Systemic hypothermia to prevent radiocontrast nephropathy (from the COOL-RCN Randomized Trial)

Contrast removal from coronary sinus for prevention of contrast-induced nephropathy: a review

The occurrence of contrast-induced-nephropathy (CIN) is related to the amount of contrast administration. Any removal of contrast from systemic circulation before reaching the kidneys might be beneficial using a device that removes contrast from a coronary sinus (CS). This manuscript aims to review the available literature regarding contrast removal from CS during coronary angiography or intervention for the prevention of CIN.

Effectiveness of contrast-associated acute kidney injury prevention methods; a systematic review and network meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Different methods to prevent contrast-associated acute kidney injury (CA-AKI) have been proposed in recent years. We performed a mixed treatment comparison to evaluate and rank suggested interventions.

METHODS

A comprehensive Systematic review and a Bayesian network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials was completed. Results were tabulated and graphically represented using a network diagram; forest plots and league tables were shown to rank treatments by the surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA). A stacked bar chart rankogram was generated. We performed main analysis with 200 RCTs and three analyses according to contrast media and high or normal baseline renal profile that includes 173, 112 & 60 RCTs respectively.

RESULTS

We have included 200 trials with 42,273 patients and 44 interventions. The primary outcome was CI-AKI, defined as ≥25% relative increase or ≥ 0.5 mg/dl increase from baseline creatinine one to 5 days post contrast exposure. The top ranked interventions through different analyses were Allopurinol, Prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) & Oxygen (0.9647, 0.7809 & 0.7527 in the main analysis). Comparatively, reference treatment intravenous hydration was ranked lower but better than Placebo (0.3124 VS 0.2694 in the main analysis).

CONCLUSION

Multiple CA-AKI preventive interventions have been tested in RCTs. This network evaluates data for all the explored options. The results suggest that some options (particularly allopurinol, PGE1 & Oxygen) deserve further evaluation in a larger well-designed RCTs.

Therapeutic Hypothermia and the Risk of Hemorrhage: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Current guidelines recommend a period of moderate therapeutic hypothermia (TH) for comatose patients after cardiac arrest to improve clinical outcomes. However, in-vitro studies have reported platelet dysfunction, thrombocytopenia, and coagulopathy, results that might discourage clinicians from applying TH in clinical practice. We aimed to quantify the risks of hemorrhage observed in clinical studies.Medline and Embase were searched from inception to October 2015.Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing patients undergoing TH with controls were selected, irrespective of the indications for TH. There were no restrictions for language, population, or publication year.Data on study characteristics, which included patients, details of intervention, and outcome measures, were extracted.Forty-three trials that included 7528 patients were identified from 2692 potentially relevant references. Any hemorrhage was designated as the primary outcome and was reported in 28 studies. The pooled results showed no significant increase in hemorrhage risk associated with TH (risk difference [RD] 0.005; 95% confidence interval [CI] -0.001-0.011; I, 0%). Among secondary outcomes, patients undergoing TH were found to have increased risk of thrombocytopenia (RD 0.109; 95% CI 0.038-0.179; I 57.3%) and transfusion requirements (RD 0.021; 95% CI 0.003-0.040; I 0%). The meta-regression analysis indicated that prolonged duration of cooling may be associated with increased risk of hemorrhage.TH was not associated with increased risk of hemorrhage despite the increased risk of thrombocytopenia and transfusion requirements. Clinicians should cautiously assess each patient's risk-benefit profile before applying TH.

Novel Uses of Targeted Temperature Management

Targeted temperature management has an established role in treating the post-cardiac arrest syndrome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with an initial rhythm of ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation. There is less certain benefit if the initial rhythm is pulseless electrical activity/asystole or for in-hospital cardiac arrest. Targeted temperature management may have a role as salvage modality for conditions causing intracranial hypertension, such as traumatic brain injury, hepatic encephalopathy, intracerebral hemorrhage, and acute stroke. There is variable evidence for its use early in these disorders to minimize secondary neurologic injury.

Device-Based Therapy in the Prevention of Contrast-Induced Nephropathy

Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is a common condition that is associated with short- and, likely, long-term adverse outcomes. Although periprocedural intravenous hydration is the simplest and most widely used technique to prevent CIN, the limited ability of this approach to mitigate the CIN risk in high-risk populations has provided an impetus to develop new preventive strategies. A range of potentially useful device-based approaches offers new preventive techniques. Well-designed and adequately powered randomized studies of these device-based therapies are urgently needed to determine the expanding role they will play in future clinical practice.

Therapeutic hypothermia and the risk of infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

Observational studies suggest that infections are a common complication of therapeutic hypothermia. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials to examine the risk of infections in patients treated with hypothermia.

DATA SOURCES

PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were systematically searched for eligible studies up to October 1, 2012.

STUDY SELECTION

We included randomized controlled clinical trials of therapeutic hypothermia induced in adults for any indication, which reported the prevalence of infection in each treatment group.

DATA EXTRACTION

For each study, we collected information about the baseline characteristics of patients, cooling strategy, and infections.

DATA SYNTHESIS

Twenty-three studies were identified, which included 2,820 patients, of whom 1,398 (49.6%) were randomized to hypothermia. Data from another 31 randomized trials, involving 4,004 patients, could not be included because the occurrence of infection was not reported with sufficient detail or not at all. The risk of bias in the included studies was high because information on the method of randomization and definitions of infections lacked in most cases, and assessment of infections was not blinded. In patients treated with hypothermia, the prevalence of all infections was not increased (rate ratio, 1.21 [95% CI, 0.95-1.54]), but there was an increased risk of pneumonia and sepsis (risk ratios, 1.44 [95% CI, 1.10-1.90]; 1.80 [95% CI, 1.04-3.10], respectively).

CONCLUSION

The available evidence, subject to its limitations, strongly suggests an association between therapeutic hypothermia and the risk of pneumonia and sepsis, whereas no increase in the overall risk of infection was observed. All future randomized trials of hypothermia should report on this important complication.