Search

The importance of diagnosing and preventing intraoperative hypothermia has come into the focus of interest in the past decade. It has been proved that core temperature decreases by 1-3 degrees C during the course of long-time anesthesias. As well as it has been proven that even mild hypothermia (core temperature less than 36 degrees C) leads to numerous perioperative complications influencing the outcome of the patients, such as perioperative cardiac abnormalities, increased bleeding risk and need for transfusion, decreased metabolism of the medications as well as prolonged wound healing process. It is also clear that treatment of intraoperative hypothermia may double the perioperative costs. Therefore, in the present review we intend to summarize the recent knowledge on the development, consequences and prevention of intraoperative hypothermia.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multifactorial polysystemic autoimmune disorder. Although life expectance in SLE has been improved by adequate immune suppressive therapy, the importance of chronic renal failure has not been reduced. Among late complications of the disease accelerated atherosclerosis attempts increasing attention. Dyslipoproteinemia and increased concentration of lipoproteins are important risk factors of atherosclerotic cardiovascular complication in SLE. Serum lipid parameters of 50 patients with lupus were examined in the present work. Thirty patients had histologically proven lupus nephritis (LN+), while the other group did not have renal involvement (LN-). Serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL-C and apolipoprotein B (apoB) concentrations were significantly higher in the lupus nephritis (LN+) group. On the other hand, HDL-C and apoAI levels were also elevated in patients with LN. As a consequence of that, LDL-C/HDL-C and the apoB/apoAI ratios did not differ between patients with or without kidney involvement. This concluded the authors to measure the concentration of lipoprotein (a) in SLE patients, as Lp(a) is known to be an independent risk factor of atherosclerosis. Results indicated a significantly increased Lp(a) concentration in patients with lupus nephritis as compared to the LN- group. All but 2 patients without kidney involvement had lower than 100 mg/L Lp(a) concentration, while 27% of patients with lupus nephritis has an Lp(a) level between 100-300 mg/L. Further more, Lp(a) concentration was higher than 300 mg/L in 13% of the LN+ group. In a good correlation of these observations patients with nephritis suffered more frequently from deep venous thrombosis and ischaemic heart disease. The frequencies of hypertension and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus were slightly elevated in patients with nephritis. Present results suggest the importance of elevated lipoprotein (a) concentration in patients with lupus nephritis, further increasing the risk of athero-thrombotic cardiovascular complications.