Physicians and death: Comments and behaviour of 605 doctors in the north-east of Italy

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of socio-demographic and professional factors on physicians' attitudes to the terminally ill. Between May 1992 and May 1993, a survey was conducted in the province of Pordenone (north-east, Italy) in order to analyse a number of specific issues, such as emotional involvement, the need for aggressive treatments and the communication of diagnosis and prognosis. After obtaining a list of board-certified physicians from the Medical Association office in Pordenone, a modification of the cancer questionnaire of Haley and Blanchard (QSPT) was mailed to 916 doctors. Of these, 605 (60%; 487 male, 118 female; mean age 41 ± 11 SD) returned the completed questionnaire. Within the group of responders, we identified three main subgroups, according to their type of activity: general practitioners (175, 29%), hospital doctors (235, 39%) and other doctors (195, 32%). In age, sex and activity, the only significant difference between responders and non-responders was age (mean age 41 and 43 years respeetively). Most of the responders (77%) stated that they were able to deal with the terminally ill patient and his/her needs; 44%, however, admitted that patients' anxiety is sometimes unbearable. For the vast majority of the doctors polled (91%), providing a comfortable environment for an incurable patient was more important than pursuing aggressive treatment, but only 44% were convinced of the uselessness of aggressive care. To the question on whether to disclose information about imminent death to allow patients to prepare spiritually, 37% answered No, 38% Yes, and 25% were uncertain. Almost all responders (95%), however, believed in the beneficial effect of hope on the terminally ill. Ourresults suggest that doctors' professional and, most of all, sociodemographic and cultural factors determine the relationship with the patient on both the emotional and the clinical decision-making levels.     

lschaemic heart disease: Non-invasive prediction of reperfusion and coronary artery patency by continuous ST segment monitoring in the GUSTO-I trial

In the GUSTO-I ECG ischaemia monitoring substudy, 1067 patientsunderwent continuous ST segment monitoring, using vector-derived12-lead (406 patients), 12-lead (373 patients) and 3-lead Holter(288 patients) ECG recording systems. Simultaneous angiogramsat 90 or 180 min following thrombolytic therapy were performedas a part of the prospective study in 302 patients. Infarct vessel patency was established as TIMI perfusion grades2 or 3 and occlusion as TIMI perfusion grades 0 or 1. Coronaryartery patency was predicted from ST trends up to the time ofangiography. Predictive values at 90 and 180 min after the startof thrombolysis were 70% and 82% for patency and 58% and 64%for occlusion, respectively. In retrospect, accuracy appearedgreatest (79–100%) in patients with extensive ST segmentelevation (400 µV), if both speed of ST recovery and extentof ST segment: elevation were taken into account. Although thethree recording systems differed considerably in signal processing,no significant difference in accuracy was demonstrated amongthese systems. We conclude that continuous ECG monitoring may help select highrisk patients without apparent reperfusion who may benefit fromadditional reperfusion therapy. As ST recovery may occur earlyafter the start of thrombolytics and accuracy of the test isrelated to peak ST levels, the use of on-line ECG monitoringdevices on emergency wards and cardiac care units is recommended.(Eur Heart J 1996; 17: 689–698)     

Real-time respiratory monitoring workstation-software and hardware engineering aspects

We have applied advanced real-time techniques in softwave, that are intensively used in critical areas like space research and defence applications, to realise an Integrated Real-Time Respiratory Monitoring System at the Thorax Anesthesiology, Academic Hospital Rotterdam. The system is called the SERVO WINDOW —a window to the servo ventilator. The heart of the system is a real-time kernel that uses preemptive scheduling to achieve multitasking on a IBMPC compatible hardware platform. To the clinician this means that he gets all relevant information from one source i.e. the Respiratory Workstation. The waveforms of the airway pressure, airway flow and the expired CO₂ curve are displayed continuously on the screen. The Vector Loops like Pressure Volume, Flow Pressure and Flow Volume loops are also available in addition to the lung mechanics parameters like Expiratory and Inspiratory Resistances, Compliance, Peak Pressure, PEEP, etc. The Single Breath Diagram i.e. expired CO₂ concentration versus volume and dead space ventilation is also calculated. The blood gas analysis data is plotted in convenient diagrams like the O₂–CO₂ diagram, Oxygen Chart, etc. The trend of all these parameters are available with a granularity of one minute. An industry standard laser printer is used for report generation to produce reports of the real-time waveforms, parameter values and the trends. User interface is through easy menus with the traditional keyboard, touchscreen including keyborad on screen for data entry and the mouse.     

Internal and external quality control in the toxicological analysis of blood and urine samples in the Federal Republic of Germany

Summary Due to a technical rule for dangerous agents (TRGS 410), issued by the Ministry of Labor in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1979, toxicological analyses in biological materials must be carried out under conditions of statistical quality control. This quality-control scheme provides internal and external control programmes. For internal quality control, the results of many years of experience with five commercially available control specimens and one home-made control have been evaluated. The control samples showed good, comparable results over a long period. Except in a few cases, there was good agreement between our results and the assigned values. Since 1982, the German Society of Occupational Medicine has offered eight intercomparison programmes for external quality. In samples from 80–90 laboratories, 6 metals in blood and around 20 inorganic and organic parameters in urine in 2 concentration adjustments have been analysed. Successful participation was certified if both results obtained for one parameter were within the tolerance range (assigned] value ± 3 SD). The average success rate was around 60%.     

Plasma level monitoring of mitotane (o,p'-DDD) and its metabolite (o,p'-DDE) during long-term treatment of cushing's disease with low doses

Summary. Mitotane (o,p'-DDD) can be used for the treatment of various adrenocortical diseases such as Cushing's syndrome, but the usual doses of 6–8 g per day are often associated with severe adverse effects.This paper reports the results of much lower doses of o,p'-DDD (0.5–2 g per day) in two patients with Cushing's disease over periods of 8 and 5 years, respectively, under concomitant monitoring of the plasma levels of the parent drug and its major metabolite, o,p'-DDE.It became apparent that o,p'-DDD and o,p'-DDE have a strong tendency to accumulate in the body due to their high lipophilicity. As a consequence, changes in dose regimens had long lag times before they were reflected in plasma levels and once an increase or decrease had started one had to be careful not to cause overshoot.Steady state plasma levels of o,p'-DDD between 5–10 g/ml appeared sufficient to induce and to maintain remission of the disease, which was accompanied with normal cortisol levels in plasma and urine. DDD-levels below 5 g/ml for several weeks may lead to relapses, whereas DDD-levels over 10 g/ml gave rise to side effects. On the other hand, o,p'-DDE seemed inactive at levels up to 4 g/ml in plasma.     

Short term neurophysiological monitoring in multiple sclerosis bouts. Evaluation of steroid treatment

Visual (VEP) and brainstem auditory (BAEP) evoked potentials (EP) were recorded in 21 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in acute relapse before and after steroid treatment. VEPs were abnormal in 14/21 patients and BAEPs in 10/21 patients before treatment. In 4 patients with acute optic neuritis (ON), an improvement of VEPs paralleled clinical evolution in 3 cases. Substantial and contrasting changes in VEPs or BAEPs, with no clinical counterpart, were related to a spontaneous fluctuation of EPs in acute relapses of MS. These changes suggest frequent subclinical (multifocal and, possibly, sequential) central nervous system involvement in MS bouts. Group analysis showed nonsignificant changes in EP parameters before and after treatment. Our results indicate that evoked potentials (EPs) are of limited value for monitoring the short-term effect of steroid treatment in MS in bouts.

---

Sommario I potenziali evocati visivi (VEP) ed acustici troncoencefalici (BAEP) sono stati eseguiti in 21 pazienti affentti da sclerosi multipla (SM) in fase di poussée, prima e dopo un ciclo di trattamento con steroidi. Prima del trattamento i VEP edi BAEP sono risultati alterati in 14 e 10 pazienti rispettivamente. 4 pazienti presentavano una neurite ottica (ON) in fase acuta; in 3, dopo il trattamento, è stato rilevato un significativo miglioramento dei VEP e dell'acuità visiva. Significative, ma contrastanti, modificazioni dei VEP e BAEP, riscontrate in altri 5 pazienti, non correlate all'evoluzione clinica, sono suggestive di un interessamento subclinico, multifocale e possibilmente sequenziale, durante una poussée della SM. L'analisi per gruppi non evidenzia differenze statistiche significative tra prima e dopo il trattamento. I nostri risultati indicano che i potenziali evocati sono di limitata utilità ai fini di un monitoraggio a breve termine della SM in poussée.

     

Noninvasive monitoring of rotary blood pumps: necessity, possibilities, and limitations

Although rotary blood pumps do not contain an inherent mechanism for adaptation to physiological flow necessities, hitherto only a few efforts have been made to obtain robust monitoring and control methods. This paper discusses the necessity of noninvasive monitoring of such pumps and the crucial points of sensor selection and development. A strategy of monitoring atrial pressure out of the data obtained by the collapse of the atrial wall around the inflow cannula and initial results on animal tests and computer simulation of this method are discussed. This approach might lead to reliable and demand-responsive controllers, if some basic criteria are fulfilled.     

Auditory toxicity effects of long-term cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum II therapy in genitourinary cancer patients

To determine the auditory toxicity effects of long-term cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum II therapy, pure tone hearing thresholds were measured prior to therapy and repeated before each subsequent treatment. CDDP was given by a slow intravenous drip method at a low dose of 1 mg/kg body weight, with 37.5 gm mannitol, once a week for six treatments and every 3 weeks thereafter. From a group of 173 genitourinary cancer patients treated, 50 male patients were selected who received at least 12 months of CDDP with no active conductive ear pathology, and whose audiograms obtained at baseline, 6th weeks, 26th weeks, and 52nd weeks of treatment were all available for comparison. Pure tone threshold levels deteriorated across time particularly by the 52nd week and at the higher frequencies. Threshold differences across time were statistically significant and within a linear trend. Of the 50 cases, 30% showed suspect or no ototoxicity, 26% mild, 32% moderate, 2% marked, and 4% showed severe ototoxic changes. Of the two cases who developed severe ototoxicity, one showed complete recovery. There was partial recovery in 26% and no recovery in 54%. Individual variability in susceptibility to and recovery from ototoxicity necessitates systematic audiometric monitoring throughout the therapy.     

Factors causing differences in voiding parameters between conventional and ambulatory urodynamics

Voiding parameter values measured with ambulatory urodynamic monitoring (AM) are generally found to be different from those measured with conventional cystometry (CMG). The reason for this is unclear, but might be related to differences in the voided volume. To verify this hypothesis, we compared voidings from female patients at an initial bladder volume that was close to the modal volume (that is, the volume most often voided by the patient as derived from frequency/volume charts) with voidings at maximum cystometric capacity during a routine video urodynamic examination. A first group of 35 patients voided at the modal volume before they did at capacity. The order was reversed in a second group of 12 patients. The dependence of the voiding parameters on the voided volume and the order of the measurements were examined. It was found that the maximum flow rate depended significantly on the voided volume, but the associated detrusor pressure did not. Urethral resistance and bladder contraction strength were not volume dependent either. It was concluded that the differences between AM and CMG cannot be explained from possible differences in the voided volume. Received: 23 August 1999 / Accepted: 16 December 1999