Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Univ., 2003. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Rhode Island, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-95).

No description available.

Background-Emergency 9-1-1 callers use a wide range of terms to describe abnormal breathing in persons with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). These breathing descriptors can obstruct the telephone cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) process. Methods and Results-We conducted an observational study of emergency call audio recordings linked to confirmed OHCAs in a statewide Utstein-style database. Breathing descriptors fell into 1 of 8 groups (eg, gasping, snoring). We divided the study population into groups with and without descriptors for abnormal breathing to investigate the impact of these descriptors on patient outcomes and telephone CPR process. Callers used descriptors in 459 of 2411 cases (19.0%) between October 1, 2010, and December 31, 2014. Survival outcome was better when the caller used a breathing descriptor (19.6% versus 8.8%, P<0.0001), with an odds ratio of 1.63 (95% confidence interval, 1.17-2.25). After exclusions, 379 of 459 cases were eligible for process analysis. When callers described abnormal breathing, the rates of telecommunicator OHCA recognition, CPR instruction, and telephone CPR were lower than when callers did not use a breathing descriptor (79.7% versus 93.0%, P<0.0001; 65.4% versus 72.5%, P=0.0078; and 60.2% versus 66.9%, P=0.0123, respectively). The time interval between call receipt and OHCA recognition was longer when the caller used a breathing descriptor (118.5 versus 73.5 seconds, P<0.0001). Conclusions-Descriptors of abnormal breathing are associated with improved outcomes but also with delays in the identification of OHCA. Familiarizing telecommunicators with these descriptors may improve the telephone CPR process including OHCA recognition for patients with increased probability of survival.

Submitted in fulfilment of the Degree of Doctor of Technology: Clinical Technology, Durban University of Technology, 2009. / INTRODUCTION: The role of modified ultrafiltration (MUF) in removing inflammatory mediators, reducing the need for homologous donor blood and decreasing pulmonary vascular resistance after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) has already been established. Different types of MUF systems evaluated illustrated that none of the MUF techniques adhered to the normal venous to arterial blood flow dynamics. OBJECTIVES: This experimental study compared a conventional arteriovenous modified ultrafiltration (AVMUF) system to a custom designed venoarterial modified ultrafiltration (VAMUF) system. This technique of VAMUF was designed to mimic the pro-grade flow pattern of the body and cardiopulmonary bypass circuit as compared to the conventional retrograde AVMUF systems. METHODS: Sixty patients that underwent MUF were divided into two groups, the AVMUF (n = 30) and the VAMUF (n=30) groups. Modified ultrafiltration was performed for a mean time of 12 minutes in both groups. In AVMUF blood was removed from the aorta, haemoconcentrated and infused into the right atrium (RA). In VAMUF blood flow was from the RA through a haemoconcentrator and re-infused into the aorta. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in any of the demographic variables, CPB or crossclamping time. Results showed significant difference in the ventilation times, with the VAMUF requiring a shorter ventilation time than the AVMUF group. Intensive care unit (ICU) stay, Hospital stay and discharge days were all significantly lower in the VAMUF group as well. The VAMUF also showed a lower percentage fluid balance than the AVMUF. The systolic and mean blood pressure was significantly higher after VAMUF with a decrease in heart rate, and central venous pressure (CVP). The VAMUF group showed a significantly greater decrease of Creatinine, serum lactacte and uric acid over time with no significant differences in oximetry. CONCLUSION: Results prove that VAMUF is more effective compared to the conventional AVMUF regarding the haemodynamics and clinical parameters of the patient and is more physiological with regards to blood flow dynamics. The VAMUF is, therefore, a more physiological technique than AVMUF.

No description available.

There is significant variation between individual patients in the magnitude and pattern of their systemic response to cardiac surgery. Poor outcomes in these patients have been associated with a dysfunctional host response. This thesis seeks to define such variability at the level of gene expression by sequential analysis of transcription before and after surgery for a low risk group of patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery and cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) patients using expression microarray profiling. To that aim, we analysed sequential global gene expression patterns in circulating peripheral blood leukocytes. We also investigated the role of DNA sequence variation in modulating the observed changes in gene expression. This approach allowed us to identify important genetic modulators and novel biological pathways and gain new insights into the mechanisms that regulate the host response to surgery.

Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) is an effective and invasive cardiac surgery to salvage blocked coronary artery. Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is usually applied to support circulation during temporary cardiac arrest. Studies have demonstrated that cardiac injury, inflammation, and oxidative stress could be induced during CABG with CPB. We conducted two studies to investigate the release of cardiac biochemical markers and inflammatory response as well as to compare the effect of different coating biomaterial of CPB on the induction of inflammation and oxidative stress during CPB. We investigated the release patterns and the serum levels of cardiac markers as well as inflammatory markers in patients undergoing elective CABG at different time points after initiation of CPB. In this study, we demonstrated that cardiac markers such as creatine kinase isoenzyme MB (CK-MB), and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and inflammatory markers such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) were highly elevated after CPB. Moreover, we confirmed that cTnI is still a better biochemical marker for cardiac injury than others following CABG with CPB. Other nonspecific but highly sensitive markers such as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), lactate, TNF-alpha, IL-6, and hsCRP could be potential surrogate markers for evaluation of cardiac injury following CPB. Based on these findings, we conducted a further investigation to demonstrate our hypothesis that different biocompatible materials used in CPB may affect the inflammation and oxidative stress differently. Biocompatible materials are thinly coated on CPB tubes to provide similar environment like endothelial cells during cardiac surgery. There are several biocompatible materials available in the market. Each of them has unique characteristics. Inflammatory response is one of the bodys fundamental defense mechanisms against foreign invaders. However, inappropriate or excessive response can lead to harmful, potentially life-threatening consequences due to severe inflammatory tissue destruction. CPB-induced inflammatory response can be one of the factors, which can affect surgical outcomes. Depending on the presence of different biocompatible materials in CPB circuits, the degree of immunoreactions can be varied. In this study, we analyzed hsCRP, an acute phase protein, and tau protein, a marker of neurocognitive deficiency. Furthermore we analyzed inflammatory cytokines including TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-10, and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) to evaluate the levels of inflammation. Serum levels of oxidized nitric oxide as a marker of oxidative stress were also assessed. We demonstrated that different biocompatible material has different impacts on inflammation and oxidative stress. In the aspect of anti-inflammation, heparin-coated biocompatible material is better than others whereas surface-modifying additives biocompatible material is worse than others. Overall, different coating biomaterial of CPB results in various inflammatory response. In terms of oxidative stress, we did not observe significant difference between different biomaterial-coated CPB.

Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) is an effective and invasive cardiac surgery to salvage blocked coronary artery. Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is usually applied to support circulation during temporary cardiac arrest. Studies have demonstrated that cardiac injury, inflammation, and oxidative stress could be induced during CABG with CPB. We conducted two studies to investigate the release of cardiac biochemical markers and inflammatory response as well as to compare the effect of different coating biomaterial of CPB on the induction of inflammation and oxidative stress during CPB. We investigated the release patterns and the serum levels of cardiac markers as well as inflammatory markers in patients undergoing elective CABG at different time points after initiation of CPB. In this study, we demonstrated that cardiac markers such as creatine kinase isoenzyme MB (CK-MB), and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and inflammatory markers such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) were highly elevated after CPB. Moreover, we confirmed that cTnI is still a better biochemical marker for cardiac injury than others following CABG with CPB. Other nonspecific but highly sensitive markers such as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), lactate, TNF-alpha, IL-6, and hsCRP could be potential surrogate markers for evaluation of cardiac injury following CPB. Based on these findings, we conducted a further investigation to demonstrate our hypothesis that different biocompatible materials used in CPB may affect the inflammation and oxidative stress differently. Biocompatible materials are thinly coated on CPB tubes to provide similar environment like endothelial cells during cardiac surgery. There are several biocompatible materials available in the market. Each of them has unique characteristics. Inflammatory response is one of the bodys fundamental defense mechanisms against foreign invaders. However, inappropriate or excessive response can lead to harmful, potentially life-threatening consequences due to severe inflammatory tissue destruction. CPB-induced inflammatory response can be one of the factors, which can affect surgical outcomes. Depending on the presence of different biocompatible materials in CPB circuits, the degree of immunoreactions can be varied. In this study, we analyzed hsCRP, an acute phase protein, and tau protein, a marker of neurocognitive deficiency. Furthermore we analyzed inflammatory cytokines including TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-10, and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) to evaluate the levels of inflammation. Serum levels of oxidized nitric oxide as a marker of oxidative stress were also assessed. We demonstrated that different biocompatible material has different impacts on inflammation and oxidative stress. In the aspect of anti-inflammation, heparin-coated biocompatible material is better than others whereas surface-modifying additives biocompatible material is worse than others. Overall, different coating biomaterial of CPB results in various inflammatory response. In terms of oxidative stress, we did not observe significant difference between different biomaterial-coated CPB.

Cancer was the most common cause of the death in Taiwan in the past two decades. The recent advanced improvements of cancer treatment took endless encouragements and hopes to patients and their families, so they intended aggressively while dealing with the issue of death because of the decline of mortality rate and prolonged mean lifespan. It was difficult for families and doctors to decide whether to prolong life by life sustaing treatments (including cardiopulmonary resuscitation) or to sign Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) consent for terminal cancer patients .We want to analyze the related factors toward terminal cancer patients DNR and point out some ones correlated closely with the time of signing consent in this restrospective research. We corrected 80 DNR consents signed by terminal cancer patients or their families from one general teaching hospital in south Taiwan and analyzed factors toward the time of signing consents. Results of this study showed that the time of signing consents was very close with that of their death . Only 12.5% of the patients with survival more than 2 weeks after signing DNR consents, 55% of the patients or their families did not sign the consents until five days before their death, 30% of the patients died in 6-14 days after signing DNR consents, and there were even more twenty percent (21.25%) of the patients died in the day of which the consents were just signed by their families. The patients¡¦age, gender, kinds of their primary cancer, whether the pulmonary or pleural metastasis were present or not, and the treatments of these patients had no significant correlations with the time of signing DNR consents. Only three factors including of education level of patients, whether the patients¡¦illness was critical while signing consents and kinds of patients¡¦painkiller use contributed to the time of DNR signing significantly in this research. 72.5% of these patients had the degree for the primary school, and 80% of the patients or their families signed the consents just when the patients¡¦illness was critical. There were 32 patients with degree of the primary school and only 4 with degree of the junior high school within the patients wih survival more than 6 days after signing DNR consents (p value =0.003); There were 53.75% of the patients had ever used opioid painkillers while siging DNR consents, 25% of them had even received morphine for pain control. For the patients with survival more than 6 days after signing DNR consents, there were 18 patients prescribed opioid painkillers, and 26 patients without taking painkillers that meaned significant difference (p value =0.011); For the patients with critical illness while signing DNR consents, it meaned statistic difference for that 42 patients got survival more than 6 days and 23 patients with survival less than 6 days. (p value =0.000). We highly suggest to inforce the knowledge of hospice care to people in community and the colleagues of doctors and nurses by any kinds of education and introduction. We all need to pay more attentions to psychiatric status of terminal cancer patients and supply adequate help and care for them, so we could all get more close to meanings of human life.