Previous studies reported that the degree of hypoxemia following acute pulmonary thromboembolism (APTE) was highly variable and that its mechanism was mainly due to the creation of many high and low ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) units, as a result of the heterogeneous regional blood fl ow (Q) caused by embolic obstruction. We studied the effect of changing cardiac output (Qt) on gas exchange afte...

Background : Aortic stiffness, an independent predictor of mortality and cardiovascular events, is common among patients affected by non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NIDC) and heart failure (HF). Methods : A total of 55 patients with diagnosis of NIDC (aged 60 ± 11 years, mean ejection fraction (EF) 35.2% ± 7.7%) admitted consecutively to our department for mild to moderate HF (NYHA class...

OBJECTIVE To validate the i-STAT, a portable hand-held analyzer that allows point-of-care measurement of blood gases, acid-base, lactate, and other blood variables in food animal practice for analysis of blood samples of newborn calves. DESIGN Prospective observational study. SETTING University teaching hospital. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS A total of 271 venous blood samples were analy...

BACKGROUND This study aimed to observe the effect of hemoperfusion (HP) cartridge on different internal environment indicators at different time points in patients with acute blood poisoning and to find alternative indicators for the detection of blood poisoning. METHODS The levels of internal environment indicators (blood pH, PvCO2, PvO2, blood lactate, potassium, free calcium, bicarbonate, ...

The effects of changes in arterial carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2) on the oxygenation of tissues in 34 patients undergoing surgery for aortocoronary bypass were studied while temperature, systemic blood flow, and the delivery of oxygen to the peripheral tissues remained constant. Mixed venous and superior vena caval oxygen tensions (PvO2 and PsvcO2, respectively) and oxyhemoglobin saturations an...

The effects of naratriptan, rizatriptan, and sumatriptan on arteriovenous oxygen saturation difference and carotid hemodynamics were compared in the anesthetized pig. Oxygen and carbon dioxide partial pressures in systemic arterial and jugular venous blood as well as hemoglobin oxygen saturation were determined by conventional blood gas analysis. Vehicle (n = 19) or naratriptan, rizatriptan, or...

INTRODUCTION Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a common disease that tends to occur worldwide and is a common cause of respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation and admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). The present study was carried out to investigate the efficacy of sildenafil in facilitating the weaning of COPD patients from the ventilator. METHODS This random...

BACKGROUND The optimal pacing rate during cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is unknown. Therefore, we investigated the impact of changing basal pacing frequencies on autonomic nerve function, cardiopulmonary exercise capacity and self-perceived quality of life (QoL). METHODS Twelve CRT patients with non-ischemic heart failure (NYHA class II-III) were enrolled in a randomized, double-bli...

OBJECTIVES The study sought to assess feasibility, safety, and potential efficacy of a novel implantable extra-aortic counterpulsation system (C-Pulse) in functional class III and ambulatory functional class IV heart failure (HF) patients. BACKGROUND 30% to 40% of HF patients suffer from poor functional status and quality of life (QoL) but are not in need of end-stage treatments. We undertook...

One hundred thirty-nine infants and small children less than 48 months old were studied during the first 72 hours after intracardiae surgery for a variety of lesions. The hospital mortality rate was 19.4% (27 patients); 16 of those dying succumbed from acute cardiac failure. Deaths from acute cardiac failure were commonest in patients with low cardiac index (CI), and a continuous probability cu...