Use of a Checklist During Observation of a Simulated Cardiac Arrest Scenario Does Not Improve Time to CPR and Defibrillation Over Observation Alone for Subsequent Scenarios

Theory: Immersive simulation is a common mode of education for medical students. Observation of clinical simulations prior to participation is believed to be beneficial, though this is often a passive process. Active observation may be more beneficial. Hypotheses: The hypothesis tested in this study was that the active use of a simple checklist during observation of an immersive simulation would result in better participant performance in a subsequent scenario compared with passive observation alone. Methods: Medical students were randomized to either passive or active (with checklist) observation of an immersive simulation involving cardiac arrest prior to participating in their own simulation. Performance measures included time to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and time to defibrillation and were compared between first and second scenarios as well as between passive and active observers. Results: Seventy-nine simulations involving 232 students were conducted. Mean time to CPR was 18 seconds (SD = 11.6) for those using the checklist and 24 seconds (SD = 15.8) for those who observed passively (M difference = 6 seconds), t(35) = 1.46, p =.153. Time to defibrillation was 94 seconds (SD = 26.4) for those using the checklist and 92 seconds (SD = 23.8) for those who observed passively (M difference = –2 seconds), t(38) =.21, p =.837. Time to CPR was 24 seconds (SD = 15.8) for passive observers and 31 seconds (SD = 21.0; M difference = 7 seconds), t(35) = 1.13, p =.265, for their first scenario counterparts. Time to CPR was 18 seconds (SD = 11.6) for active observers and 36 seconds (SD = 26.2; M difference = 18 seconds), t(24) = 2.81, p =.010, for their first scenario counterparts. Time to defibrillation was 92 seconds (SD = 23.8) for passive observers and 125 seconds (SD = 32.2; M difference = 33 seconds), t(33) = 3.63, p =.001, for their first scenario counterparts. Time to defibrillation was 94 seconds (SD = 26.4) for the active observers and 132 seconds (SD = 52.9; M difference = 38 seconds), t(28) =.46, p =.008, for their first scenario counterparts. Conclusions: Observation alone leads to improved performance in the management of a simulated cardiac arrest. The active use of a simple skills-based checklist during observation did not appear to improve performance over passive observation alone.     

Phase I evaluation of diaziquone in childhood cancer

Summary We conducted a phase I clinical study of aziridinylbenzoquinone (Diaziquone, AZQ) given as a 4 hour infusion weekly × 4. Forty-five children with recurrent acute leukemia and 33 children with various advanced solid tumors participated. Severe myelosuppression was the dose limiting toxic effect, occurring in all patients at the upper dose levels. Gastrointestinal and hepatic toxicities were infrequent and not severe. No allergic reactions occurred. Objective tumor regression was noted in 3 of 25 patients with a CNS tumor and in 6 of 45 patients with acute leukemia. For phase II trials the recommended dosage of Diaziquone given by this schedule is 18 mg/M²×4 for patients with a solid tumor, and is 30 mg/M²/week × 4 for children with acute leukemia.     

The effect of continuous epidural analgesia on postoperative pain, rehabilitation, and duration of hospitalization in total knee arthroplasty

Efficacies of three alternate methods of postoperative analgesia were studied in 156 patients who had total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Forty-two of these patients received parenteral meperidine hydrochloride or morphine (Group 1), 58 patients received periodic epidural injections of morphine (Group 2), and 56 patients received continuous epidural infusions of bupivacaine hydrochloride and Duramorph (Group 3). The postoperative course of all patients was documented in terms of the incidence and severity of pain, range of joint motion, duration of hospitalization, and occurrence of complications. Although epidural analgesia increased the cost and duration of the operation, good-to-excellent pain relief was attained in 86% (Group 2) and 88% (Group 3) of cases with epidural analgesia compared with 61% of patients (Group 1) receiving conventional analgesia. Moreover, 67% of patients in Group 1 experienced frequent episodes of moderate-to-severe postoperative pain in contrast to 40% of patients in Group 2 and only 10% of patients in Group 3. As a result of diminished pain, greater joint motion was obtained within the first 72 hours in Groups 2 and 3. They also had shorter hospitalization (9.6 days versus 11.2 days for Group 1 and 10.8 days for Group 2). However, the use of epidural analgesia did not reduce the incidence of complications, including nausea. Continuous infusion of epidural bupivacaine and Duramorph provided good-to-excellent control of postoperative pain after TKA. However, better analgesics are needed to reduce the high incidence of side effects associated with various treatment methods.     

The flow cytometric crossmatch and early renal transplant loss

Data from this retrospective study indicate that a positive two-color T and/or B cell flow cytometric crossmatch (FCXM) is predictive of early renal allograft loss (less than 2 months) in cadaveric kidney donor recipients who had a negative crossmatch by the antihuman globulin complement-dependent cytotoxicity technique. Among 90 cadaveric kidney donor recipients (67 primary, 23 regrafts), 14 (8 primary, 6 regrafts) lost their renal allografts within 2 months, and 10 of the 14 were FCXM positive and HLA sensitized. The remaining 76 allografts survived beyond 2 months, 12 of which were FCXM-positive. Thus, the FCXM sensitivity rate for detecting early graft loss was 71%, and the specificity rate was 84%. Cadaveric graft-loss rates at 2 months were 33% for primary and 60% for FCXM-positive regrafts in contrast to 7% for primary and 0% for FCXM-negative regrafts. The difference in early graft loss between FCXM-positive and FCXM-negative recipients was statistically significant (P less than 0.0001). Subset analyses of FCXM-positive graft recipients indicate: (1) previous early graft loss contraindicates transplantation of an FXCM-positive regraft (P = 0.03); and (2) panel reactive antibody (PRA) less than or equal to 10% at crossmatch is not associated with early graft loss (P = 0.04). There was no significant difference in 1-year graft survival between primary and regrafts in either FCXM-negative recipients (85% vs. 77%, respectively) or FCXM-positive recipients (67% vs. 40%). All 12 of the FCXM-positive primary and regrafts that survived 2 months continued to function at 2 years. Stepwise logistic regression analysis of 5 independent predictor variables (FCXM status, gender, primary vs. regraft status, PRA level, and HLA mismatched antigens) indicated that the FCXM test was the best predictor of early graft loss. When FCXM results of the 90 cadaveric graft recipients were ranked in three groups, an FCXM channel shift of 29 or greater (third tertile) on a 1024 channel log scale was associated with a 7.0-fold (95% confidence interval 1.9-25.5) increased risk of early graft failure when compared to the first two tertiles. These data indicate that the FCXM offers an additional approach for identifying sensitized patients at risk of early renal allograft loss.     

Overexpression/amplification of HER-2/neu is uncommon in hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND： Hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） is one of the most prevalent fatal cancers in the world. Despite advances in early diagnosis and improvements in surgical techniques, the survival of patients with HCC even after resection is poor because of the high incidence of recurrences. Therefore, the identification of prognostic factors may be helpful in the development of new treatment protocols. AIMS： To investigate HER-2/neu status in HCC by immunohistochemistry （IHC） and fluorescence in situ hybridisation （FISH）, and to explore the possibility of using trastuzumab in the treatment of HCC. METH ODS： Eight hundred and sixty eight surgical samples from patients with primary HCC were examined for their HER-2/neu status. IHC for HER-2/neu was performed with the HercepTest kit; FISH analysis was performed with the PathVysion HER-2 DNA probe kit. The correlations between HER-2/neu overexpression and clinicopathological characteristics were analysed statistically. RESULTS： HER-2/neu overexpression was detected in 21 （2.42%） of the 868 primary HCCs. Only one specimen showed HER-2/neu gene amplification by FISH. No significant associations were found between HER-2/neu overexpression and the clinicopathological parameters. CONCLUSIONS： There is a low frequency of HER-2/neu overexpression/amplification in HCC. There appears to be no role for HER-2/neu as a prognostic marker and no benefit of anti-HER-2/neu trastuzumab treatment in patients with HCC.     

Haemodynamic effects of rectal methohexitone for induction of anaesthesia in children

Pulsed Doppler and two-dimensional echocardiography were used to determine the haemodynamic effects of rectal methohexitone in 12 children 32.4 +/- 3.8 months old and weighing 13.3 +/- 1.1 kg (mean +/- SEM). Heart rate, blood pressure and echocardiographic measurements of cardiac output, stroke volume and left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes were obtained prior to the induction of anaesthesia. Anaesthesia was induced with 25 mg.kg-1 two per cent rectal methohexitone. Immediately following the onset of sleep all cardiovascular measurements were repeated. Following the induction of anaesthesia with rectal methohexitone there was a significant increase in heart rate. Blood pressure, cardiac index, stroke volume and ejection fraction were unchanged. It is concluded that rectal administration of two per cent methohexitone for the induction of anaesthesia in healthy paediatric patients has minimal haemodynamic effect.     

Intravenous immunoglobulin may lessen all forms of infection in patients receiving allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a pediatric oncology group study

Fifty patients with refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia underwent allogeneic bone marrow transplantation after conditioning with high-dose cytosine arabinoside and fractionated total body irradiation. Twenty-nine received intravenous immunoglobulin (i.v.Ig) infusion, primarily to prevent cytomegalovirus infection, and 21 did not. The two groups were biologically comparable. Seven (24.5%) of the i.v.Ig-treated and 14 (66.7%) of the non-i.v.Ig-treated patients developed systemic viral, fungal or bacterial infections and/or interstitial pneumonitis (p less than 0.005), which were fatal in three and 12 cases respectively (p less than 0.001). Currently, 23 (79.3%) of the 29 i.v.Ig-treated and eight (38.1%) of the 21 non-i.v.Ig-treated patients are alive and well (p less than 0.01). We conclude that prophylactic i.v.Ig infusions may reduce the frequency of all forms of serious infection in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia undergoing allogeneic marrow transplantation, and thereby improve their survival expectation.