CSF neopterin level as a diagnostic marker in primary central nervous system lymphoma

Background The diagnosis of primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) can be challenging. PCNSL lesions are frequently located deep within the brain, and performing a cerebral biopsy is not always feasible. The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic value of CSF neopterin, a marker of neuroinflammation, in immunocompetent patients with suspected PCNSL. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the characteristics of 124 patients with brain tumor (n = 82) or an inflammatory CNS disorder (n = 42) in whom CSF neopterin levels were assessed. Twenty-eight patients had PCNSL, 54 patients had another type of brain tumor (glioma n = 36, metastasis n = 13, other n = 5), and 13 patients had a pseudotumoral inflammatory brain lesion. Results CSF neopterin levels were significantly higher in the patients with PCNSL than in those with other brain tumors (41.8 vs 5.1 nmol/L, P < .001), those with pseudotumoral inflammatory brain lesions (41.8 vs 4.3 nmol/L, P < .001), and those with nontumefactive inflammatory CNS disorders (41.8 vs 3.8 nmol/L, P < .001). In the 95 patients with space-occupying brain lesions, at a cutoff of 10 nmol/L, the sensitivity of this approach was 96% and the specificity was 93% for the diagnosis of PCNSL. The positive and negative predictive values were 84% and 98%, respectively. Conclusion Assessing CSF neopterin levels in patients with a suspected brain tumor might be helpful for the positive and differential diagnosis of PCNSL. A prospective study is warranted to confirm these result

Pronostic value of the cerebral energetic metabolism monitoring in poor grade subarachnoid hemorrhage patients

Le ratio métabolique (MR) est un marqueur du métabolisme cérébral. Dans notre travail, nous avons démontré sa valeur pronostique chez 68 patients victimes d’une hémorragie sous-arachnoïdienne anévrysmale grave. En effet, une diminution du MR sous le seuil de 3,35 traduit un phénomène d’hyperglycolyse relative, dont le nombre d’événement est prédictive d’un pronostic défavorable avec une excellente sensibilité et spécificité. L’obtention de ces résultats est rendue possible, notamment après une phase de validation dans un modèle animal de procédures permettant de limiter les effets de facteurs pré-analytiques critiques. Ces résultats permettent d’envisager une étude pour savoir si l’intégration de ce marqueur dans la stratégie de prise en charge du patient, permet de modifier son devenir fonctionnel. Après avoir validé analytiquement les mesures de pyruvate, glucose et lactate impliquant la technique de microdialyse, nous avons étudié sur une cohorte de patients graves aSAH, modeste (n=18 patients) s’il existait des phénomènes d’hyperglycolyse et leur corrélation avec le pronostic. Dans notre série, à la différence de l’approche globale (cathétérisme de la veine jugulaire), un phénomène d’hyperglycolyse conduirait vers un bon pronostic. En fait, l’approche par microdialyse donne une information sur le métabolisme énergétique localisé à l’implantation de la sonde, alors que le MR donne une information globale, ce qui est probablement le facteur le plus important expliquant la différence d’interprétation entre les 2 approches. En l’absence d’outils de traitement de données et d’algorithmes de décision clinique validés, la microdialyse ne donne pas à l’heure actuelle, une valeur individuelle diagnostique ou pronostique. Un des résultats très prometteurs de ce travail, est la mise en évidence d’un phénomène d’hyperglycolyse relative globale lors du vasospasme, rapidement réversible chez les patients ayant bien évolué, alors qu’il perdure de nombreuses heures après le vasospasme chez les patients ayant évolué de manière péjorative. Ces résultats nécessitent d’être reproduits sur un nombre plus significatifs de patients, ce qui permettrait une confirmation radiologique du vasospasme de manière plus précoce afin de confirmer son importance, sa localisation et l’éventualité de le traiter rapidementThe metabolic ratio (MR) is an index of the brain energetic metabolism. In our study, we have demonstrated its prognostic value for 68 poor grade patients aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH): a MR below the threshold value of 3.35 reflects a phenomenon of global cerebral hyperglycolysis which, if repeated, is predictive of a bad outcome. These results were made possible after validation step in an animal mode which allowed to control the critical pre-analytical factors. Our results pave the way for a clinical study aiming to determine if taking into account the MR will help to improve the functional outcome of the aSAH patients. In another approach, based on the use of cerebral microdialysis, we have studied, in an 18 patients cohort, and after an analytical validation of a new biochemical analysis, if such cerebral hyperglycolysis phenomenon was a encountered in this cohort, if these was a correlation with the patients’ outcome. In contrast with the previous 68 aSAH patients, this hyperglycolysis phenomenon appears linked to a good outcome. This apparent discrepancy may be due the difference in the anatomical giving a more localized information on the brain metabolism than the jugular approach used for the MR determination. The most interesting of our results is the correlation found between hyperglycolysis and cerebral vasospasm. If conformed with a larger cohort of aSAH patients, the use of MR could allow an earlier detection and treatment of cerebral vasospas

Assessment of spontaneous neuromuscular recovery: A comparison of the TOF-Cuff® with the TOF Watch SX®

TOF-Cuff® is a modified blood pressure cuff used to monitor neuromuscular block. We compared the assessment of spontaneous neuromuscular recovery between TOF-Cuff® (test device) and TOF Watch SX® (reference device)

Easy-to-prescribe nutrition support in the intensive care in the era of COVID-19

Background & aims: COVID-19 pandemic had resulted in a massive increase in the number of patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). This created significant organizational challenges including numerous non-specialist ICU caregivers who came to work in the ICU. In this context, pragmatic protocols were essential to simplify nutritional care. We aimed at providing a simple and easy-to-prescribe nutritional protocol and evaluated its usefulness with questionnaires sent to physicians involved in the care of ICU COVID-19 patients.Methods: A simplified nutrition protocol was distributed to all physicians (n = 122) of the ICU medical team during COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical dieticians estimated energy targets for acute and post-acute phases at patient's admission and suggested adaptations of nutrition therapy. More complex situations were discussed with clinical nutrition doctors and, if required, a clinical evaluation was performed. To further facilitate the procedure, a chart with prescription aids was also distributed to the whole medical ICU team. At the end of the current pandemic wave, a 13-item questionnaire was emailed to the ICU medical team to obtain their opinion on the suggested nutritional therapy.Results: Answers were received from 81/122 medical doctors (MDs) (66% response rate), from intensive care physicians (41%), anaesthesiologists (53%) and MDs from other specialties (6%). Thirty-two percent of MDs felt that their knowledge of nutrition management was insufficient and 45% of the physicians surveyed did not face nutrition management in their daily practice prior to the pandemic. The initially proposed nutritional protocol, the chart with prescription aids and the suggested nutritional proposals were considered as useful to very useful by the majority of physicians surveyed (89.9, 90.7 and 92.1% respectively). The protocol was followed by 92% of MDs, and almost all participants (95%) were convinced that adaptations of nutritional therapy had beneficial effects on patients' outcomes.Conclusions: Nutritional therapy in critically ill COVID-19 patients is a challenge and the implementation of this specific pandemic simplified nutritional protocol was assessed as useful by a great majority of physicians. Pragmatic and simplified protocols are useful for ensuring the quality of nutritional therapy and could be used in future studies to assess its actual impact on the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 patients.</p

Invasive and non‐invasive assessment of macro‐ and micro‐circulatory effects of vasopressors during sevoflurane anesthesia in a pediatric experimental model: A randomized trial

Background: While non-invasive assessment of macro- and micro-circulation has the promise to optimize anesthesia management, evidence is lacking for the relationship between invasive and non-invasive measurements of cardiac output and microcirculatory indices. Aims: We aimed to compare the abilities of non-invasive techniques to detect changes in macro- and micro-circulation following deep anesthesia and subsequent restoration of the compromised hemodynamic by routinely used vasopressors in a randomized experimental study. Methods: A 20%-25% drop in mean arterial pressure was induced by sevoflurane in anesthetized mechanically ventilated just-weaned piglets (n = 12) prior to the administration of vasopressors in random order (dopamine, ephedrine, noradrenaline, and phenylephrine). Simultaneous transpulmonary thermodilution cardiac output assessment with the invasive pulse index continuous contour (PiCCO) method was compared with non-invasive estimates obtained with electrical conductivity (ICON) and echo Doppler (Cardio Q). Changes in microcirculation were characterized by sublingual red blood cell velocity, jugular cerebral venous oxygen saturation, and arterial lactate. Main outcome measures: Cardiac output indices obtained by invasive and non-invasive methods. Results: Changes in cardiac output measured invasively and non-invasively correlated significantly after sevoflurane (r = .78, p = .003 and r = .76, p = .006 between PiCCO and ICON or Cardio Q, respectively). Following the administration of vasopressors, invasive and non-invasive cardiac output assessments were unrelated with significant correlations observed only between PiCCO and ICON after dopamine and ephedrine. Sevoflurane-induced hypotension decreased jugular cerebral venous oxygen saturation significantly and was recovered by all vasopressors. Sevoflurane and vasopressors had no effect on red blood cell velocity, which increased only after dopamine. No consistent changes in lactate were observed during the study period. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that non-invasive cardiac output measurements may not accurately reflect changes in macrocirculation after hemodynamic optimization by vasopressors. Due to the incoherence between macro- and micro-circulation, monitoring microcirculation is essential to guide patient management.</p

Early experience with intraoperative leak test using a blend of methylene blue and indocyanine green during robotic gastric bypass surgery

Leak tests using air or methylene blue (MB) for gastrojejunal anastomoses are often performed during gastric bypass surgeries to avoid leaks due to technical errors. Still, early leaks have been reported in the literature. Indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence with laser excitement makes this dye easily visible even in small amounts, and, thus, may be an excellent agent for leak testing

Perioperative evolution of sodium levels in cirrhotic patients undergoing liver transplantation: an observational cohort and literature review

Hyponatremia is an important predictor of early death among cirrhotic patients in the orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) waiting list. Evidence exists that prioritizing OLT waiting list according to the MELD score combined with plasma sodium concentration might prevent pre transplantation death. However, the evolution of plasma sodium concentrations during the perioperative period of OLT is not well known. We aimed to describe the evolution of perioperative sodium concentration during OLT and its relation to perioperative neurohormonal responses