Cryotherapy of Liver Tumours–A Practical Guide

The use of cryotherapy for the treatment of some unresectable liver tumours has been clearly established as a therapeutic option. Intra-operative ultrasound has enhanced the process by enabling the surgeon to identify hepatic lesions and to allow visualisation of the freezing process to ensure that the cryolesion will include the tumour mass. The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical guide to surgeons who wish to perform cryotherapy of liver tumours. Patient selection and anaesthetic considerations are important. The surgeon should be able to deal with the complications of cryotherapy, particularly the intra-operative haemorrhage which may arise from cracking of the hepatic parenchyma as the iceball thaws. Follow-up is based on tumour marker assay and imaging of the liver and repeat cryotherapy can be considered for selected cases.     

Assisted Ventilation without Endotracheal Intubation in Rats

ABSTRACT

This technique was performed to allow for an additional approach to assist in ventilation. A modified ventilation nose cone was placed over the nose, which allowed the animal to not require endotracheal intubation. This method was effective in ventilating the animals during thoracic and abdominal procedures without requiring endotracheal intubation.     

Hypercapnia Response in Patients With Obesity-Hypoventilation Syndrome Treated With Non-Invasive Ventilation at Home

Introduction

Respiratory center (RC) dysfunction has been implicated in the pathogenesis of obesity-hypoventilation syndrome (OHS), and often requires treatment with home non-invasive ventilation (NIV). Our objective was to measure the effect of NIV on RC function in patients with OHS, and the factors that determine such an effect.

Weaning from Mechanical Ventilation by means of Intermittent Assisted Ventilation I.A.V. Case Reports

A new ventilator is described which is capable of interposing controlled breaths synchronized with the patient's own breathing rhythm. This ventilation pattern is called "intermittent assisted ventilation" (IAV). It differs from intermittent mandatory ventilation (IMV) in that each ventilator cycle is triggered by the patient. IAV constitutes a new approach to the problems during the critical period of weaning from mechanical ventilation. Further, this new ventilator provides means for continuous display and recording of airway gas flow and pressures and expired minute volume (EMV) during different types of ventilation, e.g. controlled ventilation, intermittent assisted, and spontaneous ventilation.     

Mathematical Model for a New Mode of Artificial Ventilation: Volume Assisted Pressure Supported Ventilation: A Comparative Study

Abstract: The patient submitted to artificial ventilation generally is connected to a high impedance flow source with controlled respiratory cycles to assure volume requirements or to a low impedance pressure source with spontaneous cycles to allow synchronization between his effort and system flow delivery. These two types of cycles represent the initial and final stages of artificial ventilation. The patient who needs a volume guarantee and at the same time presents unstable or insufficient inspiratory effort is difficult to manage with assisted cycles which are analogous to the controlled presence of a high impedance flow source. This paper presents a new approach where the respiratory cycles are obtained by the combination of flow and pressure sources using mathematical modeling. These cycles, named volume assisted pressure supported (VAPS) cycles, are compared with conventional assisted cycles showing a decrease in the patient work of breathing (WOB) during assisted ventilation. The theoretical results have been confirmed by clinical trials.