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Biomedical subjects

William T Merritt

Publications and source records attributed to William T Merritt.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Issues affecting liver transplantation.

The process of liver transplantation is a complex intermixture of patient disease, timing of transplantation, and quality of organ eventually received. Because of the shortage of cadaveric organs, efforts to expand the pool of donors have led to the use of organs from donors of marginal quality. Recent data suggest that aggressive management of all brain-dead donors, but especially marginal donors, improves the likelihood that their organs will be acceptable and function adequately. Pulmonary pathology, especially portopulmonary hypertension, is especially problematic during the perioperative period. Recent recommendations are discussed. The timing/waiting time of liver transplantation has been a contentious issue from the beginning. While most would like to transplant patients who are sufficiently sick but not too sick for a successful result, past scoring systems have often allowed time on the waiting list to trump acuity of patient disease. The recently adopted model for endstage liver disease and pediatric endstage liver disease systems have dramatically changed the way recipients are listed and medically followed, and when they receive an organ. Each of these areas directly and indirectly affects perioperative care.

Hepatopulmonary Syndrome↗
PubMed2004

Living donor surgery: overview of surgical and anesthesia issues.

Organ transplantation occupies the center stage in the treatment of many forms of end-stage organ disease. When the limits of conventional medical care are exhausted, bridging therapies, cadaveric transplantation, and posttransplant medical care come to the fore. Living donor transplantation has grown out of the numerical and immunosuppression limitations of this process. Living donor transplantation medicine and surgery encompass two of the most fascinating and compelling social and ethical dilemmas of modern health care. This article provides an overview of medical and ethical concerns for those who decide to become living donors and those who care for them in the perioperative period.

Anesthesia↗
PubMed2002

Phase II collaborative pilot study: preliminary analysis of central neural effects from exposure to volatile anesthetics in the PACU.

Nurses working in the PACU are occupationally exposed to volatile anesthetics that are exhaled by patients. Few studies have quantified this exposure using breath analysis or have characterized biological effects associated with this exposure. Isoflurane is a widely used anesthetic and is a strong respiratory depressant. Exposure to isoflurane has been shown to cause changes in breathing patterns at low doses. However, biological effects of isoflurane exposure have never been addressed in the occupational setting. This study investigates whether occupational exposure to anesthetic gases has a depressive effect on central neural control of breathing. In this study, concentrations of halogenated anesthetics were quantified in pre- and postshift breath samples of nurses working in the PACU on a Friday and the following Monday. After each breath sample was collected, an occlusion pressure measurement was taken as an indicator of central inspiratory drive. Cumulative nitrous oxide and halogenated anesthetics exposure was measured each day using personal sampling monitors placed close to the nurse's mouth. Exposure to nitrous oxide and isoflurane was significantly higher on Monday than on Friday (P <.001). Monday breath isoflurane concentrations (mean +/- SD) increased significantly from 43 +/- 30 parts per billion (ppb) in preshift breath samples to 124 +/- 57 ppb in postshift breath samples (P <.002). On Monday, there was a significant decrease in occlusion pressure from 1.2 +/- 0.37 cm H(2)O in preshift samples to 0.85 +/- 0.43 cm H(2)O in postshift samples (P =.05). There was no statistical difference in pre- versus postbreath isoflurane or occlusion pressure on Friday. These data indicate that after increased exposure to isoflurane, central neurorespiratory activity was depressed.

Anesthetics, Inhalation↗