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Neus Fàbregas

Publications and source records attributed to Neus Fàbregas.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Pathophysiology of pneumonia.

The development of pneumonia requires that a pathogen reach the alveoli and that the host defenses are overwhelmed by microorganism virulence or by the inoculum size. The endogenous sources of microorganisms are nasal carriers, sinusitis, oropharynx, gastric, or tracheal colonization, and hematogenous spread. Other external sources of contamination, such as intensive care unit workers, aerosols, or fibrobronchoscopy, must be considered as accidental.

Cross Infection↗
PubMed2004

Can bispectral index monitoring predict recovery of consciousness in patients with severe brain injury?

BACKGROUND: The probability of recovering consciousness in acute brain-injured patients depends on central nervous system damage and complications acquired during their stay in the intensive care unit. The objective of this study was to establish a relation between the Bispectral Index (BIS) and other variables derived from the analysis of the electroencephalographic signal, with the probability of recovering consciousness in patients in a coma state due to severe cerebral damage. METHODS: Twenty-five critically ill, unconscious brain-injured patients from whom sedative drugs were withdrawn at least 24 h before BIS recording were prospectively studied. BIS, 95% spectral edge frequency, burst suppression ratio, and frontal electromyography were recorded for 20 min. The neurologic condition of the patients was measured according to the Glasgow Coma Score (GCS). Patients were followed up for assessment of recovery of consciousness for 6 months after the injury. The studied variables were compared between the group of patients who recovered consciousness and those who did not recover. Their predictive ability was evaluated by means of the Pk statistic. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to model the relation between variables and probability of recovery of consciousness. Cross-validation was used to validate the proposed model. RESULTS: There were statistically significant differences between the group of patients who recovered consciousness and those who did not with respect to BISmax, BISmin, BISmean, and BISrange, frontal electromyography, signal quality index values, and GCSBIS. The Pk (SE) values were 0.99 (0.01) for electromyelography, 0.96 (0.05) for BISmax, 0.92 (0.05) for BISmean, 0.92 (0.06) for BISrange, and 0.82 (0.09) for GCSBIS. The odds ratio for BISmax in the logistic regression model was 1.17 (95% confidence interval, 1.1-1.35). Cross-validation results reported a high-accuracy median absolute cross-validation performance error of 3.06% (95% confidence interval, 1-22.15%) and a low-bias median cross-validation performance error of 0.84% (0.56-2.12%). CONCLUSIONS: The study BIS and other electrophysiologic and clinical variables has enabled construction and cross-validation of a model relating BIS(max) to the probability of recovery of consciousness in patients in a coma state due to a severe brain injury, after sedation has been withdrawn.

APACHE↗
PubMed2004

Endoscopic and stereotactic neurosurgery.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Review of the anesthetic considerations for neuroendoscopy and stereotactic procedures. RECENT FINDINGS: Minimally invasive procedures are increasingly applied in novel ways in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological pathologies. Endoscopic third ventriculostomy, endoscopic shunt revisions and drainage of intraventricular hematoma using a neuroendoscope have become routine neurosurgical procedures. Stereotaxis has expanded its scope from simple brain biopsy to functional neurosurgery and psychiatry. While these procedures are 'minimally invasive', perioperative critical events may still occur. SUMMARY: Vigilance in preoperative assessment and intraoperative monitoring is essential in minimizing perioperative morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing neuroendoscopic and stereotactic procedures.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Hospital-acquired pneumonia: etiologic considerations.

The development of pneumonia requires the pathogen to reach the alveoli and the host defenses to be overwhelmed, either by microorganism virulence or by inoculums size. The endogenous sources of microorganisms are nasal carriers, sinusitis, mouth, oropharynx, gastric, or tracheal colonization, and hematogenous spread. The exogenous sources of microorganisms are biofilm of the tracheal tube, ventilator circuits, nebulizers, and humidifiers. Health care workers may also play a role in this setting. Different microorganisms can be found depending on the onset time of pneumonia and on the local pattern variation encountered between different institutions and countries. Healthy patients may be chronically colonized. A very important, unresolved issue is the definition of early and late-onset pneumonia; it still remains uncertain from the literature whether the given threshold refers to the number of days in hospital or to the number of days following intubation. Noninvasive ventilation is demonstrating that the term "ventilator-associated pneumonia" is perhaps inaccurate and should be referred to as "intubation-associated pneumonia."

Biofilms↗
PubMed2002

Anaesthesia for minimally invasive neurosurgery.

Technological advances in imaging, computing and surgical instrumentation have encouraged the application of minimally invasive surgical techniques to various neurosurgical disorders. This chapter discusses the wide application of neurosurgery and the implications for anaesthesia, focusing on the specific anaesthetic considerations for neuroendoscopy, stereotactic procedures and radiosurgery.

Anesthesia↗