Sandeep Sahu

Adverse events related to blood transfusion.

The acute blood transfusion reactions are responsible for causing most serious adverse events. Awareness about various clinical features of acute and delayed transfusion reactions with an ability to assess the serious reactions on time can lead to a better prognosis. Evidence-based medicine has changed today′ s scenario of clinical practice to decrease adverse transfusion reactions. New evidence-based algorithms of transfusion and improved haemovigilance lead to avoidance of unnecessary transfusions perioperatively. The recognition of adverse events under anaesthesia is always challenging. The unnecessary blood transfusions can be avoided with better blood conservation techniques during surgery and with anaesthesia techniques that reduce blood loss. Better and newer blood screening methods have decreased the infectious complications to almost negligible levels. With universal leukoreduction of red blood cells (RBCs), selection of potential donors such as use of male donors only plasma and restriction of RBC storage, most of the non-infectious complications can be avoided.

Simulation in resuscitation teaching and training, an evidence based practice review.

In the management of a patient in cardiac arrest, it is sometimes the least experienced provider giving chest compressions, intubating the patient, and running the code during the most crucial moment in that patient’s life. Traditional methods of educating residents and medical students using lectures and bedside teaching are no longer sufficient. Today’s generation of trainees grew up in a multimedia environment, learning on the electronic method of learning (online, internet) instead of reading books. It is unreasonable to expect the educational model developed 50 years ago to be able to adequately train the medical students and residents of today. One area that is difficult to teach is the diagnosis and management of the critically ill patient, specifically who require resuscitation for cardiac emergencies and cardiac arrest. Patient simulation has emerged as an educational tool that allows the learner to practice patient care, away from the bedside, in a controlled and safe environment, giving the learner the opportunity to practice the educational principles of deliberate practice and self-refection. We performed a qualitative literature review of the uses of simulators in resuscitation training with a focus on their current and potential applications in cardiac arrest and emergencies.

Gossypiboma, a rare cause of acute abdomen: A case report and review of literature

Gossypiboma or textiloma is used to describe a retained surgical swab in the body after an operation. Inadvertent retention of a foreign body in the abdomen often requires another surgery. This increases morbidity and mortality of the patient, cost of treatment, and medicolegal problems. We are reporting case of a 45-year-old woman who was referred from periphery with acute pain in abdomen. She had a surgical history of abdominal hysterectomy 3 years back, performed at another hospital. On clinical examination and investigation, twisted ovarian cyst was suspected. That is a cystic mass further confirmed by abdominal computerized tomography (CT). During laparotomy, the cyst wall was opened incidentally which lead to the drainage of a large amount of dense pus. In between pus, there was found retained surgical gauze that confirmed the diagnosis of gossypiboma.

Emergency management of decompensated peripartum cardiomyopathy

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare life-threatening cardiomyopathy of unknown cause that occurs in the peripartum period in previously healthy women.[1] the symptomatic patients should receive standard therapy for heart failure, managed by a multidisciplinary team. The diagnosis of PPCM rests on the echocardiographic identification of new left ventricular systolic dysfunction during a limited period surrounding parturition. Diagnostic criteria include an ejection fraction of less than 45%, fractional shortening of less than 30%, or both, and end-diastolic dimension of greater than 2.7 cm/m2 body surface-area. This entity presents a diagnostic challenge because many women in the last month of a normal pregnancy experience dyspnea, fatigue, and pedal edema, symptoms identical to early congestive heart failure. There are no specific criteria for differentiating subtle symptoms of heart failure from normal late pregnancy. Therefore, it is important that a high index of suspicion be maintained to identify the rare case of PPCM as general examination showing symptoms of heart failure with pulmonary edema. PPCM remains a diagnosis of exclusion. No additional specific criteria have been identified to allow distinction between a peripartum patient with new onset heart failure and left ventricular systolic dysfunction as PPCM and another form of dilated cardiomyopathy. Therefore, all other causes of dilated cardiomyopathy with heart failure must be systematically excluded before accepting the designation of PPCM. Recent observations from Haiti[2] suggest that a latent form of PPCM without clinical symptoms might exist. The investigators identified four clinically normal postpartum women with asymptomatic systolic dysfunction on echocardiography, who subsequently either developed clinically detectable dilated cardiomyopathy or improved and completely recovered heart function.

Management of pregnant female with meningioma for craniotomy

Intracranial meningioma during pregnancy challenges the skill of obstetricians, neurosurgeons and neuroanesthesiologists in resection of the tumor and to secure delivery of the baby. Advances in fetal and maternal monitoring, neuroanesthesia, and microsurgical techniques allow safe neurosurgical management of these patients. Urgent neurosurgical intervention is reserved for the management of malignancies, active hydrocephalus, and benign brain tumors associated with signs of impending herniation or progressive neurological deficit. Particular attention is given to maintain stable maternal hemodynamics to avoid uterine hypo perfusion and fetal hypoxia intraoperatively. Therefore, the major challenge of neuroanesthesia during pregnancy is to provide an appropriate balance between competing, and even contradictory, clinical goals of neuroanesthesiology and obstetric practice.

Management of paroxysmal hypertension due to incidental pheochromocytoma in pregnancy.

A 25-year-old, full-term pregnant woman diagnosed with pre-eclampsia was referred to our tertiary care hospital with severe resistant hypertension. Her blood pressure remained labile despite the usual medications, which led to the suspicion of an underlying endocrinological problem. Further biochemical and radiological investigations confirmed the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma. The patient was invasively monitored and treated with alpha blockade, beta blocker, and vasodilators. The primary goals for the management of pheochromocytoma in pregnancy are early diagnosis, avoidance of a hypertensive crisis during delivery, and definitive surgical treatment. This case illustrates that one needs to be cautious when such a presentation of paroxysmal hypertension is present. With a multidisciplinary team approach, proper planning, and adequate preoperative medical management, pheochromocytoma in pregnancy can be managed successfully.

Management of unusual case of self-inflicted penetrating craniocerebral injury by a nail.

During war, sharp high-speed missiles have been driven inside the brain; however, in civilian practice it is rare to see such episodes. An approximately 10-cm long nail was driven inside the brain in an attempt to commit suicide by a schizophrenic patient. The case is being reported for its rarity in civilian practice and as a case of clinical interest. After investigating the patient by plain X-rays and a CT scan, he was operated by a neurosurgical team and the nail was successfully removed. In post-operative phase, patient was given medical and psychiatric care along with psychological counseling. The patient made good uneventful recovery in the post-operative phase.

Revisiting hemophilia management in acute medicine.

The World Federation of Hemophilia estimates that more than 350,000 people globally have a form of the disease. Hemophilia A is a bleeding disorder that has a spectrum of manifestations ranging from persistent bleeding after minor trauma to spontaneous hemorrhage. We report a case of a male patient with hemophilia A who received general anesthesia for removal of foreign body from the nose. There was no excessive blood loss during surgery. Perioperatively, the patient received recombinant factor VIII coverage. Rest of the postoperative course was uneventful. Literature on the clinical management of patient with hemophilia A are reviewed and considerations for perioperative preparation and management of hemophilic patient are presented.

Anaesthetic management of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome for hysterectomy

Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome (WPW) is an uncommon cardiac disorder having an aberrant pathway between atria and ventricles. We are reporting a known case of WPW syndrome for hysterectomy under combined spinal epidural anaesthesia. Management of the present case is an important pearl to revisit management of WPW syndrome. The perioperative management should be tailored according to the nature of surgery and the clinical presentation of the patient.

Better outcome after pediatric resuscitation is still a dilemma.

Pediatric cardiac arrest is not a single problem. Although most episodes of pediatric cardiac arrest occur as complications and progression of respiratory failure and shock. Sudden cardiac arrest may result from abrupt and unexpected arrhythmias. With a better-tailored therapy, we can optimize the outcome. In the hospital, cardiac arrest often develops as a progression of respiratory failure and shock. Typically half or more of pediatric victims of in-hospital arrest have pre-existing respiratory failure and one-third or more have shock, although these figures vary somewhat among reporting hospitals. When in-hospital respiratory arrest or failure is treated before the development of cardiac arrest, survival ranges from 60% to 97%. Bradyarrthmia, asystole or pulseless electric activity (PEA) were recorded as an initial rhythm in half or more of the recent reports of in-hospital cardiac arrest, with survival to hospital discharge ranging from 22% to 40%. Data allowing characterization of out of hospital pediatric arrest are limited, although existing data support the long-held belief that as with hospitalized children, cardiac arrest most often occurs as a progression of respiratory failure or shock to cardiac arrest with bradyasystole rhythm. Although VF (Ventricular fibrillation, is a very rapid, uncoordinated, ineffective series of contractions throughout the lower chambers of the heart. Unless stopped, these chaotic impulses are fatal) and VT (Ventricular tachycardia is a rapid heartbeat that originates in one of the ventricles of the heart. To be classified as tachycardia, the heart rate is usually at least 100 beats per minute) are not common out-of-cardiac arrest in children, they are more likely to be present with sudden, witnessed collapse, particularly among adolescents. Pre-hospital care till the late 1980s was mainly concerned with adult care, and the initial focus for pediatric resuscitation was provision of oxygen and ventilation, with initial rhythm at the time of emergency medical services arrival being infrequently recorded. In the 1987 series, pre-hospital pediatric cardiac arrest demonstrated asystole in 80%, PEA in 10.5% and VF or VT in 9.6%. Only 29% arrests were witnessed, however, and death in many victims was caused by sudden infant death syndrome.