Controlled low central venous pressure reduces blood loss and transfusion requirements in hepatectomy

AIM:To evaluate the effect of low central venous pressure(LCVP)on blood loss and blood transfusion in patients undergoing hepatectomy.METHODS:Electronic databases and bibliography lists were searched for potential articles.A meta-analysis of all randomized controlled trials(RCTs)investigating LCVP in hepatectomy was performed.The following three outcomes were analyzed:blood loss,blood transfusion and duration of operation.RESULTS:Five RCTs including 283 patients were assessed.Meta-analysis showed that blood loss in the LCVP group was significantly less than that in the control group(MD=-391.95,95%CI:-559.35--224.56,P<0.00001).In addition,blood transfusion in the LCVP group was also significantly less than that in the control group(MD=-246.87,95%CI:-427.06--66.69,P=0.007).The duration of operation in the LCVP group was significantly shorter than that in the control group(MD=-18.89,95%CI:-35.18--2.59,P=0.02).Most studies found no significant difference in renal and liver function between the two groups.CONCLUSION:Controlled LCVP is a simple and effective technique to reduce blood loss and blood transfusion during liver resection,and appears to have no detrimental effects on liver and renal function.

Pediatric living donor liver transplantation decade progress in Shanghai:Characteristics and risks factors of mortality

BACKGROUND Pediatric living donor liver transplantation(LDLT) has become the gold standard for patients with end-stage liver disease. With improvements in organ preservation, immunosuppression, and surgical and anesthesia techniques, the survival rates and long-term outcomes of patients after LDLT have significantly improved worldwide. However, data on anesthetic management and postoperative survival rate of pediatric LDLT in China are rare.AIM To review the status of pediatric LDLT in Shanghai and investigate the factors related to anesthetic management and survival rate in pediatric LDLT.METHODS We conducted a retrospective observational study to investigate the status of pediatric LDLT in Shanghai by reviewing 544 records of patients who underwent pediatric LDLT since the first operation on October 21, 2006 until August 10, 2016 at Renji Hospital and Huashan Hospital.RESULTS The 30-d, 90-d, 1-year, and 2-year survival rates were 95.22%, 93.38%, 91.36%,and 89.34%, respectively. The 2-year patient survival rate after January 1, 2011 significantly improved compared with the previous period(74.47% vs 90.74%;hazard ratio: 2.92;95% confidence interval(CI): 2.16–14.14;P = 0.0004). Median duration of mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit(ICU) was 18 h [interquartile range(IQR), 15.25–20.25], median ICU length of stay was 6 d(IQR:4.80–9.00), and median postoperative length of stay was 24 d(IQR: 18.00–34.00).Forty-seven(8.60%) of 544 patients did not receive red blood cell transfusion during the operation.CONCLUSION Pediatric end-stage liver disease score, anesthesia duration, operation duration,intraoperative blood loss, and ICU length of stay were independent predictive factors of in-hospital patient survival. Pediatric end-stage liver disease score,operation duration, and ICU length of stay were independent predictive factors of 1-year and 3-year patient survival.

Effect of remote ischemic preconditioning among donors and recipients following pediatric liver transplantation:A randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND Studies suggested that remote ischemic preconditioning(RIPC)may effectively lessen the harmful effects of ischemia reperfusion injury during organ transplantation surgery.AIM To investigate the protective effects of RIPC on living liver donors and recipients following pediatric liver transplantation.METHODS From January 2016 to January 2019 at Renji Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine,208 donors were recruited and randomly assigned to four groups:S-RIPC group(no intervention;n=55),D-RIPC group(donors received RIPC;n=51),R-RIPC group(recipients received RIPC,n=51)and DR-RIPC group(both donors and recipients received RIPC;n=51).We primarily evaluated postoperative liver function among donors and recipients and incidences of early allograft dysfunction,primary nonfunction and postoperative complications among recipients.RESULTS RIPC did not significantly improve alanine transaminase and aspartate aminotransferase levels among donors and recipients or decrease the incidences of early allograft dysfunction,primary nonfunction,and postoperative complications among recipients.Limited protective effects were observed,including a lower creatinine level in the D-RIPC group than in the S-RIPC group on postoperative day 0(P<0.05).However,no significant improvements were found in donors who received RIPC.Furthermore,RIPC had no effects on the overall survival of recipients.CONCLUSION The protective effects of RIPC were limited for recipients who received living liver transplantation,and no significant improvement of the prognosis was observed in recipients.

Enhanced graph-based fault diagnostic system for nuclear power plants

Scheduled maintenance and condition-based online monitoring are among the focal points of recent research to enhance nuclear plant safety.One of the most effective ways to monitor plant conditions is by implementing a full-scope,plant-wide fault diagnostic system.However,most of the proposed diagnostic techniques are perceived as unreliable by operators because they lack an explanation module,their implementation is complex,and their decision/inference path is unclear.Graphical formalism has been considered for fault diagnosis because of its clear decision and inference modules,and its ability to display the complex causal relationships between plant variables and reveal the propagation path used for fault localization in complex systems.However,in a graphbased approach,decision-making is slow because of rule explosion.In this paper,we present an enhanced signed directed graph that utilizes qualitative trend evaluation and a granular computing algorithm to improve the decision speed and increase the resolution of the graphical method.We integrate the attribute reduction capability of granular computing with the causal/fault propagation reasoning capability of the signed directed graph and comprehensive rules in a decision table to diagnose faults in a nuclear power plant.Qualitative trend analysis is used to solve the problems of fault diagnostic threshold selection and signed directed graph node state determination.The similarity reasoning and detection ability of the granular computing algorithm ensure a compact decision table and improve the decision result.The performance of the proposed enhanced system was evaluated on selected faults of the Chinese Fuqing 2 nuclear reactor.The proposed method offers improved diagnostic speed and efficient data processing.In addition,the result shows a considerable reduction in false positives,indicating that the method provides a reliable diagnostic system to support further intervention by operators.

Mechanisms of hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury and clinical anesthesia-related protections

This review focuses on the mechanisms involved in hepatic ischemia-reperfusion(I/R) injury and effective therapeutic treatments associated with clinical anesthesia. Although hepatocytes are the main target cells in the whole process of I/R injury, Kupffer cells, as an initiator of harmful cascades, may play a vital role by releasing some proinflammatory mediators and reactive oxygen species in the early phase of I/R injury. The subsequent activation and recruitment of neutrophils are also involved in inflammatory response and immune activation. According to the above mechanisms, a number of strategies have been put forward in some experimental and clinical studies. Most of these therapeutic treatments originated from the generation of oxygen radicals and cytokines, the infiltration of neutrophils, the impairment of microcirculation and so on. Furthermore, increasing evidence has suggested that short periods of ischemic preconditioning have protective effects against liver I/R injury. Depending on these investigations, pharmacological preconditioning and clinical anesthesia-related effective methods have been proposed. A better understanding of the present progress on experimental statistics will bring about novel therapeutic treatments for the improvement of liver surgeries and transplantation.

Association of different central venous pressure levels with outcome of living-donor liver transplantation in children under 12 years

Background Pediatric liver transplantation is an important modality for treating biliary atresia.The overall survival(OS)rate of pediatric liver transplantation has significantly improved compared with that of 20 years ago,but it is still unsatisfactory.The anesthesia strategy of maintaining low central venous pressure(CVP)has shown a positive effect on prognosis in adult liver transplantation.However,this relationship remains unclear in pediatric liver transplantation.Thus,this study was conducted to review the data of pediatric living-donor liver transplantation to analyze the associations of different CVP levels with the prognosis of recipients.Methods This was a retrospective study and the patients were divided into two groups according to CVP levels after abdominal closure:low CVP(LCVP)(≤10 cmH2O,n=470)and high CVP(HCVP)(>10 cmH2O,n=242).The primary outcome measured in the study was the overall survival rate.The secondary outcomes included the duration of mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit(ICU),length of stay in the ICU,and postoperative stay in the hospital.Patient demographic and perioperative data were collected and compared between the two groups.Kaplan-Meier curves were constructed to determine the associations of different CVP levels with the survival rate.Results In the study,712 patients,including 470 in the LCVP group and 242 in the HCVP group,were enrolled.After propensity score matching,212 pairs remained in the group.The LCVP group showed a higher overall survival rate than the HCVP group in the Kaplan-Meier curves and multivariate Cox regression analyses(P=0.018),and the HCVP group had a hazard ratio of 2.445(95%confidence interval,1.163–5.140).Conclusion This study confirmed that a low-CVP level at the end of surgery is associated with improved overall survival and a shorter length of hospital stay.

Serum Soluble Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 1 as a Potential Biomarker of Hepatopulmonary Syndrome

Background and Aims:The results of basic research implicate the vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)family as a potential target of hepatopulmonary syndrome(HPS).However,the negative results of anti-angiogenetic therapy in clinical studies have highlighted the need for markers for HPS.Therefore,we aimed to determine whether VEGF family members and their receptors can be potential biomarkers for HPS through clinical and experimental studies.Methods:Clinically,patients with chronic liver disease from two medical centers were enrolled and examined for HPS.Patients were divided into HPS,intrapulmonary vascular dilation[positive contrast-enhanced echocardiography(CEE)and normal oxygenation]and CEE-negative groups.Baseline information and perioperative clinical data were compared between HPS and non-HPS patients.Serum levels of VEGF family members and their receptors were measured.In parallel,HPS rats were established by common bile duct ligation.Liver,lung and serum samples were collected for the evaluation of pathophysiologic changes,as well as the expression levels of the above factors.Results:In HPS rats,all VEGF family members and their receptors underwent significant changes;however,only soluble VEGFR1(sFlt-1)and the sFlt-1/placental growth factor(PLGF)ratio were changed in almost the same manner as those in HPS patients.Furthermore,through feature selection and internal and external validation,sFlt-1 and the sFlt-1/PLGF ratio were identified as the most important variables to distinguish HPS from non-HPS patients.Conclusions:Our results from animal and human studies indicate that sFlt-1 and the sFlt-1/PLGF ratio in serum are potential markers for HPS.