Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: Because deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is one of the most common problems in the intensive care unit, it may lead to complecating the patient's general condition. This study aimed to investigate the predictive factors of DVT in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Amin hospital in Isfahan.
Methods: In this retrospective study, all the records of patients admitted to the ICU ward of Amin Hospital located in Esfahan, from April 2015 to March 2018, were investigated and from all patients with DVT, 20 records were extracted and 40 cases of patients without DVT were also randomly selected. Information such as age, sex, Wells score, Apache score, nutritional status, clinical parameters, cause of hospitalization, length of stay, ICU induced disease and treatment were extracted from these records and compared between both groups with and without DVT.

Conclusion: In the general intensive care unit, the incidence of deep vein thrombosis was higher in internal ward patients. Pneumonia was the most common disease associated with deep vein thrombosis and the risk of deep vein thrombosis was higher in the anemic patient. Patients with upper limited normal levels of potassium were less likely to develop deep vein thrombosis. It seems that potassium in the upper limit of normal reference can play a protective role against deep vein thrombosis. Further studies with larger sample sizes are suggested.

Background: Phacoemulsification surgery is one of the most common surgeries in the world. Various drugs have been used alone or in combination with each other to provide effective and safe sedation in patients, but so far, a drug method agreed upon by anesthesiologists has not been proposed. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the sedative quality of midazolam or propofol with a low dose of ketamine in phacoemulsification surgery.
Methods: This study was a double-blind randomized clinical trial conducted from November 2017 to August 2019 at Faiz Hospital, Isfahan. In this study, 68 patients were assigned in the groups of midazolam (M) and propofol (P) using randomization software entered the study. The midazolam (M) group received 0.04 mg/kg and the propofol (P) group received 0.5 mg/kg, then in both groups, ketamine 0.3 mg/kg was injected intravenously. The quality of sedation, cardiovascular response and patient and surgeon satisfaction were assessed and recorded. Data were entered into SPSS 23 software and analyzed by using ANOVA and Independent samples t‐test.

Background: The risk of anesthesia increases with age, so it is necessary to choose a safe and effective method. In this study, we compared the effectiveness of intranasal fentanyl with intravenous fentanyl in patients undergoing cataract surgery.
Methods: This study was a triple-blind prospective randomized clinical trial (The patient, physician, and data analyzer were unaware of the patient grouping). The study was performed from April 2017 to March 2019 in Feyz Hospital, Isfahan, Iran. 90 patients over 18 years of age who were candidates for cataract surgery were included in the study and were divided in two groups receiving intravenous fentanyl (IVF) or intranasal fentanyl (INF). The dose of fentanyl in both groups was 1.5 μg/kg with a maximum of 100 μg. In the IVF group, 1 ml of normal saline was dripped into each nasal passage 10 minutes before surgery and intravenously fentanyl was injected 2 minutes before surgery. In the INF group, 1 ml of fentanyl was administered into each nostril 10 minutes before surgery and 2 ml of saline was administered intravenously two minutes before surgery.

Background: Cataracts are the leading diseases that cause blindness. Cataracts can be treated with surgery. Pain, itching, burning, and a foreign body sensation in the eye are common ocular complaints of patients in recovery. In this study, we compared the effect of Ketorolac eye drops and naphazoline antazoline eye drops on reducing complaints of surgery.
Methods: This randomized clinical trial study was performed from February 2016 to March 2017 on patients who were candidates for cataract surgery at Feyz University Hospital in Isfahan, Iran.  In this study, 54 patients were enrolled in two groups receiving Ketorolac eye drops and naphazoline antazoline (NA) eye drops. After the operation, patients' ocular complaints such as burning, itching, pain, and severity were evaluated every 15 minutes in recovery and every half hour in the ward until discharge from the hospital.
Results: In this study, 54 patients in two groups of 27 were studied. In the post-anesthesia care unit, the burning sensation in the naphazoline-antazoline group was significantly lower than in the ketorolac group (P=0.02). Patients in the NA group had less foreign body sensation in the eye in recovery (P=0.97) and the ward (P<0.001) than in the ketorolac group. Mean Pain intensity in the recovery unit (P=0.39) and ward unit in the ketorolac group were less than NA (P<0.001). In the recovery unit in the NA group, the eye-burning sensation was significantly lower than in the ketorolac group. The foreign body sensation in the NA group was less than the ketorolac group but there was no significant difference between the two groups. In the NA group, itching of the eyes was less than in the ketorolac group.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that ketorolac drops have been more effective in reducing post-operative eye pain than NA and NA drops have been more effective in reducing burning, itching and foreign body sensation in the eyes than Ketorolac.

Background: Coronavirus in 2019 was recognized as one of the leading causes of death worldwide. According to reports, the mortality rate in people who need mechanical ventilation varies from 50 to 97 percent. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of Covid-19 disease based on different characteristics in patients and mechanically ventilated variables.
Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 160 patients with a definite diagnosis of Covid-19 who were under mechanical ventilation and admitted to the intensive care unit of Alzahra Hospital in Isfahan from March 2020 to March 2021. Data was collected by checklist. The checklist included demographic information, including age, gender, as well as information such as underlying diseases, disease outcome, length of hospitalization, etc. After collecting the data, they were analyzed in SPSS software version 22 and at a significance level of less than 0.05.

Results: In this study, the overall mortality rate among mechanically ventilated patients was 62.5%. The mean age of patients was 69.99±17.87 years and the mean duration of hospitalization in surviving patients was 15.47±11.73 days and for deceased ones was 55.21±69.14 days. The mean age of the deceased group (65.71±16.59) was significantly higher than the surviving group 53±21.17 was (P=0.0001). The length of hospital stay in the deceased group was significantly longer than the surviving group (P=0.005). As a result, ventilator mode and inotropic agent intake during treatment increased the chance of mortality in patients under mechanical ventilation (P=0.001). There was a significant relationship between underlying diseases of hypertension, kidney disease and autoimmune disease with mortality in patients (P<0.05). Conclusion: Various factors including the length of stay in the hospital, comorbidities such as hypertension, renal disease and autoimmunity may affect the outcome of critically ill ICU patients under mechanical ventilation. Patients who require long-term invasive ventilation and the use of inotropic drugs to maintain their cardiovascular status while hospitalized in the ICU are at higher risk for mortality.

Background: To improve the quality of sedation in procedures, different medications are used alone or in combination with each other, but so far, no administration method that is agreed upon by anesthesiologists has been presented. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness and safety of intranasal ketamine in comparison with intravenous ketamine in cataract surgery.
Methods: This clinical trial was performed from December 2016 to March 2017 in Feyz Hospital, Isfahan. Ninety patients over the age of 18 who were candidates for cataracts surgery were randomly assigned to receive 1 mg/kg ketamine through the nasal route (INk) or intravenously (IVK). Ten minutes before the surgery, ketamine was administered in the INK group and intranasal saline in the IVK group. Two minutes before the start of surgery, normal saline was administered in the INK group and ketamine was administered intravenously in the IVK group. Patients received intravenous midazolam 0.04 mg/kg during prep and drape. The quality of sedation and analgesia, vital signs, patient and doctor satisfaction, and side effects were recorded during the study period. Data were analyzed using of SPSS software, version 23 (IBM SPSS, Armonk, NY, USA).

Results: In this study, 90 people were included in the study, 53 of whom (58.9%) were men. The mean age of the patients was 61.5±10.6. Two groups had a significant difference in terms of gender (P=0.696), age (P=0.960), weight (P=0.212), height (P=0.632), underlying disease (P=0.094), and type of disease (P=0.090). Two groups were not significantly different in terms of mean heart rate (P=0.77), mean arterial blood pressure (P=0.13), mean blood oxygen saturation (P=0.58), patient satisfaction (P=0.470) and surgeon satisfaction (P=0.115), pain intensity (P=0.506), level of sedation level (P=0.477) and side effects (P=0.221). Conclusion: Intranasal administration of ketamine provides similar sedation and cardiovascular response compared to intravenous administration of ketamine. Administering ketamine intranasally is a non-invasive, safe and effective method with easy application and can be a suitable alternative to intravenous administration.

Background: In this study, the effect of intravenous dexamethasone on pain, nausea and vomiting after laparoscopic ovarian surgery was investigated.
Methods: This randomized clinical trial was conducted from June 2019 to March 2019 on patients undergoing laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy in Beheshti Hospital, Isfahan. In this study, 88 patients aged 18 to 45 years were included in the study. Patients were randomly divided into two groups receiving dexamethasone (D) and normal saline (S). Two minutes before induction of anesthesia, the first group received 8 mg (2 ml) of dexamethasone and the second group received normal saline (2 ml). The duration of surgery and stay in recovery, the frequency of pain and nausea and vomiting, the need for analgesic and anti-nausea drugs, and the cardiovascular response during the study were evaluated and recorded.

Results:  No significant difference was seen in terms of demographic characteristics between the two groups (P>0.05). The frequency of pain during recovery (P=0.4) was not significantly different between the two groups, but at 2 hours (P=0.005), 12 hours (P<0.001) and 24 hours after the operation (P=0.005) (P=0) was significantly lower than S group. The frequency of nausea in group D during recovery (P=0.003), 2 hours later (P<0.001), and 12 hours (P=0.002) was significantly lower than group S, but 24 hours after the surgery, there was no significant difference between the two groups (P=0.15). During recovery, there was no vomiting in both groups (P=1), the frequency of vomiting in 2 hours (P=0.003), 12 hours (P<0.002) and 24 hours after the operation (P=0.48) in group D was lower than S. At the time of the study, the dose of diclofenac and metoclopramide received in group D patients was lower than group S. There was no significant difference in cardiovascular response between the two groups during the study (P>0.05). Conclusion: Dexamethasone with a dose of 8 mg before induction of anesthesia can be effective in reducing pain, nausea and vomiting after laparoscopic ovarian surgery and reducing the need for analgesics and anti-nausea drugs.

Background: This study was conducted to compare the effect of two doses of remifentanil infusion on the amount of bleeding, intraoperative hemodynamic changes, and complications after rhinoplasty surgery with general anesthesia.
Methods: This prospective randomized clinical trial study was conducted on 80 patients who were candidates for rhinoplasty from March 1401 to August 1402 in Al-Zahra Hospital, Isfahan, Iran. The participants were divided into two groups of 40 people using random allocation software. remifentanil infusion was adjusted in the first group with a dose of 0.15-0.25 mg/kg/min and in the second group with a dose of 0.25-0.35 mg/kg/min. The goal was to maintain mean arterial pressure (MAP) between 60 and 65 mmHg, to achieve this goal, reducing or increasing the rate of remifentanil infusion was used. During the operation, a heart rate of less than 50 beats per minute was considered bradycardia and was treated with atropine 0.015 mg/kg. In addition, the remifentanil infusion rate was reduced if MAP fell below 60 mmHg for more than 60 seconds. Patients were evaluated and compared during operation and recovery in terms of hemodynamic parameters, intraoperative bleeding and postoperative complications.

Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in the changes of hemodynamic parameters during surgery and recovery (P>0.05). The average bleeding volume in the two groups receiving remifentanil 0.15-0.25 mcg/kg/min and 0.25-0.35 mcg/kg/min Remifentanil was 44.25±23.1 and 28.25±15.5 ml, respectively, and the difference between the two groups was significant (P<0.001). According to the surgeon's opinion, intraoperative bleeding in the 0.25-0.35 mcg/kg/min remifentanil group was significantly lower than 0.15-0.25 (P=0.001). Conclusion: According to the findings of the present study, it seems that the use of 0.25-0.35 min/µg/kg dose of remifentanil compared to 0.15-0.25 min/µg/kg dose, is associated with a significant reduction in bleeding during rhinoplasty, and also the use of this dose is not associated with the occurrence of serious hemodynamic disorders, including bradycardia and severe drop in blood pressure.