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Biomedical subjects

R E McIntyre

Publications and source records attributed to R E McIntyre.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Effect of an anaesthesia department led critical care outreach and acute pain service on postoperative serious adverse events.

UNLABELLED: We examined whether a combined critical care outreach and acute pain service comprising both medical and nursing staff from the Department of Anaesthesia would decrease the incidence of postoperative serious adverse events in a hospital with an established Medical Emergency Team. We called this combined service IMPACT: Inpatient Management of acute Pain and Advice on Clinical Treatment. We conducted a prospective, before-and-after trial with a baseline phase (319 patients) of standard acute pain management followed by the IMPACT phase (271 patients), during which the IMPACT team systematically reviewed high-risk postoperative patients for the first three days after their return to the general wards. The incidence of serious adverse events decreased from 23 events per 100 patients to 16 events per 100 patients. The 30-day mortality decreased from 9% to 3%, p = 0.004. An acute pain service providing critical care outreach may improve postoperative outcome but the workload is considerable.

Aged↗

Platelet transfusion for patients with cancer: clinical practice guidelines of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the most effective, evidence-based approach to the use of platelet transfusions in patients with cancer. OUTCOMES: Outcomes of interest included prevention of morbidity and mortality from hemorrhage, effects on survival, quality of life, toxicity reduction, and cost-effectiveness. EVIDENCE: A complete MedLine search was performed of the past 20 years of the medical literature. Keywords included platelet transfusion, alloimmunization, hemorrhage, threshold and thrombocytopenia. The search was broadened by articles from the bibliographies of selected articles. VALUES: Levels of evidence and guideline grades were rated by a standard process. More weight was given to studies that tested a hypothesis directly related to one of the primary outcomes in a randomized design. BENEFITS/HARMS/COST: The possible consequences of different approaches to the use of platelet transfusion were considered in evaluating a preference for one or another technique producing similar outcomes. Cost alone was not a determining factor. RECOMMENDATIONS: Appendix A summarizes the recommendations concerning the choice of particular platelet preparations, the use of prophylactic platelet transfusions, indications for transfusion in selected clinical situations, and the diagnosis, prevention, and management of refractoriness to platelet transfusion. VALIDATION: Five outside reviewers, the ASCO Health Services Research Committee, and the ASCO Board reviewed this document. SPONSOR: American Society of Clinical Oncology

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗

Immunologic defects in young male patients with hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia.

Extensive immunologic studies were done in 97 patients with severe aplastic anemia between 1973 and 1979. Sixteen young male patients with hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia appeared to constitute a unique subset. Compared with most patients with aplastic anemia from other causes, these 16 patients had significant reductions in the mean values of circulating T lymphocytes, serum IgG and IgM, mitogen reactivity, and decreased cutaneous hypersensitivity. The ratio of peripheral blood helper to suppressor T lymphocytes identified by monoclonal antibodies was within normal limits in 3 patients studied with hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia. Interestingly, the ratio was low (less than 1) in 3 of 7 patients studied with aplastic anemia from other causes, although the mean for these 7 patients was normal. These data suggest that patients in this subset with hepatitis-associated severe aplastic anemia have a severe immunodeficiency. Whether this immunodeficiency is the cause or result of the hepatitis or aplastic anemia, or both, is unknown.

Adolescent↗

Fatal veno-occlusive disease of the liver following high-dose 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU) and autologous bone marrow transplantation.

Veno-occlusive disease of the liver has recently been reported to occur in patients receiving multiagent chemotherapy together with total-body irradiation and bone marrow transplantation for malignancies. Reported is a case of a 22-year-old woman with disseminated diffuse histiocytic lymphoma in whom fatal hepatic veno-occlusive disease developed two and one-half weeks following high-dose 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea) (BCNU) therapy and autologous bone marrow transplantation. This appears to be the first report of this entity in association with high-dose BCNU employed as a single chemotherapeutic agent.

Adult↗

Lymphocyte dysfunction in chronic graft-versus-host disease.

Three recipients of HLA-identical bone marrow transplants developed chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) and hypergammaglobulinemia. All three had evidence of abnormal B-lymphocyte function, including a polyclonal increase in immunoglobulins (Ig), antinuclear antibodies, rheumatoid factor, lymphocytotoxins, and increased immune complexes. T-lymphocyte function was also abnormal, including decreased mitogen reactivity and delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity. The cellular basis of these immune abnormalities was studied in an in vitro system in which we analyzed spontaneous pokeweed mitogen (PWM) driven Ig synthesis. Multiple defects in both T- and B-lymphocyte function were detected. In contrast to normal B cells, circulating B cells from all three patients with cGVHD spontaneously synthesized in vitro greater than 200 ng of IgG and in two of the three greater than 175 ng of IgM. This increase in spontaneous Ig synthesis was not due to a deficiency of regulatory cells, since T cells from the three patients suppressed spontaneous Ig synthesis in a normal fashion. In contrast to this increased spontaneous Ig synthesis, the response of the patients' B cells to PWM-driven Ig synthesis was normal. Using the PWM system we demonstrated several defects in these patients' T cells, including increased suppressor activity and decreased helper cell activity. These data indicate that some patients with cGVHD have multiple defects in both T- and B-cell function that may contribute to their profound immune deficiency.

Adolescent↗