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The administration of glucose‑insulin‑potassium (GIK) has demonstrated cardioprotective effects in cardiac surgery. A 58‑year‑old male with severe disabling back pain due to posterolateral lumbar pseudarthrosis was scheduled for spine surgery. He previously experienced two episodes of acute coronary syndrome that required percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs). Coronary angiogram showed intrastent occlusions and multiple coronary lesions that were not suitable for percutaneous or surgical revascularization. During pharmacological stress imaging, myocardial ischemia developed in 19% of the ventricular mass and was reduced to 7% when GIK was administered. After anesthesia induction, the GIK solution was also infused and surgery was uneventful, with no signs of postoperative myocardial injury. Four days later, the patient was successfully discharged to a rehabilitation center. This is the first clinical report of GIK pretreatment during non‑cardiac surgery in a patient with ischemic heart disease (IHD). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "moderate-to-high-risk" surgical patient is typically older, frail, malnourished, suffering from multiple comorbidities and presenting with unhealthy life style such as smoking, hazardous drinking and sedentarity. Poor aerobic fitness, sarcopenia and "toxic" behaviors are modifiable risk factors for major postoperative complications. The physiological challenge of lung cancer surgery has been likened to running a marathon. Therefore, preoperative patient optimization or " prehabilitation " should become a key component of improved recovery pathways to enhance general health and physiological reserve prior to surgery. During the short preoperative period, the patients are more receptive and motivated to adhere to behavioral interventions (e.g., smoking cessation, weaning from alcohol, balanced food intake and active mobilization) and to follow a structured exercise training program. Sufficient protein intake should be ensured (1.5-2 g/kg/day) and nutritional defects should be corrected to restore muscle mass and strength. Currently, there is strong evidence supporting the effectiveness of various modalities of physical training (endurance training and/or respiratory muscle training) to enhance aerobic fitness and to mitigate the risk of pulmonary complications while reducing the hospital length of stay. Multimodal interventions should be individualized to the patient's condition. These bundle of care are more effective than single or sequential intervention owing to synergistic benefits of education, nutritional support and physical training. An effective prehabilitation program is necessarily patient-centred and coordinated among health care professionals (nurses, primary care physician, physiotherapists, nutritionists) to help the patient regain some control over the disease process and improve the physiological reserve to sustain surgical stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe all patients admitted to children's hospitals in Switzerland with a diagnosis of influenza A/H1N1/09 virus infection during the 2009 influenza pandemic, and to analyse their characteristics, predictors of complications, and outcome., Methods: All patients ≤18-years-old hospitalised in eleven children's hospitals in Switzerland between June 2009 and January 2010 with a positive influenza A/H1N1/09 reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from a nasopharyngeal specimen were included., Results: There were 326 PCR-confirmed patients of whom 189 (58%) were younger than 5 years of age, and 126 (38.7%) had one or more pre-existing medical condition. Fever (median 39.1 °C) was the most common sign (85.6% of all patients), while feeding problems (p = 0.003) and febrile seizures (p = 0.016) were significantly more frequent in children under 5 years. In 142 (43.6%) patients there was clinical suspicion of a concomitant bacterial infection, which was confirmed in 36 patients (11%). However, severe bacterial infection was observed in 4% of patients. One third (n = 108, 33.1%) of the patients were treated with oseltamivir, 64 (59.3%, or 20% overall) within 48 hours of onset of symptoms. Almost half of the patients (45.1%) received antibiotics for a median of 7 days. Twenty patients (6.1%) required intensive care, mostly for complicated pneumonia (50%) without an underlying medical condition. The median duration of hospitalisation was 2 days (range 0-39) for 304 patients. Two children (<15 months of age with underlying disease) died., Conclusions: Although pandemic influenza A/H1N1/09 virus infection in children is mostly mild, it can be severe, regardless of past history or underlying disease.