Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Laryngeal Mask Airway Insertion Anaesthesia And Insertion Techniques, Abdul Monem, Fauzia A. Khan

Department of Anaesthesia

Laryngeal Mask Airway has gained wide acceptance for routine airway management, difficult airway and in emergency situations. The classical method of insertion was recommended by Dr Brain. Over the years various induction and insertion techniques have been described with variable results. Combination of induction agents with narcotics, with or without small dose muscle relaxants has been found to be very effective. There is less also lesser incidence of mucosal trauma with partially inflated cuff. Insertion with cuff facing laterally or backwards and rotating it forwards into position has also been described. A review of various options and their advantages and …

Elimination/Challenge Diet

Marcus Institute of Integrative Health of Integrative Medicine Protocols

There are several approaches to identifying food intolerance, and food influences on chronic symptoms and chronic disease. The following instructions describe the approach that we have found to be most helpful for improving patient symptoms and identifying the specific food or foods that may be problematic.

Audit Of An Acute Pain Service In A Tertiary Care Hospital In A Developing Country, Muhammad Qamarul Hoda, Mohammad Hamid, Fauzia Anis Khan

Department of Anaesthesia

The first anaesthesia based acute pain service (APS) was introduced in Pakistan at the Aga Khan University Hospital in July 2001, with the aim of patient safety and satisfaction. The American Society of Anesthesiologist task force guidelines were used for the introduction of APS. APS has managed 6810 patients during four and half years period. Common analgesic techniques used, were intravenous infusion (50%), patient controlled intravenous analgesia (18%) and epidural infusions (30%). Common reported side effects were nausea and vomiting with intravenous infusion (10%) and PCIA (10%) while motor block was noticed with epidural infusion (29%). This article aims to …

Comparison Of Two Sedation Techniques In Patients Undergoing Surgical Procedures Under Regional Anaesthesia, Aliya Ahmed, Fauzia Anis Khan, Aziza Hussain

Department of Anaesthesia

Objective: Intraoperative comfort and patient satisfaction during surgical procedures under regional anaesthesia can be improved with the use of supplemental intravenous sedation. The authors conducted a study to compare two sedation techniques for surgical procedures performed under regional anaesthesia, i.e., midazolam and pethidine combination compared with midazolam and tramadol combination.Methods: Forty adult American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) grade 1-111 patients, aged between 40-65 years undergoing surgery under regional anaesthesia (sub-arachnoid block) were included. The patients were randomly divided into two groups. All patients received standardized premedication, intraoperative monitoring and oxygen therapy. Group A patients received midazolam 0.03 mg/kg followed by …

Epidural Anaesthesia During Labour For A Patient With Congenital Complete Heart Block: A Case Report, Abdul Monem, Ursula Chohan, Mohammed Ali

Department of Anaesthesia

We report labour pain management in a full-term pregnant patient with Congenital Complete Heart Block. She delivered uneventfully under routine monitoring with facilities for pacing at hand. She previously had an uneventful normal delivery and a D&E, both outside our hospital. Only findings were a low heart rate of 45-50 beats per minute. She never had syncopal attacks. She had a good effort tolerance on ETT. Her ejection fraction was 60% on Echocardiogram. She was given a single shot low dose spinal with fentanyl followed by epidural insertion. She successfully delivered through mid-cavity forceps in about 2.5 hours. The only …

Diagnostic Classifications And Resource Utilization Of Decedents Served By The Department Of Veterans Affairs, Sonia A. Duffy, Laurel Copeland, Faith Hopp, Robert J. Zalenski

Social Work Faculty Publications

Background: Given the volume and cost of inpatient care during the last year of life, there is a critical need to identify patterns of dying as a means of planning end-of-life care services, especially for the growing number of older persons who receive services from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

Methods: A retrospective computerized record review was conducted of 20,933 VHA patients who died as inpatients between October 1, 2001 and September 30, 2002. Diagnoses were aggregated into one of five classification patterns of death and analyzed in terms of health care resource utilization (mean number of inpatient days and …

Cec: Clinical Exchange Corner, Mary Lloyd Moore, Laura Reynolds

CEC Publications

No abstract provided.

Arterial To End-Tidal Carbon Dioxide Difference In Neurosurgical Patients Undergoing Craniotomy: A Review Of Practice, Fauzia Anis Khan, Mueenullah Khan, Shemila Abbasi

Department of Anaesthesia

Objective: To see if PETCO2 reflects PaCO2 with acceptable accuracy.Methods: In this audit the.anaesthetic chart of fifty consecutive patients, age 12 years and above undergoing craniotomy for intracranial pathology, were reviewed.Results: The difference between end tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) value corresponding to the time of taking the arterial sample and the PaCO2 was calculated. The mean end tidal CO2 was 29.3 +/- 2.8 and the mean PaCO2 was 32.63 +/- 4.5. The mean difference between the two values was calculated as 4.09 +/- 3.0. The regression coefficient was 0.496, which showed a moderate association. A wide variability was observed in …

Role Of Stellate Ganglion Block In Post Cabg Sympathetically Mediated Chest Pain, Mueen Ullah Khan, Imtiaz Ahmed

Department of Anaesthesia

Acute chest pain is a common presentation in emergency. After clinical assessment undiagnosed chest pain can become a difficult problem. Sympathetically mediated chest pain is a rare presentation, as it is similar to that of secondary hyperalgesia in the intact skin surrounding an injury site. We are reporting a case of a 62 years old man who presented with atypical chest pain four months after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). On investigation no new change was noticed than previous evaluation. On chronic pain assessment he was having hyperalgesia to light touch in addition to the spontaneous chest pain. He was …

Severe Anaphylactic Reaction At Induction Of Anaesthesia, Aliya Ahmed, Anand Kumar

Department of Anaesthesia

Anaphylaxis is an IgE mediated severe allergic reaction causing release of vasoactive substances from mast cells and basophils after re-exposure to an antigen. Signs and symptoms include flushing, urticaria, hypotension, tachycardia, bronchospasm, cardio-respiratory arrest etc. It can occur at induction of anaesthesia when multiple drugs are being administered, but prompt diagnosis with correct management is the key to a successful outcome. This case report describes a patient who developed severe bronchospasm with difficulty in inflating the lungs and dropping oxygen saturations, alongwith hypotension, tachycardia and widespread flushing, at induction of anaesthesia for elective breast surgery. She was promptly managed and …

Left Ventricular Noncompaction Mimicking Peripartum Cardiomyopathy., Chetan Patel, Girish S. Shirali, Naveen Pereira

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

No abstract provided.

Survival After Bidirectional Cavopulmonary Anastomosis: Analysis Of Preoperative Risk Factors., Mark A. Scheurer, Elizabeth G Hill, Nagavardhan Vasuki, Scott Maurer, Eric M. Graham, Varsha Bandisode, Girish S. Shirali, Andrew M. Atz, Scott M. Bradley

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

OBJECTIVE: Prognostic factors for survival after bidirectional cavopulmonary anastomosis for functionally single ventricle are not well defined. We analyzed preoperative hemodynamic and echocardiographic data to determine risk factors for death or transplantation at least 1 year after bidirectional cavopulmonary anastomosis.

METHODS: Data for all patients who underwent bidirectional cavopulmonary anastomosis before 5 years of age at our institution from September 1995 through June 2005 were analyzed. Available preoperative echocardiograms and catheterizations were reviewed. Survivors were compared with those who died or underwent transplantation. Bivariable associations between demographic and clinical risk factors and survival status (alive without transplantation vs dead or …

The Physiological Consequences Of Bed Rest, Kristin J. Stuempfle, Daniel G. Drury

Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Bed rest often is used to treat a wide variety of medical conditions. However, bed rest results in profound deconditioning of the body. Bed rest reduces the hydrostatic pressure gradient within the cardiovascular system, reduces muscle force production, virtually eliminates compression on the bones, and lowers total energy expenditure. This review focuses on the deconditioning that occurs in the cardiovascular, muscular, and skeletal systems following bed rest. Reduction in plasma volume reduces cardiac preload, stroke volume, cardiac output, and ultimately, maximal oxygen consumption. Skeletal muscle volume, muscle cross sectional area, and fiber cross sectional area decrease, which results in diminished …

Customer Focused Incident Monitoring In Anaesthesia, F A. Khan, S Khimani

Department of Anaesthesia

The database of incident forms relating to anaesthesia services in an institutional risk management programme were reviewed for 2003-2005, the aim being to identify any recurring patterns. Incidents were prospectively categorised as relating to attitude/behaviour, communication breakdown, delay in service, or were related to care, cost, environment, equipment, security, administrative process, quality of service or miscellaneous. The total number of anaesthesia-related incidents reported during the period was 287, which related to 0.44% of the total number of anaesthetics administered during the time period. In all, 170 incidents were reported by the department, 96 by internal customers and 21 by external …

Intraoperative Analgesia For Day-Care Surgery: Practice Trends, Aliya Ahmed, Shemila Abbasi, Chandar Prakash, Subhash Chandar

Department of Anaesthesia

Our objective was to determine the trends of providing intraoperative analgesia for day-care surgery among the various anaesthesiologists at our university hospital. All patients having surgical procedures under general anaesthesia in the Surgical Day Care Unit (SDC) of the Hospital were included. The study was done over two months and 142 patients were enrolled during the study period. Of these 45% received pethidine for intraoperative analgesia, 24% pethidine and ketorolac, 6% pethidine and paracetamol suppositories, 18% received fentanyl, 2% tramadol and 5% received other analgesic combinations. Of the 22% patients who received pethidine intraoperatively needed rescue analgesia in recovery room, …

A System For Interactive Assessment And Management In Palliative Care, Chi-Hung Chang, Alexander A. Boni-Saenz, Ramon A. Durazo-Arvizu, Susan Desharnais

All Faculty Scholarship

The availability of psychometrically sound and clinically relevant screening, diagnosis, and outcome evaluation tools is essential to high-quality palliative care assessment and management. Such data will enable us to improve patient evaluations, prognoses, and treatment selections, and to increase patient satisfaction and quality of life. To accomplish these goals, medical care needs more precise, efficient, and comprehensive tools for data acquisition, analysis, interpretation, and management. We describe a system for interactive assessment and management in palliative care (SIAM-PC), which is patient centered, model driven, database derived, evidence based, and technology assisted. The SIAM-PC is designed to reliably measure the multiple …

Direct Comparison Of Feature Tracking And Autocorrelation For Velocity Estimation, Gregory R. Bashford, Derek J. Robinson

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

Feature tracking is an algorithm for estimating tissue motion and blood flow using pulse-echo ultrasound. It was proposed as a computationally simpler alternative to other techniques such as autocorrelation and time-domain cross correlation. The advantage of feature tracking is that it selectively extracts easily identifiable parts of the speckle signal (e.g., the local maxima), reducing the amount of information being processed. Studies on feature tracking to date have used stationary, specklegenerating targets to simulate blood flow. Also, feature tracking has not been compared with accepted commercial methods. This study directly compares feature tracking performance with the complex autocorrelation method, which …

Impact Of Suture Choice On Stricture Formation Following Repair Of Esophageal Atresia, Shawn D. St Peter, Patricia A. Valusek, Charles L. Snyder, G W. Holcomb Iii, Daniel J. Ostlie

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Background/ Purpose: The most common complication following repair of esophageal atresia is anastomotic stricture. Despite strong opinions of pediatric surgeons regarding the type of suture used for the anastomosis, these opinions remain unsubstantiated by any data present in the literature. Therefore, we investigated the rate and severity of stricture formation relative to the suture size and material.
Materials & Methods: A retrospective analysis of our most recent 20-year experience with repair of esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula (EA/TEF) was performed. Stricture was defined as the need for dilation. Outcomes were analyzed based on absorbability, texture, and type of …

Smoking During Pregnancy Affects Speech-Processing Ability In Newborn Infants, Alexandra P.F. Key, Melissa Ferguson, Dennis L. Molfese, Kelley Peach, Victoria J. Molfese

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking during pregnancy is known to adversely affect development of the central nervous system in babies of smoking mothers by restricting utero–placental blood flow and the amount of oxygen available to the fetus. Behavioral data associate maternal smoking with lower verbal scores and poorer performance on specific language/auditory tests.

OBJECTIVES: In the current study we examined the effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on newborns’ speech processing ability as measured by event-related potentials (ERPs).

METHOD: High-density ERPs were recorded within 48 hr of birth in healthy newborn infants of smoking (n = 8) and nonsmoking …

Accessibility Of Home Blood Pressure Monitors For Blind And Visually Impaired People, Mark M. Uslan, Darren M. Burton, Thomas E. Wilson, Steven Taylor, Bruce S. Chertow, Jack E. Terry

Physics Faculty Research

Background: The prevalence of hypertension comorbid with diabetes is a significant health care issue. Use of the home blood pressure monitor (HBPM) for aiding in the control of hypertension is noteworthy because of benefits that accrue from following a home measurement regimen. To be usable by blind and visually impaired patients, HBPMs must have speech output to convey all screen information, an easily readable visual display, identifiable controls that are easy to use, and an accessible user manual.

Methods: Data on the physical aspects and the features and functions of nine Food and Drug Administration-approved HBPMs (eight of which were …

Perioperative Management Of Pheochromocytoma: Anaesthetic Implications, Aliya Ahmed

Department of Anaesthesia

Pheochromocytoma is a catecholamine producing tumour that can cause severe hypertension and other systemic disturbances. The perioperative management of pheochromocytoma remains a complicated anaesthesia challenge requiring intensive preoperative preparation and vigilant intraoperative and postoperative care. In this article the perioperative management of pheochromocytoma is reviewed by first summarizing its pathophysiology, clinical aspects and diagnosis, then highlighting the preoperative optimization of the patient and finally describing the intraoperative and postoperative anaesthetic management in the light of the current information.

High Dietary Fat Intake Is Not Associated With High Levels Of Circulating Lipoproteins Or Total Cholesterol, C. Jayne Brahler, C. Wilson, Janine Baer

Physical Therapy Faculty Publications

The objective of this study was to determine the association between dietary intake of fats, waist to hip ratio (WHR), body mass index (BMI), and blood lipoproteins and total cholesterol (TC) using food frequency data in one group of apparently healthy, urban African American women and their daughters (n = 110). Subjects were fasted when blood was drawn, waist and hip circumferences and body weight and height were measured, and WHR and BMI were calculated.

Average daily total fat intakes were 91.46 g and 77.83 g for mothers and daughters, respectively, but average LDL levels of 104.4 g/L and 103.1 …

Anesthetic Deaths In A Developing Country, Mueenullah Khan, Fauzia A. Khan

Department of Anaesthesia

It is important to ascertain the contribution of anesthesia to perioperative mortality in order to enable improvement in the safety and quality of care. Scanty literature regarding anesthetic mortality from developing countries is available. We present data regarding anesthesia related mortality in a university hospital in a developing country. We reviewed all patient deaths occurring between 1992-2003 occurring within 24 hours of anesthesia, as part of departmental quality assurance activity. The aim of study was to identify any contributing factors associated with mortality, and to compare our data with similar studies from developed and developing countries. 111,289 cases were handled …

Tramadol Versus Nalbuphine In Total Intravenous Anaesthesia For Dilatation And Evacuation, Khalid Maudood Siddiqui, Ursula Chohan

Department of Anaesthesia

Objective: To compare the results of Tramadol with Nalbuphine for dilatation and evacuation with total intravenous anaesthesia technique.Methods: A total of 70 patients (35 in each group) were included in this prospective, double blind randomized study. Intravenous tramadol 1.5 mg/kg and nalbuphine 0.1 mg/kg were compared in total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA) using a propofol infusion in patients undergoing dilatation and evacuation (D and E). Changes in haemodynamic variables greater than 20% from the base line values were noted.Results: There was no difference found in haemodynamic parameters. There was statistically significant difference found (p < 0.05) in postoperative recovery between the two groups.CONCLUSION: Quality of analgesia was better in nalbuphine group but both drugs provide suitable analgesic supplementation to TIVA.

Enhancement Of Claims Data To Improve Risk Adjustment Of Hospital Mortality, Michael Pine, Harmon S. Jordan, Anne Elixhauser, Donald E. Fry, David C. Hoaglin, Barbara Jones, Roger Meimban, David Warner, Junius Gonzales

Publications from Provost Junius J. Gonzales

Context Comparisons of risk-adjusted hospital performance often are important components of public reports, pay-for-performance programs, and quality improvement initiatives. Risk-adjustment equations used in these analyses must contain sufficient clinical detail to ensure accurate measurements of hospital quality.

Objective To assess the effect on risk-adjusted hospital mortality rates of adding present on admission codes and numerical laboratory data to administrative claims data.

Design, Setting, and Patients Comparison of risk-adjustment equations for inpatient mortality from July 2000 through June 2003 derived by sequentially adding increasingly difficult-to-obtain clinical data to an administrative database of 188 Pennsylvania hospitals. Patients were hospitalized for acute myocardial …

Association Testing By Haplotype-Sharing Methods Applicable To Whole-Genome Analysis, Ilja M. Nolte, Andre R. De Vries, Geert T. Sijker, Ritsert C. Jansen, Dumitru Brinza, Alexander Zelikovskiy, Gerard J. Te Meerman

Computer Science Faculty Publications

We propose two new haplotype-sharing methods for identifying disease loci: the haplotype sharing statistic (HSS), which compares length of shared haplotypes between cases and controls, and the CROSS test, which tests whether a case and a control haplotype show less sharing than two random haplotypes. The significance of the HSS is determined using a variance estimate from the theory of U-statistics, whereas the significance of the CROSS test is estimated from a sequential randomization procedure. Both methods are fast and hence practical, even for whole-genome screens with high marker densities. We analyzed data sets of Problems 2 and 3 of …

Adenoviral Mediated Gene Transfer Into The Dog Brain In Vivo, Marianela Candolfi, Kurt Kroeger, Elizabeth Pluhar, Chunyan Liu, Carlos Barcia, Josee Bergeron, Mariana Puntel, James Curtin, Elizabeth Mcniel, Andrew Freese, John Ohlfest, Peter Moore, William Kuoy, Pedro Lowenstein, Maria Castro

Articles

OBJECTIVE: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a devastating brain tumor for which there is no cure. Adenoviral-mediated transfer of conditional cytotoxic (herpes simplex virus [HSV] 1-derived thymidine kinase [TK]) and immunostimulatory (Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand [Flt3L]) transgenes elicited immune-mediated long-term survival in a syngeneic intracranial GBM model in rodents. However, the lack of a large GBM animal model makes it difficult to predict the outcome of therapies in humans. Dogs develop spontaneous GBM that closely resemble the human disease; therefore, they constitute an excellent large animal model. We assayed the transduction efficiency of adenoviral vectors (Ads) encoding beta-galactosidase (betaGal), TK, …

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease And Fundoplication In Infants And Children, Shawn D. St Peter, G W. Holcomb Iii

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) can be one of the most distressing conditions developing at different ages in infants and children. The disease itself is a complex process along with ongoing dynamic anatomic and physiologic changes occurring during normal development. Therefore among referring physicians, considerations regarding the role of surgery for GERD in children varies widely depending on individual experiences in managing these patients. These varied opinions result in discrepancies in the operative experience with fundoplication among pediatric surgeons. It is unclear how much of the current opinions stem from published evidence, particularly with regard to the safety and efficacy of …

Outcomes Of Peginterferon Alfa-2a And Ribavirin Combination Therapy In A Resident-Initiated, Multidisciplinary, Hepatitis C Clinic, Nicole M. Agostino Do, Erini Vasiliadis Do, K Nadeem Ahmed Md, Suzanne J. Templer Do, Edward R. Norris Md, Fapa, Fapm, Charles M. Brooks Md, Eric J. Gertner Md, Mph, Joseph L. Yozviak Do, Facp

Department of Medicine

No abstract provided.

Recruiting And Retaining Gps And Patients In Intervention Studies: The Deps-Gp Project As A Case Study, M Williamson, J Pirkis, J Pfaff, O Tyson, Moira Sim, N Kerse, N Lautenschlager, N Stocks, O Almeida

Research outputs pre 2011

Background: Recruiting and retaining GPs for research can prove difficult, and may result in sub-optimal patient participation where GPs are required to recruit patients. Low participation rates may affect the validity of research. This paper describes a multi-faceted approach to maximise participation of GPs and their patients in intervention studies, using an Australian randomised controlled trial of a depression/suicidality management intervention as a case study. The paper aims to outline experiences that may be of interest to others considering engaging GPs and/or their patients in primary care studies. Methods: A case study approach is used to describe strategies for: (a) …