Design and preliminary results of FRENSHOCK 2016: A prospective nationwide multicentre registry on cardiogenic shock

Central illustration: geographic distribution of the 49 centres participating in the FRENSHOCK registry (35 academic hospitals, 10 general hospitals and four private clinics). Inclusion per centre varied from 1 to 72 patients.

     

Pression tissulaire cérébrale en oxygène : pour quoi faire et pour qui ?

The main purpose of neurointensive care is to fight against cerebral ischaemia. Ischaemia is the cell energy failure following inadequacy between supply of glucose and oxygen and demand. Ischemia monitoring starts with a global approach, especially with cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) determined by mean arterial pressure and intracranial pressure (ICP). However, global monitoring is insufficient to detect “regional” ischaemia, leading to development of local monitoring such as brain oxygen partial pressure (PtiO₂). PtiO₂ is measured on a volume of a few mm³ from a probe implanted in the cerebral tissue. The normal value is classically included between 25 and 35 mmHg and critical ischemic threshold is 10 mmHg. Understanding what exactly is PtiO₂ is still a matter of debate. PtiO₂ is more an indicator of oxygen diffusion depending of oxygen arterial pressure (PaO₂) and local cerebral blood flow (CBF). Increase PaO₂ to treat PtiO₂ would hide information about local CBF. PtiO₂ is useful for the detection of low local CBF even when ICP is low as in hypocapnia-induced vasoconstriction. PtiO₂-guided management could lead to a continuous optimization of arterial oxygen transport for an optimal cerebral tissue oxygenation. Finally, PtiO₂ has probably a global prognostic value because studies showed that hypoxic values for a long period of time lead to an unfavourable neurologic outcome. In conclusion, PtiO₂ provides additional information for regional monitoring of cerebral ischaemia and deserves more intensive use to better understand it and probably improve neurointensive care management.     

Syndrome post-arrêt cardiaque : aspects physiopathologiques,cliniques et thérapeutiques

Objective

This review aims at providing an update on post-cardiac arrest syndrome, from pathophysiology to treatment.

Data sources

Medline database.

Data extraction

All data on pathophysiology, clinical manifestations and therapeutic management, with focus on the publications of the 5 last years.

Data synthesis

Care of the patients after cardiac arrest is a medical challenge, in face of “post-cardiac arrest syndrome”, which culminates into multi-organ failure. This syndrome mimics sepsis-related dysfunctions, with all clinical and biological manifestations related to the phenomenon of global ischemia-reperfusion. Acute cardiocirculatory dysfunction is usually controlled through pharmacological and mechanical support. Meanwhile, as a majority of cardiac arrest is related to myocardial infarction, early angiographic exploration should then be discussed when there is no obvious extracardiac cause, percutaneous coronary revascularization being associated with improved short and long-term prognosis. Therapeutic hypothermia is the cornerstone of neuroprotective armamentarium, beyond hemodynamic stabilization and metabolic maintenance.

Conclusion

If ongoing evaluations should shed light on potential efficiency of new therapeutic drugs, a multidisciplinary approach of the post-cardiac arrest syndrome in expertise centre is essential.     

Évaluation du statut nutritionnel chez les patients présentant un glioblastome en récidive

Introduction

Nutritional status is a major clinical parameter in multiple cancers. Indeed, nutritional status is a prognostic factor and a predictor of response and toxicity to treatments in breast and lung cancers for instance. To our knowledge, in patients suffering from malignant primary brain tumors, nutritional status has been poorly investigated.

Methods

Nutritional status of 26 glioblastoma patients relapsing after a first line of treatment was studied. The body mass index (BMI), the prognostic inflammatory and nutritional index (PINI) and the instant nutritional score (INS) were assessed.

Results

The BMI was abnormal in 12 patients, two were malnourished while 10 were overweight. The BMI was not correlated to age of patients. Overweight status did not impact patient survival but it was associated with reduced performance status. The PINI was abnormal in three patients. Finally, the INS was abnormal in 24 patients, noted 2 (n = 22) or 4 (n = 4).

Conclusions/discussion

Our results were not in favor of systematic nutritional support in patients with recurrent glioblastoma after a first line of treatment. Being overweight does not influence prognosis but may influence performance status. Steroid therapy and chemotherapy (inducing sodium and water retention and lymphopenia) weaken the relevance of BMI and INS for nutritional assessment in patients with recurrent glioblastoma. Further studies using additional nutritional tests in larger, independent and prospective cohorts of patients are warranted to obtain more details.