From BBC Health - November 08, 2005 01:33
Hospitals should use a technique which stimulates the heart on major surgery patients, a study says.
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Up to 3,000 lives could be saved if all hospitals used a technique which stimulates the heart of patients who have had major surgery, a study says.
Only a third of hospitals use Goal Directed Therapy (GDT) which ensures oxygen is kept flowing around the body.
But the team from London's St George's Hospital urged all NHS trusts to use it after finding it cut the post-op complications and infections.
The study was featured in the Critical Care journal.
More than three million people undergo surgery each year with 40,000 ending up in intensive care - one of five of whom die.
Organs
GDT uses a special monitoring device attached to a patient which keeps a careful watch of blood flow and the amount of oxygen being delivered to the key organs.
If oxygen levels drop too low, a drug - dopexamine - is given to make the heart beat faster to push more oxygen around.
The team studied 122 intensive care patients, 62 of which received GDT, while the others were given intravenous fluids to keep oxygen levels up.
