What's New | Decker

The cholinesterase inhibitors donepezil, galantamine, and rivastigmine have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of AD dementia.
Patients with mild to moderate AD dementia are the appropriate candidates for cholinesterase inhibitor therapy. These patients need a designated caregiver to supervise the use of the medication.
Support for and empowerment of the caregivers of dementia patients must be an integral part of management. The emotional and physical health of caregivers is critical to long-term outcomes.

The cholinesterase inhibitors donepezil, galantamine, and rivastigmine have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of AD dementia.
Patients with mild to moderate AD dementia are the appropriate candidates for cholinesterase inhibitor therapy. These patients need a designated caregiver to supervise the use of the medication.
Support for and empowerment of the caregivers of dementia patients must be an integral part of management. The emotional and physical health of caregivers is critical to long-term outcomes.

Pulmonary hypertension can be treated with single or combination therapy employing calcium channel blockers, phosphodiesterase inhibitors, guanylate cyclase stimulators, endothelin receptor antagonists, and prostanoids.
Levosimendan is a calcium sensitizer used to treat cardiogenic shock and right heart failure.
Clevidipine is an ultra-rapid acting calcium channel blocker used for perioperative hypertension management in cardiovascular and vascular diseases, neurosurgery, and surgery for pheochromocytoma.

In a 2015 population-based, cross-sectional study conducted by the United Kingdom Obstetric Surveillance System on women requiring massive postpartum transfusion for PPH, uterine atony was found to be responsible 40% of the time. Atony represents a large proportion of cases of PPH, and its incidence is on the rise. Over recent years, we have observed a significant rise in the rate of PPH attributed to uterine atony not only in the United States but also worldwide.
Originally described in 1997, the B-Lynch compression suture is an effective and easily used tool for the management of PPH. This technique involves placing brace sutures over the fundus of the uterus to apply ongoing compression of the uterus.
The correct ratio of packed red blood cells to fresh frozen plasma to platelets in the setting of obstetrical hemorrhage remains controversial. Most experts advocate for a 1:1:1 ratio in the setting of active bleeding, whereas others advocate for 6:4:1 or 2:1 (with platelets to be given after the first 4:2).

Sepsis syndromes have been redefined (Sepsis-3 definitions) by international experts, based on sepsis mortality data extracted large administrative databases.
National focus has turned to early identification of sepsis as a key determinant of outcomes. International critical care experts have recommended using the qSOFA criteria in the Emergency Department setting to identify sepsis risk in patients prior to obtaining diagnostics.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has added a sepsis quality measure (SEP-1) as a reporting requirement for all US hospital tied to Medicare & Medicaid reimbursement. This measure has increased awareness of sepsis performance and focused quality efforts on improvement.
2018 update to bundles to simplify to 1-hour bundle.

Bactericidal antibiotics are used parenterally in high doses. With the exception of PVE caused by staphylococci, antimicrobial therapy for PVE caused by a specific organism uses the same drugs recommended for native valve endocarditis.
Endocarditis caused by relatively penicillin-resistant (MIC = 0.2 to 0.5 µg/mL) viridans or other nonenterococcal streptococci is treated with a higher dose of penicillin G combined with gentamicin. If the strain is even more resistant to penicillin (MIC > 0.5 µg/mL), the infection is treated with one of the standard regimens for enterococcal endocarditis.
Operative intervention to débride infected perivalvular tissue or to replace or reconstruct a dysfunctioning valve is important in the management of complicated infective endocarditis that involves either a native or a prosthetic valve. Overall, surgery is indicated in 25 to 40% of patients with infective endocarditis, and up to 45% of patients undergo surgery during the active phase of their disease.

We anticipate that the implementation of breast reconstruction-specific QoL evaluations and patient-reported outcomes measures to guide flap choice and design will continue to gain popularity and validity in the coming years.
Experience with pedicled perforator flaps such as the ICAP, SAAP, SEAP, and will continue to advance, making these flaps more reliable over time.
Multimodal pain control regimens, including acetaminophen, neuropathic pain agents, and novel local anesthetic blocks, may allow for significantly earlier discharge after pedicled breast reconstruction.

Microbiologic studies are critical for characterizing infections. Gram stains and cultures of wound tissue, pus, sputum, urine, and drainage effluent are generally very useful. Identification of not only the particular organism involved but also of its specific antimicrobial susceptibility has become common practice in most hospital clinical laboratories.
Treatment of CAUTI requires removal or change of the catheter along with systemic antimicrobial therapy. The predominant microorganisms causing CAUTI in the ICU are enteric gram-negative bacilli, Candida species, enterococci, staphylococci, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Multidrug resistance is a significant problem in urinary pathogens

Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology