Monthly Archives: August 2010

Unexpected survivors after pre-hospital intubation

Posted on August 29, 2010 by

Data on patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury from the San Diego Trauma Registry were analysed using modified TRISS methodology to determine predicted survival, from which an observed-predicted survival differential (OPSD) was calculated. The mean OPSD was calculated … Continue reading →

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Weight formula for kids

Posted on August 18, 2010 by

The traditional ‘APLS formula’ for weight estimation in children based on age (wt in kg = [age+4] x 2) is recognised as underestimating weight in ‘developed’ countries, with the degree of underestimation increasing with increasing age. Several authors have attempted … Continue reading →

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ETCO2 and ROSC

Posted on August 14, 2010 by

One for the ‘hardly surprising’ category…. A study of end-tidal CO2 during out-of-hospital adult and child cardiac arrest resuscitation showed a sudden rise in CO2 was associated with return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), suggesting that witnessing this would be a … Continue reading →

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Etomidate in RSI – systematic review

Posted on August 9, 2010 by

A systematic review of 20 included studies comparing a bolus dose of etomidate for rapid sequence induction with other induction agents resulted in the following conclusion: “The available evidence suggests that etomidate suppresses adrenal function transiently without demonstrating a significant … Continue reading →

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Tracheal tube cuff pressure in flight

Posted on August 8, 2010 by

Tracheal tube cuff pressures increased from a mean 28.7 cm H2O pre-flight to 62.6 cm H2O in flight (mean altitude increase 2260 feet) in a Swiss helicopter-based study. At cruising altitude, 98% of patients had intracuff pressure >30 cm H2O, 72% had … Continue reading →

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