AIM To assess the practice of caring for acute liver failure(ALF) patients in varying geographic locations and medical centers.METHODS Members of the European Acute Liver Failure Consortium completed an 88-item questi...AIM To assess the practice of caring for acute liver failure(ALF) patients in varying geographic locations and medical centers.METHODS Members of the European Acute Liver Failure Consortium completed an 88-item questionnaire detailing management of ALF. Responses from 22 transplantation centers in 11 countries were analyzed,treating between 300 and 500 ALF cases and performing over 100 liver transplants(LT) for ALF annually. The questions pertained to details of the institution and their clinical activity,standards of care,referral and admission,wardbased care versus intensive care unit(ICU) as well as questions regarding liver transplantation- including criteria,limitations,and perceived performance. Clinical data was also collected from 13 centres over a 3 mo period. RESULTS The interval between referral and admission of ALF patients to specialized units was usually less than 24 h and once admitted,treatment was provided by a multidisciplinary team. Principles of care of patients with ALF were similar among centers,particularly in relation to recognition of severity and care of the more critically ill. Centers exhibited similarities in thresholds for ICU admission and management of severe hepatic encephalopathy. Over 80% of centers administered n-acetyl-cysteine to ICU patients for non-paracetamolrelated ALF. There was significant divergence in the use of prophylactic antibiotics and anti-fungals,lactulose,nutritional support and imaging investigations in admitted patients and in the monitoring and treatment of intra-cranial pressure(ICP). ICP monitoring was employed in 12 centers,with the most common indications being papilledema and renal failure. Most patients listed for transplantation underwent surgery within an average waiting time of 1-2 d. Over a period of 3 mo clinical data from 85 ALF patients was collected. Overall patient survival at 90-d was 76%. Thirty six percent of patients underwent emergency LT,with a 90% post transplant survival to hospital discharge,42% survived with medical management alone. CONCLUSION Alongside similarities in principles of care of ALF patients,major areas of divergence were present in key areas of diagnosis,monitoring,treatment and decision to transplant.展开更多
Water is the key medium to transport numerous constituents and to provide a platform for physiological processes to take place in the living organisms in general;it also participates actively in many of these processe...Water is the key medium to transport numerous constituents and to provide a platform for physiological processes to take place in the living organisms in general;it also participates actively in many of these processes. In humans, there are different vehicles to contain water and its constituents. Our objective is to find out whether there is an overall water-base circulation system in the human body by analyzing the updated findings of different research groups on the physiological functions of various seemingly isolated fluid systems. By 1963, there were five separate fluid systems discovered in mammalians: (i) The Primo Vasculature Fluid (PVF) with protein precursors and micro cells held in the Primo Vasculature System (PVS). (ii) Blood with its constituents held in the cardio vasculature. (iii) Extracranial interstitial fluid (ISF) whose vehicle had a very irregular structure—the interstitium all over the body. (iv) The cerebrospinal fluid had been considered to be within the brain ventricles and spinal canal. (v) The extra-cranial lymphatic system which drained ISF, and had been known to join the subclavian vein. Fluid (i) was first reported in 1963 and fluids (ii) to (v) have been known for many decades, but the failure to detect a lymphatic system inside the skull has also been a mystery for many decades. The intra-cranial ISF (which we name as BISF) has drawn little attention, apart from discussing the mechanism of the blood-brain-barrier. During the past decade, there has been direct evidence indicating that CSF and BISF are actually mixed. After that, the intracranial lymphatic system was discovered and confirmed in animal models only slightly over one year back, and we called such fluid as glymphatic-fluid. After reviewing the stated “classical” five fluid systems together with the new findings in Sections 2 - 7, we propose, for the first time, that the PVF, the blood, ISF, a mixture of CSF-BISF, and a mixture of glymphatic-fluid and lymph form an integrative circulation system in water base in the human and other mammalian bodies, as schematically represented in the last section. In this paper, we point out the positive correlation of chronic neuro degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s diseases and the insufficient brain wastes clearance by the glymphatic system. We also discuss the role played by the venous vessels as part of such clearance in upright posture. Moreover, simple non-invasive maneuver techniques are introduced here, as one example of enhancement of glymphatic fluid flow out of the skull to join the lymphatic system. A series of questions are raised in Section 8, the answers to which would help us to understand the transition from physio- to pathological states in the development of many diseases. Detailed analysis of this paper leads us to consider that research in understanding this integrative circulation system is only at the infancy stage, and fluid dynamics investigation seems to be the plausible modality of approach in the near future.展开更多
文摘AIM To assess the practice of caring for acute liver failure(ALF) patients in varying geographic locations and medical centers.METHODS Members of the European Acute Liver Failure Consortium completed an 88-item questionnaire detailing management of ALF. Responses from 22 transplantation centers in 11 countries were analyzed,treating between 300 and 500 ALF cases and performing over 100 liver transplants(LT) for ALF annually. The questions pertained to details of the institution and their clinical activity,standards of care,referral and admission,wardbased care versus intensive care unit(ICU) as well as questions regarding liver transplantation- including criteria,limitations,and perceived performance. Clinical data was also collected from 13 centres over a 3 mo period. RESULTS The interval between referral and admission of ALF patients to specialized units was usually less than 24 h and once admitted,treatment was provided by a multidisciplinary team. Principles of care of patients with ALF were similar among centers,particularly in relation to recognition of severity and care of the more critically ill. Centers exhibited similarities in thresholds for ICU admission and management of severe hepatic encephalopathy. Over 80% of centers administered n-acetyl-cysteine to ICU patients for non-paracetamolrelated ALF. There was significant divergence in the use of prophylactic antibiotics and anti-fungals,lactulose,nutritional support and imaging investigations in admitted patients and in the monitoring and treatment of intra-cranial pressure(ICP). ICP monitoring was employed in 12 centers,with the most common indications being papilledema and renal failure. Most patients listed for transplantation underwent surgery within an average waiting time of 1-2 d. Over a period of 3 mo clinical data from 85 ALF patients was collected. Overall patient survival at 90-d was 76%. Thirty six percent of patients underwent emergency LT,with a 90% post transplant survival to hospital discharge,42% survived with medical management alone. CONCLUSION Alongside similarities in principles of care of ALF patients,major areas of divergence were present in key areas of diagnosis,monitoring,treatment and decision to transplant.
文摘Water is the key medium to transport numerous constituents and to provide a platform for physiological processes to take place in the living organisms in general;it also participates actively in many of these processes. In humans, there are different vehicles to contain water and its constituents. Our objective is to find out whether there is an overall water-base circulation system in the human body by analyzing the updated findings of different research groups on the physiological functions of various seemingly isolated fluid systems. By 1963, there were five separate fluid systems discovered in mammalians: (i) The Primo Vasculature Fluid (PVF) with protein precursors and micro cells held in the Primo Vasculature System (PVS). (ii) Blood with its constituents held in the cardio vasculature. (iii) Extracranial interstitial fluid (ISF) whose vehicle had a very irregular structure—the interstitium all over the body. (iv) The cerebrospinal fluid had been considered to be within the brain ventricles and spinal canal. (v) The extra-cranial lymphatic system which drained ISF, and had been known to join the subclavian vein. Fluid (i) was first reported in 1963 and fluids (ii) to (v) have been known for many decades, but the failure to detect a lymphatic system inside the skull has also been a mystery for many decades. The intra-cranial ISF (which we name as BISF) has drawn little attention, apart from discussing the mechanism of the blood-brain-barrier. During the past decade, there has been direct evidence indicating that CSF and BISF are actually mixed. After that, the intracranial lymphatic system was discovered and confirmed in animal models only slightly over one year back, and we called such fluid as glymphatic-fluid. After reviewing the stated “classical” five fluid systems together with the new findings in Sections 2 - 7, we propose, for the first time, that the PVF, the blood, ISF, a mixture of CSF-BISF, and a mixture of glymphatic-fluid and lymph form an integrative circulation system in water base in the human and other mammalian bodies, as schematically represented in the last section. In this paper, we point out the positive correlation of chronic neuro degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s diseases and the insufficient brain wastes clearance by the glymphatic system. We also discuss the role played by the venous vessels as part of such clearance in upright posture. Moreover, simple non-invasive maneuver techniques are introduced here, as one example of enhancement of glymphatic fluid flow out of the skull to join the lymphatic system. A series of questions are raised in Section 8, the answers to which would help us to understand the transition from physio- to pathological states in the development of many diseases. Detailed analysis of this paper leads us to consider that research in understanding this integrative circulation system is only at the infancy stage, and fluid dynamics investigation seems to be the plausible modality of approach in the near future.
