RWTH University Hospital; Department of Intensive Care Medicine; Aachen, Germany (Dembinski) The author has not disclosed any potential conflicts of interest.
To compare low-dose multislice spiral CT (MSCT) with a standard protocol for the evaluation of acute lung injury (ALI) in an animal model.Eleven healthy intubated pigs (weight: 32.4 kg +/- 1.9 kg) underwent lung lavage to induce experimental lung injury before CT examinations. Scanning was performed using a MSCT-technique. The entire chest was scanned using a thin-collimated protocol (140 kV; 100 mAs). The examinations were performed in inspiratory breath-hold in supine and in prone positions. Scanning was repeated after reduction of the tube current time product down to 20 mAs. All other parameters were kept constant. Subjective image quality was rated using a six-point scale by three experienced radiologists. In addition, objective criteria, based on signal to noise measurements, were assessed. Finally, the extent, localization, and distribution of lung opacities was analyzed using dedicated postprocessing software.Subjective image quality was rated inferior in the low-dose MSCT-examinations (prone position: 2.1 vs. 3.0; supine position: 1.5 vs. 2.5). Hence, pixel noise was nearly doubled. However, exact information about the extent, localization and distribution of lung opacities was provided. There were no statistically significant differences between standard and low-dose MSCT in this respect.In the animal experiments, low-dose MSCT-scanning did not impair the diagnostic accuracy in ALI, offering an advantageous reduction of radiation exposure.
Emergency cricothyrotomy is a live saving intervention to rapidly gain access to the airways in patients who cannot be intubated nor ventilated. Considering complications such as bleeding, thyroid and cricoid cartilage injury and creation of a false tract emergency cricothyrotomy should not be performed until non-invasive attempts including video laryngoscopy and the use of supraglottic airway devices have been exploited within a fixed difficult airway management algorithm. Methods of emergency cricothyrotomy can be differentiated in a catheter-over-needle, Seldinger-wire and surgical technique. However, success is less dependent from the choice of method but from individual experience and training. Despite a lack of evidence due to its infrequent use cricothyrotomy generally results in an acceptable success rate. In this review a selection of commercially available cricothyrotomy sets is presented, indications for their use are outlined and their handling is described.
