Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine: Brussels, Belgium. 15-18 March 2016

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.].

[Influence of the intravenous nitroglycerin dose on the appearance of drug tolerance]

BACKGROUND

There are few studies on the influence of different doses of intravenous nitroglycerin (NTG) on the appearance of drug tolerance.

METHODS

A controlled clinical trial was performed in 40 patients admitted to an ICU with the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The patients were divided into two groups: group A with a continuous perfusion of NTG at 2 mg/h, and group B with 4 mg/h. At 30 minutes of the infusion, NTG was exchanged for a placebo in half of the patients of each group (subgroups A1 and B1) with the remaining patients continuing with NTG for 24 h (A2 and B2). The hemodynamic variables studied were central venous pressure (CVP), pulmonary capillary pressure (PCP), mean pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) and mean blood pressure (BP).

RESULTS

The patients in group A showed a decrease in the hemodynamic effects in all the variables studied. At 24 h of infusion no differences were observed with respect to the previous NTG values for CVP and PCP, with significant differences being maintained for PAP and BP. In group B the hemodynamic effect was maintained for all the variables during the 24 hours studied.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with acute myocardial infarction, the dosis of nitroglycerin administered was found to have a determined influence in the appearance of drug tolerance with this fact being more evident on evaluation of the effect of nitroglycerin on the venous system.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation with simultaneous chest and abdominal compression: comparative study in humans

To assess the efficacy of the simultaneous application of chest and abdominal compression (SCAC) in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), we performed a prospective study on 18 patients shortly after cardiac arrest. Three different CPR procedures were carried out consecutively: (1) Standard CPR; (2) CPR interposed with abdominal compression (IAC-CPR); and (3) SCAC-CPR. Standard CPR was repeated at the end of each sequence. Thoracic aortic and right atrial pressures were recorded during maneuvers and no vasoactive drugs were administered. Systolic aortic pressures were 39.02 +/- 21 mmHg, 63.6 +/- 21 mmHg and 94.04 +/- 21 mmHg during standard CPR, IAC-CPR and SCAC-CPR, respectively (P less than 0.001). There was no evidence of intra-abdominal injury in the eight autopsies performed. We have reached the conclusion that the use of SCAC-CPR on humans does produce greater intravascular pressure and we recommend this technique as a possible alternative to standard CPR.

Renal handling of uric acid in normal subjects by means of the pyrazinamide and probenecid tests

Pyrazinamide and probenecid tests were used to study the renal mechanisms for urate excretion in 10 normal subjects in the state of low serum uric acid levels (below 3.5 mg/dl), normal serum urate concentrations (between 3.6 and 6.4 mg/dl) and high serum uric acid levels (above 6.5 mg/dl). Presecretory reabsorption of urate was above 99% in all three conditions of uricemia, indicating that filtered urate is nearly completely reabsorbed in the proximal tubule regardless of serum uric acid concentrations. Urate secretion was significantly higher and postsecretory reabsorption was significantly lower when serum uric acid was raised than when serum urate levels were normal or low. The findings indicate that both urate secretion and postsecretory reabsorption play a role in urate homeostasis in states of hyperuricemia.