 | Maya Air Embolism Animation - Uni Project 1st year maya animation - virtual anatomy. we had to animate a process that is impossible for us to see with our own eyes, so here is my interpretation of an air embolism in the blood stream. |
 | Cerebral Arterial Air Embolism By Dale Mertes. This visualization was originally created as four PowerPoint slides by Dr. Javad Hekmatpanah (Professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Cancer Research). This visualization was originally created as four PowerPoint slides by Dr. Javad Hekmatpanah (Professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Cancer Research). Dr. Hekmatpanah was interested in having a moving visualization rather than a static image for his presentations to better illustrate the process of cerebral arterial air embolism. This 3D visualization shows three stages of a cerebral arterial air embolism. The beginning of the 3D visualization shows the cerebral arterial and venus system represented in red and blue. Stage 1 shows a small capillary obstruction, stage 2 shows a medium-size artery obstruction, and stage 3 shows a massive and bilateral obstruction of a cerebral artery. |
 | Preventing Problems with Hemodialysis Catheters Hemodialysis catheters, both implanted and non-implanted, are often used as "bridge" devices until a patient's AV graft or native fistula is ready to be used. But if the catheter inadvertently separates from the venous blood line or is otherwise compromised, serious patient injury can occur. FDA has received a number of reports describing hemodialysis catheters that have separated, leaked, cracked, torn, or broken. These catheter problems have led to patient infections, air embolisms, blood loss, and even death. A recent FDA article in the journal Nursing2007 describes one case where a patient's venous blood line separated from the catheter about ten minutes after starting dialysis. Shortly after the venous blood line was clamped, the patient complained of shortness of breath. Despite swift and appropriate intervention, the patient died of an air embolism. Here are some precautions: • Use the vascular access site only for hemodialysis. • Use luer connections or tape with hemodialysis catheters and tubing as your facility's protocol indicates. • During dialysis, monitor catheters and arterial and venous blood line tubing for cracks, tears, or breaks of the catheter hub or luer connection. Remember, alarms may not sound if a catheter separates from the venous blood line, because the alarm triggers only when the pressure in the venous blood line falls below the limit set by the user. • Make sure the catheter site remains visible during treatment. Remove sheets and blankets if necessary. • If a catheter separates from the blood line tubing, or the integrity of the catheter is compromised in any other way, follow the facility's policy for preventing air embolism and infection, including clamping the line immediately. |
 | TEE Inf wall air embolism |
 | More Patient Deaths from Luer Misconnections (Oct. 2007) A recent FDA article in the publication "Safe Practices in Patient Care" highlights the serious errors that continue to occur when different devices that use Luer fittings are mistakenly connected to each other. (NOTE: See link to complete article for FREE Continuing Education (CE) credit for nurses.) Luer connectors, fittings and locks are widely used because they are inexpensive and easy to use. But the connector design also makes it easy for unrelated delivery systems to be connected to each other, sometimes with disastrous results. Some of these incidents occurred when tubing from a portable blood pressure monitor was mistakenly connected to the patient's IV line, causing fatal air emboli. In another case, an air supply hose from a pneumatic compression device was inadvertently hooked up to a needleless IV tubing port. The FDA article describes still other kinds of misconnections. For example, during a lithotripsy procedure, an ultrasonic lithotripter suction hose was incorrectly inserted into the roller pump. Instead of debris from the fractured stone being suctioned from the kidney, air was pumped into it. The hose was reconnected after the mistake was discovered, but the patient went into cardiac arrest and died shortly afterwards. And in yet another example, a patient misconnected her Foley catheter to her nasogastric (NG) tube. She was found with the Foley catheter disconnected from the drainage bag but with one end still in her bladder. The other end was connected to her NG tube, and urine was going into her stomach. All these examples show that these misconnections can occur with a wide variety of devices, and in any clinical setting. In 2006, JCAHO responded to these kinds of events by issuing a Sentinel Event Alert. JCAHO's alert lists a number of recommendations to help prevent these kinds of mistakes. Here are some of them: • Do not purchase non-IV equipment with connectors that can physically mate with a female IV Luer connector. • Always trace a tube or catheter before connecting any new device or infusion. • When a patient arrives in a new setting or service, as part of the hand-off process, recheck connections and trace all patient tubes and catheters to their sources. • Inform non-clinical staff, patients, and their families that they must get help from clinical staff whenever their devices or infusions need to be connected or disconnected. • Never use a standard Luer syringe for oral medications or enteric feedings. • Be sure to emphasize the risk of tubing misconnections in orientation and training curricula. Additional Information: Gallauresi B, Eakle M, Morrison A. Misconnections between medical devices with Luer connectors: under-recognized but potentially fatal events in clinical practice, Safe Practices in Patient Care. Volume 3, No. 2. (Click on link for FREE CE credit) http://www.safe-practices.org/SafePractice8.pdf |
 | Luer Lock Misconnections can be Deadly (December 2005) This story originally aired in December 2005. In this Special Edition of PSN, we are repeating some of the most important safety issues that continue to pose a public health problem. Luer fittings, connectors, and locks are small, inexpensive, and convenient. They're commonly used to connect many medical devices, components, and accessories. Unfortunately, because they're so easy to use, health care personnel may mistakenly connect the wrong devices and then deliver a substance through the wrong route. These kinds of errors can cause serious injury or even death. Previously, we described incidents where tubing from a portable blood pressure monitor was mistakenly connected to the patient's IV line, causing fatal air emboli. In another case, an air supply hose from a pneumatic compression device was inadvertently hooked up to a needleless IV tubing port. A recent FDA article in the journal Nursing2005 reports on these and other types of misconnections between devices with luer connectors. In one case, while a patient was being repositioned, his I.V. tubing became disconnected. It was inadvertently reconnected to the inflation port of his tracheal cuff. The I.V. fluid infused into the cuff, causing an acute airway obstruction, and the patient suffered respiratory arrest and died. In another example, a ventilator-dependent patient was receiving enteral nutrition after an aortic aneurysm repair. The enteral nutrition tubing was inadvertently connected to the patient's central line after a diagnostic test was performed. The patient received about 45 ml of enteral feeding solution intravenously. The FDA article describes some precautions to help prevent these deadly mix-ups. • First, teach staff to carefully inspect and then follow the proper connector sequence when connecting tubing and device components. • Read and follow the equipment manufacturers' recommendations and precautions, especially about compatibility with other devices. • Don't modify I.V. or feeding devices because doing so may compromise the safety features built into their design • Consider using devices that are specifically designed for safety, to reduce the risk of misconnections. • And tell patients and family members that they must ask clinical staff for help when they need to disconnect and reconnect equipment because they could easily connect the wrong devices. |
 | scuba diving injury pulmonary barotrauma gas embolism The video reveals a simulation of an alveolar rupture secondary to decompression with lungs full of air from the outset and the breath held (alveolus not sized to scale). In this simulation, starting pressure is approximately 1.2 ATA (6 fsw) and equalized across the alveolar membrane through the use of a multiplace hyperbaric chamber. Alveolar rupture occurs after pressure external to the model alveolus is reduced by approximately 92 mmHg (4 fsw). This phenomenon occurred reliably across a range of starting pressures of up to 6 ATA (165 fsw). Such events occurring in humans (e.g., scuba divers) may lead to a serious clinical condition called arterial gas embolism. The mean pressure differential required to rupture the model alveolus (92 mmHg or 4 fsw) is similar to that estimated to cause the rupture of the human alveolus (80 mmHg or 3.47 fsw). |
 | Pakistan, IPL Cricket - Shaoib Akhtar Unseen 2008 Saturday 17 May 2008 Syringe A syringe nowadays nearly always means a medical syringe, but it can mean any of these: A simple hand-powered piston pump consisting of a plunger that can be pulled and pushed along inside a cylindrical tube (the barrel), which has a small hole on one end, so it can suck liquid in and then squirt it out by the same hole. The word "syringe" came from the Greek συριγξ = "tube" via extracting a new singular from its Greek-type plural "syringes" (συριγγες); see also syrinx. In former times the word "syringe" also meant big two-handed pumps of this type used e.g. as early firefighting water pumps. Nowadays the word "syringe" is restricted to smaller devices, used to transfer small amounts of liquids or gases to or from otherwise inaccessible areas, including particularly hypodermic syringes used with a needle for injection. As a result, jet injectors are sometimes called syringes. Distinguish from syrinx. Also, some people use "syringes" as the plural of "syrinx". One medical survival of the word "syringe" for uses other than injection, is in "syringing an ear out", i.e. washing unwanted matter out of the external ear canal. Medical syringes Hypodermic syringes are used with hypodermic needles to inject liquid or gases into body tissues, or to remove from the body. Injecting of air into a blood vessel is undesirable, as it may cause an air embolism; preventing embolisms by removing air from the syringe is one of the reasons for the familiar image of holding a hypodermic syringe upside down, tapping it, and expelling a small amount of liquid before an injection into the bloodstream. However, the primary reason air bubbles are removed from the syringe prior to injection is to make sure an accurate dosage is delivered. The barrel of a syringe is made of plastic or glass, and usually has graduated marks indicating the volume of fluid in the syringe, and is nearly always transparent. Glass syringes may be sterilized in an autoclave. However, most modern medical syringes are plastic with a rubber piston, because this type seals much better between the piston and the barrel and because they are cheap enough to dispose of after being used only once, reducing the risk of spreading blood-borne diseases. Re-use of needles and syringes has caused spread of diseases, especially HIV and Hepatitis among intravenous drug users. Syringes are commonly re-used by diabetics and this is safe, if the syringe is only used by one person. Medical syringes are sometimes used without a needle for orally administering liquid medicines to young children or animals, or milk to small young animals, because the dose can be measured accurately, and it is easier to squirt the medicine into the subject's mouth instead of coaxing the subject to drink out of a measuring spoon. |
 | More Patient Deaths from Luer Misconnections (October 2007) September 2008- This story originally aired in October 2007. In this special edition of FDA PSN, we are repeating some of the most important safety issues that continue to pose a public health concern. A recent FDA article in the publication "Safe Practices in Patient Care" highlights the serious errors that continue to occur when different devices that use Luer fittings are mistakenly connected to each other. (NOTE: See link to complete article for FREE Continuing Education (CE) credit for nurses.) Luer connectors, fittings and locks are widely used because they are inexpensive and easy to use. But the connector design also makes it easy for unrelated delivery systems to be connected to each other, sometimes with disastrous results. Some of these incidents occurred when tubing from a portable blood pressure monitor was mistakenly connected to the patient's IV line, causing fatal air emboli. In another case, an air supply hose from a pneumatic compression device was inadvertently hooked up to a needleless IV tubing port. The FDA article describes still other kinds of misconnections. For example, during a lithotripsy procedure, an ultrasonic lithotripter suction hose was incorrectly inserted into the roller pump. Instead of debris from the fractured stone being suctioned from the kidney, air was pumped into it. The hose was reconnected after the mistake was discovered, but the patient went into cardiac arrest and died shortly afterwards. And in yet another example, a patient misconnected her Foley catheter to her nasogastric (NG) tube. She was found with the Foley catheter disconnected from the drainage bag but with one end still in her bladder. The other end was connected to her NG tube, and urine was going into her stomach. All these examples show that these misconnections can occur with a wide variety of devices, and in any clinical setting. In 2006, The Joint Commission (TJC) responded to these kinds of events by issuing a Sentinel Event Alert. TJC's alert lists a number of recommendations to help prevent these kinds of mistakes. Here are some of them: • Do not purchase non-IV equipment with connectors that can physically mate with a female IV Luer connector. • Always trace a tube or catheter before connecting any new device or infusion. • When a patient arrives in a new setting or service, as part of the hand-off process, recheck connections and trace all patient tubes and catheters to their sources. • Inform non-clinical staff, patients, and their families that they must get help from clinical staff whenever their devices or infusions need to be connected or disconnected. • Never use a standard Luer syringe for oral medications or enteric feedings. • Be sure to emphasize the risk of tubing misconnections in orientation and training curricula. |
 | Ayurvedic Treatment Saves 3 Time Stroke Patient (Part 4) Contributed by: (http://www.india-herbs.com): What is a stroke? A stroke is serious - just like a heart attack. A stroke is sometimes called a "brain attack." Most often, stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain stops because it is blocked by a clot. The brain cells in the immediate area begin to die because they stop getting the oxygen and nutrients they need to function. What causes a stroke? There are two kinds of stroke. The most common kind of stroke, called ischemic stroke, is caused by a blood clot that blocks or plugs a blood vessel in the brain. The other kind of stroke, called hemorrhagic stroke, is caused by a blood vessel that breaks and bleeds into the brain. Know the Signs. Act in Time Stroke Symptoms Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg (especially on one side of the body) Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding speech Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination Sudden severe headache with no known cause Causes of stroke There are two main causes of stroke 1. The most common type of stroke is a blockage. This is called an ischaemic stroke, which happens when a clot blocks an artery that carries blood to the brain. It may be caused by: a cerebral thrombosis, when a blood clot (thrombus) forms in a main artery to the brain; a cerebral embolism, when a blockage caused by a blood clot, air bubble or fat globule (embolism) forms in a blood vessel somewhere else in the body and is carried in the bloodstream to the brain; or a blockage in the tiny blood vessels deep within the brain (lacunar stroke). 2. The second type of stroke is a bleed, when a blood vessel bursts, causing bleeding (haemorrhage) into the brain. This is called a haemorrhagic stroke. It may be caused by: an intracerebral haemorrhage, when a blood vessel bursts within the brain; or a subarachnoid haemorrhage, when a blood vessel on the surface of the brain bleeds into the area between the brain and the skull (subarachnoid space). How is a stroke diagnosed? Time is critical in diagnosing and treating a stroke. The first step will be a physical exam and tests of your brain function, followed by a type of X-ray called a CT scan of the brain to establish the type of stroke-ischemic or hemorrhagic. This distinction is critical because the medicine given for an ischemic stroke (tissue plasminogen activator, or t-PA) could be life-threatening if given to someone with a hemorrhagic stroke (bleeding in the brain). A prompt diagnosis is also crucial because t-PA should be given within 3 hours of when your symptoms began. How is it treated? Ischemic stroke: Doctors will first stabilize your condition and try to restore or improve blood flow to the brain. If less than 3 hours have passed since your symptoms began, tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA), a clot-dissolving medicine, may be given. Research shows that the medicine can improve recovery from a stroke, especially if given within 90 minutes of your first symptoms.1 Hemorrhagic stroke: Treatment for a hemorrhagic stroke is difficult. It includes monitoring and controlling bleeding and pressure in the brain and other efforts to stabilize vital signs, especially blood pressure. After your initial emergency treatment, health professionals will focus on preventing complications such as pneumonia and future strokes. Your health professional will also involve you in a stroke rehabilitation program as soon as possible. Can I prevent a stroke? You can help prevent a stroke by eliminating risk factors. You may lower your risk of stroke if you can control certain diseases or conditions. These include: • High blood pressure (hypertension). High blood pressure is the second most important stroke risk factor after age. • Diabetes. Having diabetes doubles your risk for stroke because of the circulation problems associated with the disease.2 • High cholesterol. High cholesterol can lead to hardening of your arteries (atherosclerosis). Hardening of the arteries can cause coronary artery disease and heart attack, which can damage the heart muscle and increase your risk of stroke. |
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![Daily flights from NYC to Mont Tremblant\](images/articles/thumbs/nytremblantthumb.jpg "Daily flights from NYC to Mont Tremblant\")
