Albumin administration prevents the onset of pressure ulcers in intensive care unit patients

Pressure ulcers (PUs) are a common problem in critically ill patients admitted to the intensive care units (ICUs) and they account for more than 70% of patients with low serum albumin at admission. The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of intravenous administration of albumin in patients with low serum albumin < 3·3 g/dl. In a 1‐year period, a total of 73 patients were admitted to the ICU (males 45, 61·64% and females 28, 38·36%); of these, 21 patients were admitted with hypoalbuminaemia (serum albumin < 3·3 g/dl) and randomised into two groups: 11 patients were treated with 25 g intravenous albumin for the first 3 days within the first week of ICU stay (group A) and 10 patients did not receive albumin (group B). Three patients (27·27%) showed the onset of PUs in group A, whereas seven patients (70%) showed the onset of PUs within the first 7 days of stay in group B. Moreover, ulcers of group B were more severe than those of group A. This study shows that intravenous administration of albumin reduces the onset of PUs in patients admitted to the ICU and in some cases it also reduces the risk of progression to advanced stages of PUs.     

The use of a telematic connection for the follow-up of hypertensive patients improves the cardiovascular prognosis

BACKGROUND: Inadequate blood pressure (BP) control could be due to incorrect management of hypertensives caused by the lack of interaction between general practitioners (GP) and hypertension specialists. OBJECTIVES: To test the effectiveness on BP and total cardiovascular risk (TCVR) control of an internet-based digital network connecting specialists and GPs. METHODS: We created a network among the Hypertension Clinic, Federico II University (Naples, Italy), 23 hospital-based hypertension clinics and 60 GPs from the area (CampaniaSalute Network, CS). Randomized GPs enrolled in CS could update online records of patients (n = 1979). As a control, we included 2045 patients referred to the specialist clinics by GPs from outside the network. All patients completed a 2-year follow-up. RESULTS: CS provided a larger reduction in BP [systolic/diastolic BP (SBP/DBP): 7.3 +/- 0.4/5.4 +/- 0.3 versus 4.1 +/- 0.4/3.1 +/- 0.26 mmHg, CS versus control; P < 0.001 for both] and percentage of patients with BP < 140/90 mmHg (CS versus control: baseline, 33 versus 34%, NS; end of follow-up, 51 versus 47%, chi = 13.371; P < 0.001). A European Society of Hypertension-European Society of Cardiology (ESH/ESC) TCVR score was calculated [from 1 (average) to 5 (very high TCVR)]. The CS group showed a reduction in the mean TCVR score (CS: from 3.5 +/- 0.02 to 3.2 +/- 0, P < 0.01, ANOVA; control group: 3.5 +/- 0.03 to 3.4 +/- 0.03, NS) and, accordingly, fatal and non-fatal major cardiovascular events (MACE) were less frequent (2.9 versus 4.3%; chi = 5.047, P < 0.02). CS predicts fewer MACE in multiple binary regression analysis (beta:-7.27, P < 0.008) reducing the risk for MACE compared to control [odds ratio (OR): 0.838; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.73-0.96]. CONCLUSION: Our results support the idea that telemedicine can achieve better control of BP and TCVR.     

Investigation of the mechanical properties of the human crural fascia and their possible clinical implications

The mechanical properties of deep fasciae strongly affect muscular actions, development of pathologies, such as acute and chronic compartment syndromes, and the choice of the various fascial flaps. Actually, a clear knowledge of the mechanical characterization of these tissues still lacks. This study focuses attention on experimental tests of different regions of human crural fascia taken from an adult frozen donor. Tensile tests along proximal–distal and medial–lateral direction at a strain rate of 120 %/s were performed at the purpose of evaluating elastic properties. Viscous phenomena were investigated by applying incremental relaxation tests at total strain of 7, 9 and 11 % and observing stress decay for a time interval of 240 s. The elastic response showed that the fascia in the anterior compartment is stiffer than in the posterior compartment, both along the proximal–distal and medial–lateral directions. This result can explain why the compartment syndromes are more frequent in this compartment with respect to posterior one. Furthermore, the fascia is stiffer along the proximal–distal than along medial–lateral direction. This means that the crural fascia can adapt to the muscular variation of volume in a transversal direction, while along the main axis it could be considered as a structure that contributes to transmitting the muscular forces at a distance and connecting the different segments of the limb. The stress relaxation tests showed that the crural fascia needs 120 s to decrease stress of 40 %, suggesting a similar time also in the living so that the static stretching could have an effect on the fascia.