BackgroundRadial artery occlusion (RAO) is considered the most common and devastating complication of transradial approach (TRA). It has been described as the “Achilles’ heel” of the transradial technique. Our aim was to assess the incidence and predictors of radial artery occlusion after transradial coronary catheterization.ResultsThis was a prospective study enrolling 164 patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) via the transradial approach (TRA) using 6-F catheters. Doppler ultrasonography assessment of the radial artery (RA) was conducted on day 1 and 6 months following the procedure. The studied group included 104 male (63.4%) and 60 female (36.6%) patients with a mean age of 57.7 ± 8.8 years and a mean RA diameter of 2.8 ± 0.5 mm. On day 1, Doppler examination revealed RAO in 54 patients (32.9%). After 6 months, RAO was detected in 49 patients (29.9%). Interestingly, only 1 new case (0.9%) of RAO was noted, and 6 patients (11.1%) had regained their RA patency. On multivariate analysis, female gender, age, manual compression, and RA diameter emerged as independent predictors of RAO. Using TR band for hemostasis for only 2 h was recognized as a potent independent predictor of RA patency on day 1 and 6 months after the procedure (n = 2, 3.7% in the RAO group, vs. n = 23, 20.9% in the non-RAO group, p = 0.004).ConclusionRAO, although clinically a silent issue, has been the main complication following TRA. In patients with high predictors of RAO, careful management and close follow-up are required to ensure radial artery long-term patency.

Our results suggest that the PLR-TEB is a feasible method in spontaneously breathing volunteers with reasonable reproducibility. The age and baseline stroke volume effect suggests a more complex underlying physiology than commonly appreciated. The fact that half of the volunteers had a positive preload response, against the 10% threshold, leads to questions about how this measurement should be used in emergency care and will help shape future patient studies.

BackgroundFluid therapy is a common and crucial treatment in the emergency department (ED). While fluid responsiveness seems to be a promising method to titrate fluid therapy, the evidence for its value in ED is unclear. We aim to synthesise the existing literature investigating fluid responsiveness in ED.MethodsMEDLINE, Embase and the Cochrane library were searched for relevant peer-reviewed studies published from 1946 to present.ResultsA total of 249 publications were retrieved of which 22 studies underwent full-text review and eight relevant studies were identified. Only 3 studies addressed clinical outcomes - including 2 randomised controlled trials and one feasibility study. Five articles evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of fluid responsiveness techniques in ED. Due to marked heterogeneity, it was not possible to combine results in a meta-analysis.ConclusionHigh quality, adequately powered outcome studies are still lacking, so the place of fluid responsiveness in ED remains undefined. Future studies should have standardisation of patient groups, the target response and the underpinning theoretic concept of fluid responsiveness. The value of a fluid responsiveness based fluid resuscitation protocol needs to be established in a clinical trial.

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Background: There are a number of cardiac output monitors that could potentially be used in the emergency department. Two of the most promising methods (bioimpedance and suprasternal Doppler) have not been directly compared.