Retrospective Evaluation of Carotid Artery Stenting Experience of a Third Stage Neurology Clinic

INTRODUCTION: In the protection of both primary and secondary ischemic stroke, the effectiveness and reliability of the placement of carotid artery stent (CAS) has been demonstrated. Our aim in this study is to demonstrate the reliability of the CAM procedure performed in the tertiary care neurology clinic and the clinical and radiological to evaluation the two-year results. METHODS: Twenty-seven patients who applied to our hospital between July 2015 and July 2016, were evaluated by our neurology clinic, decided on CAS and stenting were studied (average age 71.6 [58-85]). Patients with symptomatic onset of the carotid artery stenosis over 50% angiographically, asymptomatic and over 70% stenosis in the carotid artery were included. RESULTS: The operation success rate was 96.3% (a thrombus developed in the stent 2 hours after the operation in a single patient). No deaths or myocardial infarction occurred in any of these patients with CAS. No ischemic cerebrovascular event or transient ischemic attack occurred in any of the patients at 6 months follow-up. No restenosis was observed in any of the carotid doppler follow-ups performed in our clinic. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: We believe that carotid artery stent placement performed by neurologists trained in endovascular surgery can be safely performed with low complication and high success rates in symptomatic or asymptomatic patients and that patients will be monitored in a more healthy manner

Intraoperative transfusion practices in Europe

© 2016 The Author. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Journal of Anaesthesia.Background: Transfusion of allogeneic blood influences outcome after surgery. Despite widespread availability of transfusion guidelines, transfusion practices might vary among physicians, departments, hospitals and countries. Our aim was to determine the amount of packed red blood cells (pRBC) and blood products transfused intraoperatively, and to describe factors determining transfusion throughout Europe. Methods: We did a prospective observational cohort study enrolling 5803 patients in 126 European centres that received at least one pRBC unit intraoperatively, during a continuous three month period in 2013. Results: The overall intraoperative transfusion rate was 1.8%; 59% of transfusions were at least partially initiated as a result of a physiological transfusion trigger- mostly because of hypotension (55.4%) and/or tachycardia (30.7%). Haemoglobin (Hb)- based transfusion trigger alone initiated only 8.5% of transfusions. The Hb concentration [mean (sd)] just before transfusion was 8.1 (1.7) g dl-1 and increased to 9.8 (1.8) g dl-1 after transfusion. The mean number of intraoperatively transfused pRBC units was 2.5 (2.7) units (median 2). Conclusions: Although European Society of Anaesthesiology transfusion guidelines are moderately implemented in Europe with respect to Hb threshold for transfusion (7-9 g dl-1), there is still an urgent need for further educational efforts that focus on the number of pRBC units to be transfused at this threshold