AAA Repair Patient Hot Case
GENERAL APPROACH
- Emergency or Elective
- End-organ damage
- Complications
– brain injury
– spinal cord ischaemia
– ileus
– MI
– lower limb ischaemia
– compartment syndromes
– renal injury
INTRODUCTION
CUBICLE
- dialysis
INFUSIONS
- vasoactives
- fluid boluses
- sedation
- analgesia
- transpyloric feeding: ileus, ischaemia
- TPN
VENTILATOR
- mode
- level of support
- level of oxygenation: FiO2, PEEP: ARDS, aspiration, nosocomial pneumonia
- elevated peak AWP: abdominal distension
- high PEEP: basal atelectasis
MONITOR
- ECG: arrhythmia
- CVP: number, waveform
- arterial trace: MAP, swing, pulsus paradoxus, pulse pressure, avoidance of hypertension
- temperature: SIRS
EQUIPMENT
- IDC: oliguria, anuria (multifactorial)
- dialysis
- intra-abdominal pressure measurement
- surgical scars
QUESTION SPECIFIC EXAMINATION
- hands/arms -> head -> chest -> abdo -> legs/feet -> back
-> general: jaundice (reabsorption of massive haematoma)
-> cardiovascular:
-> respiratory:
-> abdominal: incision, groins (puncture sites)
-> lower limbs: pulses, compartment syndrome
- neurological (if hypothermic, comment that will effect neurological assessment)
-> paralysed
-> quick
-> unconscious
-> conscious
- urine output over last 12 hours
- supra/infra-renal clamping
- endo-luminal vs open
- duration of shock prior to clamping
- cross clamp time
- mannitol or frusemide given intra-operatively
- enteral feeding
- lower limb pulses on Doppler
RELEVANT INVESTIGATIONS
- FBC: WCC, Hb, platelets
- CXR
- recent CT abdomen
- other organ failures
- ABG: gas exchange, metabolic state
OPENING STATEMENT
=
- Emergency/Elective
- End-organ function
- Complications
References and Links
Critical Care
Compendium
Chris is an Intensivist and ECMO specialist at the Alfred ICU in Melbourne. He is also a Clinical Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University. He is a co-founder of the Australia and New Zealand Clinician Educator Network (ANZCEN) and is the Lead for the ANZCEN Clinician Educator Incubator programme. He is on the Board of Directors for the Intensive Care Foundation and is a First Part Examiner for the College of Intensive Care Medicine. He is an internationally recognised Clinician Educator with a passion for helping clinicians learn and for improving the clinical performance of individuals and collectives.
After finishing his medical degree at the University of Auckland, he continued post-graduate training in New Zealand as well as Australia’s Northern Territory, Perth and Melbourne. He has completed fellowship training in both intensive care medicine and emergency medicine, as well as post-graduate training in biochemistry, clinical toxicology, clinical epidemiology, and health professional education.
He is actively involved in in using translational simulation to improve patient care and the design of processes and systems at Alfred Health. He coordinates the Alfred ICU’s education and simulation programmes and runs the unit’s education website, INTENSIVE. He created the ‘Critically Ill Airway’ course and teaches on numerous courses around the world. He is one of the founders of the FOAM movement (Free Open-Access Medical education) and is co-creator of litfl.com, the RAGE podcast, the Resuscitology course, and the SMACC conference.
His one great achievement is being the father of three amazing children.
On Twitter, he is @precordialthump.
| INTENSIVE | RAGE | Resuscitology | SMACC