Thoracic epidural AND heart failure

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of positive fluid balance on cardiovascular complications after thoracotomy for noncancer lesions. METHODS: After approval from an institutional review board, a retrospective cohort study was conducted. All consecutive patients undergoing thoracotomy between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2011 in a single medical center were recruited. The primary outcome of the study was the incidence of cardiovascular complications, which were defined as cardiac arrhythmia, cardiac arrest, heart failure, myocardial ischemia, and pulmonary embolism...

Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy is a primary myocardial disease with unknown aetiology. This disease follows a prospective course that is characterized by ventricular dilation and impaired myocardial dilation. Congestive heart failure and malignant arrhythmias are the most widespread complications. The incidence of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy in the general population is 5-8/100.000. Because of the increased risks of perioperative complications, anesthetic management of this disease requires the application of a specific technique...

BACKGROUND: Complete obstruction of the abdominal aorta at the renal artery level is a difficult surgical problem. Aortic clamping and declamping can lead to profound haemodynamic changes, myocardial infarction, ventricular failure or even death may result. These complications are important challenges in anesthetic management of these patients. METHODS: Between August, 2010 and April, 2012, descending thoracic aorta to femoral artery bypass grafting was used to revascularize lower limbs in 11 patients in our institute...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The progression of heart failure is affected by several factors, including chronic stimulation of the β-adrenoceptor. This clinical study was designed to measure the effects of thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) on the plasma levels of norepinephrine (NE), cAMP, and cGMP in patients with heart failure and assess the clinical implication of TEA. METHODS: Forty patients with heart failure were randomly assigned to TEA (TEA plus standard care) and control groups (standard care)...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of high thoracic epidural analgesia (HTEA) in congestive heart failure (CHF). DESIGN: Rat model of CHF. SETTING: Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred thirty-five rats. INTERVENTIONS: HTEA involved 5 times daily injections of 0.1% lidocaine at the T3-T4 level. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The authors examined myocardial norepinephrine (NE), angiotensin II (Ang II), endothelin-1 (ET1), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) concentrations 2, 4, and 6 weeks after the start of HTEA...

We present a 74-year-old woman, who developed massive haematemesis and hypovolaemic shock. Her management was challenging, as the bleeding site could not be identified during oesophagogastroduodenoscopy, she was not fit for a general anaesthesia and not able to lie flat due to heart failure, caused by pericardial effusion. She underwent an emergency laparotomy and gastrotomy under a combined thoracic epidural and lumbar spinal regional anaesthesia in a sitting position, 45° to horizontal plane. The bleeding site was identified as a Dieulafoy lesion on the posterior wall of the stomach and was controlled by under running the lesion...

OBJECTIVE: Beta blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors are known to attenuate the remodelling process in chronic heart failure, but the high mortality after heart failure must be resolved. We aimed to evaluate the effects of using high thoracic epidural sympathetic blockade (HTESB) as an adjunctive treatment to conventional therapy on the regression of left ventricular remodelling in chronic heart failure due to dilated cardiomyopathy. METHODS: We studied 40 patients with severe chronic heart failure due to dilated cardiomyopathy...

INTRODUCTION: Following resection for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), patients are usually admitted to the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU)for a few hours before admission to a general ward (GW). However, some patients need ICU-admission, either immediately post-surgery or from the PACU or GW. The aim of this study was to investigate the indications and risk factors for ICU-admission. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective study of 252 patients who underwent lobectomy, wedge resection or segmentectomy for NSCLC in Iceland during 2001-2010...

We report a man with severe dilated cardiomyopathy with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) who underwent sigmoidectomy. During the operation, the defibrillation function of the ICD has been stopped to prevent malfunction caused by electrocautery artifacts, and the electrodes of the external defibrillator were placed on the chest wall. Pulmonary artery catheter was inserted under X-ray imaging to prevent the interference between ICD leads and the catheter. Anesthesia was maintained with combined general and thoracic epidural anesthesia...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of high thoracic epidural anesthesia on ventricular remodeling and cardiac function in rats with heart failure induced by myocardial infarction, and to investigate their mechanism. METHODS: Rats that had been established successively model were randomly divided into S group (n = 12), HTEA group and CHF group (24/group). 9.0 g/L normal sodium 100 microl/kg was injected to epidural cavity twice a day separately in group S and group CHF...

PURPOSE: Continuous epidural anaesthesia attenuates perioperative stress and avoids the need for systemic opioids. In addition, it may prevent the need for postoperative mechanical ventilation. The aim of the study was to prospectively follow the perioperative course of young infants treated with continuous thoracic/lumbar epidural anaesthesia for major surgery. METHODS: Data were collected prospectively from 44 epidural anaesthetics in 40 infants (18 premature or former premature) weighing 1,400-4,300 g who underwent major abdominal surgery (33 cases), thoracic surgery (5), or both (1), or ano-rectal surgery (5) at our centre...

Although several different anesthetic techniques have been employed for noncardiac surgery in Eisenmenger syndrome (ES), the best anesthetic technique is still controversial. A17-year-old male with ES and an epidural abscess at the T5- T7 levels was scheduled to undergo laminectomy in the sitting position. Anesthesia was induced by ketamane and maintained with an opioid-isoflurane technique. A few minutes after extubation, respiratory distress appeared and the patient was reintubated. He was transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) and maintained on spontaneous intermittent mandatory ventilation and pressure support for 24 hours, and discharged fully recovered on the 4th postoperative day...

Thoracic epidural anesthesia (TEA) combined with general anesthesia in cardiac surgery has the potential to initiate earlier spontaneous ventilation and extubation, improved hemodynamics, less arrhythmia or myocardial ischemia, and an attenuated neurohormonal response. The aim of the current study was to characterize the correlation between TEA and postoperative resource use or outcome in a consecutive-patient cohort. The study was performed in a tertiary care, 3-surgeon, university-affiliated hospital that performs 350 to 400 cardiac surgeries per year...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of high thoracic epidural anesthesia (HTEA) on chronic heart failure (CHF) and its safety. METHODS: 117 patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) of NYHA class II - IV and with the LVEF < or = 45%, 90 males and 27 females, aged 45 - 81, were Randomly divided into 2 groups: control group (n = 54, treated with the routine medication) and HTEA group (n = 63, administrated epidurally with 0.5% lidocaine 3 - 5 ml every two hours from 9 a...

OBJECTIVE: It was hypothesized that sympathetic blockade restricted to the thoracic levels and achieved by thoracic epidural anesthesia might be capable of reducing hemodynamic deterioration after pulmonary artery embolism and that this might represent a potential method of treatment in patients with pulmonary embolism. Cardiopulmonary function after pulmonary embolism was therefore studied in sheep, either without a sympathetic blockade (the control group) or with sympathetic blockade...

Morbidity and mortality following thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm (TAAA) repair are tremendous. Preoperative assessment is essential in detecting cardiac and pulmonary risk factors in order to reduce cardiopulmonary complications. Paraplegia and renal failure are main determinants of postoperative mortality and therefore gained substantial attention during the last decades. Left heart bypass, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drainage and epidural cooling have significantly reduced paraplegia rate, however, this dreadful event still occurs in up to 25% of patients undergoing type II repair...

BACKGROUND: We proposed a novel therapeutic strategy against central baroreflex failure: implementation of an artificial baroreflex system to automatically regulate sympathetic vasomotor tone, ie, a bionic baroreflex system (BBS), and we tested its efficacy in a model of sudden hypotension during surgery. METHODS AND RESULTS: The BBS consisted of a computer-controlled negative-feedback circuit that sensed arterial pressure (AP) and automatically computed the frequency (STM) of a pulse train required to stimulate sympathetic nerves via an epidural catheter placed at the level of the lower thoracic spinal cord...

Terminal renal failure is often associated with severe coronary artery disease that should be treated with surgical myocardial revascularization. Since perioperative morbidity and mortality rates in these patients are high, the best way and the time for surgical intervention are still uncertain. We present the patient with end-stage renal disease, on chronic program of hemodialysis, who had underwent off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting and high thoracic epidural anaesthesia, followed by early extubation...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility of high thoracic epidural anesthesia combined with sevoflurane for off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery and to evaluate the postoperative pain control, side effects, and perioperative hemodynamics. DESIGN: Retrospective review of prospectively collected data. SETTING: A university teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred six consecutive patients receiving thoracic epidural combined with sevoflurane...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: A new "less invasive" technique avoiding thoracic epidural analgesia has be en tested for suitability as a routine procedure for cardiac anesthesia. Early postoperative extubation is an important step in this fasttrack procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Consecutive patients (n = 547; age, 35-82 years; mean age, 64 year s; male to female ratio, 3.5) underwent general anesthesia with ultra-short-acting opiates and then underwent coronary surgery (n = 465), valve surgery (n = 38), or combined and other procedures (n = 44) a r;...