each examination so that the correlations between the ultrasonic measurements and the histologic state of the tissue could be determined. Each biopsy was ranked according to the following scale of increasing levels of rejection: 0 (normal), 1 (lymphocyte infiltration), 2 (focal necrosis), 3 (diffuse necrosis), 4 (presence of hemorrhages). The average histologic state for the left ventricle increased from 0.2 +/- 0.4 for the first examination, to 2.0 +/- 0.7 for the second, and 3.6 +/- 0.5 for the third. Similar results were obtained for the right ventricle. The progressions of mean amplitude ratio and correlation were 1.55 +/- 0.14, 1.49 +/- 0.17, 1.19 +/- 0.15, and 0.22 +/- 0.10, 0.28 +/- 0.10, 0.74 +/- 0.25, respectively. Thus in this experiment, these parameters were useful for distinguishing advanced stages of rejection from the normal state and from mild rejection.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Epidural air injection assessed by transesophageal echocardiography.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The object of this study, using transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in anesthetized patients, was to investigate the occurrence of venous air embolism (VAE) when air is injected into the epidural space. METHODS: Six patients between the ages of 18 and 50 years (ASA I-II) undergoing general anesthesia in a supine position for nonthoracic surgical procedures were studied. Prior to general anesthesia, an epidural catheter was placed into the epidural space using a Tuohy needle and a standard saline loss-of-resistance technique. Following verification of proper catheter placement, general anesthesia was induced and the trachea intubated. Thereafter, a TEE probe was inserted into the esophagus. After a 10-minute control period, and during continuous TEE videotape recording, 5 mL of air was rapidly injected into the epidural space through the epidural catheter. This was followed 10 minutes later by the epidural injection of 5 mL of room-temperature preservative-free saline. Microbubble echo targets were quantified in a range from 0 to 4+. RESULTS: Venous air microbubble emboli appeared in the circulation within 15 seconds after injecting either air or saline into the epidural space. CONCLUSIONS: No evidence of clinically significant VAE was seen in any patient. The results suggest that drugs injected into the epidural space may have unexpectedly easy access to the venous circulation with a potential to produce unwanted systemic effects. Clinicians should be alert to the possibility that local anesthetics, or any other drug placed epidurally, may rapidly enter the systemic circulation even without the intravenous placement of an epidural catheter.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Exercise echocardiography in heart transplant recipients: a comparison with angiography and intracoronary ultrasonography.

Transplant coronary artery disease is the leading cause of allograft failure in heart transplant recipients surviving beyond 1 year. Coronary angiography still remains the major technique for surveillance of these patients, with recent use of intracoronary ultrasonography to detect the early stages of intimal thickening. We evaluated exercise echocardiography to screen for the presence or absence of angiographic evidence of transplant coronary artery disease in any vessel, defined as follows: absent; stenosis 39% or less = mild; stenosis 40% to 69% = moderate; or stenosis > or = 70%, or more = severe. Fifty-one consecutive heart transplant recipients undergoing routine annual evaluation were included in the study. Of thirty-seven patients with no coronary artery disease, thirty-two had a normal and five had an abnormal exercise echocardiogram. Fourteen patients (27%) had transplant coronary artery disease by angiographic criteria; six had mild, six had moderate, and two had severe stenosis. One patient with mild and the two patients with severe transplant coronary artery disease had abnormal exercise echocardiograms. None of the patients with moderate disease had an abnormal exercise echocardiogram (false negative). Of forty-three patients with no or mild stenosis, 19 patients had moderate to severe intimal proliferation as seen with intracoronary ultrasonography. Of eight patients with moderate or severe stenosis, four were tested with intracoronary ultrasonography and all had moderate to severe intimal proliferation. Six patients had a "false positive" exercise echocardiogram, and of four who were tested with intracoronary ultrasonography, two had mild and two had moderate to severe intimal thickening. In summary, exercise echocardiography correctly excluded the presence of transplant coronary artery disease in 86% of patients but was associated with a high false negative rate for detection of moderate coronary stenosis. A false positive exercise echocardiogram was associated with intimal proliferation by intracoronary ultrasonography in several patients and suggests that coronary angiography may underestimate significant coronary artery disease.

Coronary Angiography↗