0000000000774611

AUTHOR

Rita Laufenberg-feldmann

Is ‘anxiety sensitivity’ predictive of postoperative nausea and vomiting?

BACKGROUND Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is an extremely distressing side effect for patients. Despite PONV prophylaxis guided by well established scoring systems, the incidence of PONV is still high. OBJECTIVE The aim of the current study was to investigate the predictive value of anxiety sensitivity as an additional independent risk factor for PONV in patients with an increased risk of PONV. DESIGN A noninterventional, observational study. SETTING A tertiary care university hospital. PATIENTS Patients with an increased risk of PONV (i.e. female, nonsmoking) undergoing elective surgery (general, gynaecological, urological, musculoskeletal or neurosurgical) under general anaesthe…

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Intraoperative positive end-expiratory pressure and postoperative pulmonary complications: a patient-level meta-analysis of three randomised clinical trials

BACKGROUND: High intraoperative PEEP with recruitment manoeuvres may improve perioperative outcomes. We re-examined this question by conducting a patient-level meta-analysis of three clinical trials in adult patients at increased risk for postoperative pulmonary complications who underwent non-cardiothoracic and non-neurological surgery. METHODS: The three trials enrolled patients at 128 hospitals in 24 countries from February 2011 to February 2018. All patients received volume-controlled ventilation with low tidal volume. Analyses were performed using one-stage, two-level, mixed modelling (site as a random effect; trial as a fixed effect). The primary outcome was a composite of postoperati…

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Kinetics of plasma biomarkers of inflammation and lung injury in surgical patients with or without postoperative pulmonary complications

Background Postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) are common after major abdominal surgery. The kinetics of plasma biomarkers could improve identification of patients developing PPCs, but the kinetics may depend on intraoperative ventilator settings. Objective To test whether the kinetics of plasma biomarkers are capable of identifying patients who will develop PPCs, and whether the kinetics depend on the intraoperative level of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP). Design A preplanned substudy of a randomised controlled trial. Setting Operation room of five centres. Patients Two hundred and forty-two adult patients scheduled for abdominal surgery at risk of developing PPCs. Interv…

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Association between pre-operative biological phenotypes and postoperative pulmonary complications: An unbiased cluster analysis

BACKGROUND: Biological phenotypes have been identified within several heterogeneous pulmonary diseases, with potential therapeutic consequences. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether distinct biological phenotypes exist within surgical patients, and whether development of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) and subsequent dependence of intra-operative positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) differ between such phenotypes. SETTING: Operating rooms of six hospitals in Europe and USA. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of the 'PROtective Ventilation with HIgh or LOw PEEP' trial. PATIENTS: Adult patients scheduled for abdominal surgery who are at risk of PPCs. INTERVENTIONS: Measurement of pre-operativ…

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Akutschmerztherapie in Pädiatrie und Geriatrie – Akutschmerztherapie im Alter –ein ganzheitlicher Ansatz

Post-operative pain management of elderly patients requires special attention. In addition to the organic functional impairments, age-related changes in psychological and social factors play an important role. Also life experiences, painful medical history and a range of different complaints of old age influence the expectations to the treatment of pain. Several factors have to be considered, so 1) age-appropriate preoperative assessment of organic, psychological and social factors, 2) a selection of regularly administered non-opioid, or combination of two different effective non-opioids, notably on the contra-indications and dose limits, 3) if necessary careful titration of the strong opio…

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Assessing preoperative anxiety using a questionnaire and clinical rating

Background Preoperative anxiety and need for information can be detected during preoperative consultation via structured and standardised screening by the Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale (APAIS) questionnaire. Objective To identify the prevalence of preoperative anxiety and need for information, with regard to influencing factors such as age, sex, previous operation and grade of surgery, and to examine the level of agreement between patients' self-rating and physicians' ratings. Design Prospective observational study. Setting Department of Anaesthesiology, University Medical Centre of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. Patients Two hundred seventeen patie…

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Improve hip fracture outcome in the elderly patient (iHOPE) : A study protocol for a pragmatic, multicentre randomised controlled trial to test the efficacy of spinal versus general anaesthesia

IntroductionHip fracture surgery is associated with high in-hospital and 30-day mortality rates and serious adverse patient outcomes. Evidence from randomised controlled trials regarding effectiveness of spinal versus general anaesthesia on patient-centred outcomes after hip fracture surgery is sparse.Methods and analysisThe iHOPE study is a pragmatic national, multicentre, randomised controlled, open-label clinical trial with a two-arm parallel group design. In total, 1032 patients with hip fracture (>65 years) will be randomised in an intended 1:1 allocation ratio to receive spinal anaesthesia (n=516) or general anaesthesia (n=516). Outcome assessment will occur in a blinded manner aft…

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Comparative sequence analysis of the Clostridium difficile toxins A and B.

The six clones pTB112, pTB324, pTBs12, pCd122, pCd14 and pCd13 cover the tox locus of Clostridium difficile VPI 10463. This region of 19 kb of chromosomal DNA contains four open reading frames including the complete toxB and toxA genes. The two toxins show 63% amino acid (aa) homology, a relatedness that had been predicted by the cross-reactivity of some monoclonal antibodies (mAb) but that is in contrast to the toxin specificity of polyclonal antisera. A special feature of ToxA and ToxB is their repetitive C-termini. We define herein 19 individual CROPs (combined repetitive oligopeptides of 20-50 aa length) in the ToxB C-terminus, which are separable into five homologous groups. Comparison…

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Cloning of Clostridium difficile toxin B gene and demonstration of high N-terminal homology between toxin A and B.

High titered Clostridium sordellii lethal toxin antiserum, cross-reactive with C. difficile cytotoxin B (ToxB), was used to isolate toxB fragments from a C. difficile expression library. Recombinant clones containing toxB fragments of the 5' and 3' end were isolate. A 2.5-kb HincII fragment of chromosomal DNA overlaps both groups of clones. A partial restriction map of the total toxB gene is presented. The gene is positioned upstream of utxA and toxA, toxB has a size of 6.9 kb, corresponding to a 250-kDa polypeptide. A partial sequence of the 5' end of toxB was determined. The sequence contains 398 bp upstream of toxB with a putative Shine-Dalgarno box (AGGAGA) and 609 bp of the toxB open r…

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Protective intraoperative ventilation with higher versus lower levels of positive end-expiratory pressure in obese patients (PROBESE): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background Postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) increase the morbidity and mortality of surgery in obese patients. High levels of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) with lung recruitment maneuvers may improve intraoperative respiratory function, but they can also compromise hemodynamics, and the effects on PPCs are uncertain. We hypothesized that intraoperative mechanical ventilation using high PEEP with periodic recruitment maneuvers, as compared with low PEEP without recruitment maneuvers, prevents PPCs in obese patients. Methods/design The PRotective Ventilation with Higher versus Lower PEEP during General Anesthesia for Surgery in OBESE Patients (PROBESE) study is a multice…

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Characterization of polymorphisms in the toxin A and B genes of Clostridium difficile.

We have used six independent polymerase chain reactions (A1–A3 and B1–B3) for amplification of the entire sequence of the two toxin genes tcdA and tcdB of several Clostridium difficile strains. With this approach we have detected (1) restriction site polymorphisms which are distributed all over the genes, and (2) deletions that could be found only in tcdA. Characteristic differences between strains were mainly focused to the 5′ third of tcdB (B1 fragment) and/or the 3′ third of tcdA (A3 fragment). The possible use of our approach for typing of C. difficile toxin genes is discussed.

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RIPHeart (Remote Ischemic Preconditioning for Heart Surgery) Study: Myocardial Dysfunction, Postoperative Neurocognitive Dysfunction, and 1 Year Follow-Up

Background Remote ischemic preconditioning ( RIPC ) has been suggested to protect against certain forms of organ injury after cardiac surgery. Previously, we reported the main results of RIPHeart (Remote Ischemic Preconditioning for Heart Surgery) Study, a multicenter trial randomizing 1403 cardiac surgery patients receiving either RIPC or sham‐ RIPC . Methods and Results In this follow‐up paper, we present 1‐year follow‐up of the composite primary end point and its individual components (all‐cause mortality, myocardial infarction, stroke and acute renal failure), in a sub‐group of patients, intraoperative myocardial dysfunction assessed by transesophageal echocardiography and the incidenc…

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