Canadian Journal of Anesthesia-Journal Canadien D Anesthesie最新文献

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic created conditions of scarcity that led many provinces within Canada to develop triage protocols for critical care resources. In this study, we sought to undertake a narrative synthesis and ethical analysis of early provincial pandemic triage protocols.

Methods: We collected provincial triage protocols through personal correspondence with academic and political stakeholders between June and August 2020. Protocol data were extracted independently by two researchers and compared for accuracy and agreement. We separated data into three categories for comparative content analysis: protocol development, ethical framework, and protocol content. Our ethical analysis was informed by a procedural justice framework.

Results: We obtained a total of eight provincial triage protocols. Protocols were similar in content, although age, physiologic scores, and functional status were variably incorporated. Most protocols were developed through a multidisciplinary, expert-driven, consensus process, and many were informed by influenza pandemic guidelines previously developed in Ontario. All protocols employed tiered morality-focused exclusion criteria to determine scarce resource allocation at the level of regional health care systems. None included a public engagement phase, although targeted consultation with public advocacy groups and relevant stakeholders was undertaken in select provinces. Most protocols were not publicly available in 2020.

Conclusions: Early provincial COVID-19 triage protocols were developed by dedicated expert committees under challenging circumstances. Nonetheless, few were publicly available, and public consultation was limited. No protocols were ever implemented, including during periods of extreme critical care surge. A national approach to pandemic triage that incorporates additional aspects of procedural justice should be considered in preparation for future pandemics.

Purpose: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a common cause of postoperative mortality in cardiac surgery that is commonly treated with conventional inhaled therapies, specifically nitric oxide and prostacyclin. Alternative therapies include inhaled milrinone and levosimendan, which are receiving more research interest and are increasing in clinical use as they may cut costs while allowing for easier administration. We sought to conduct a scoping review to appraise the evidence base for the use of these two novel inhaled vasodilators as an intervention for PH in cardiac surgery.

Source: We searched Embase and MEDLINE for relevant articles from 1947 to 2022.

Principal findings: We identified 17 studies including 969 patients. The included studies show that inhaled milrinone and levosimendan are selective pulmonary vasodilators with potential benefits ranging from ease of weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass to reduction in ventricular dysfunction. Nevertheless, high-quality data are limited, and study design and comparators are extremely heterogeneous, limiting the potential validity and generalizability of findings.

Conclusion: The findings of this scoping review suggest that milrinone and levosimendan may be effective alternatives to current inhaled therapies for cardiac dysfunction in the setting of PH. Nevertheless, randomized trials have focused on specific agents and consistent outcome measures are needed to better validate the early-stage promise of these agents.

Study registration: Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/z3k6f/ ); first posted 21 July 2022.