Severe Neurological Patients Research Articles

Botulinum toxin in the treatment of sialorrhea in severe neurological patients with tracheotomy.

To observe the clinical effect of botulinum toxin type A (BTA) injection into the salivary glands of the severe neurological patients with tracheotomy METHODS: Seven patients with severe neurological disorders after tracheotomy and obvious drooling symptoms were enrolled. BTA was injected into bilateral parotid glands and submandibular glands under the guidance of ultrasound. Unstimulated salivary flow rate (uSFR) and Drooling Severity and Frequency Scale (DSFS) were used to evaluate drooling before injection, 1 week, and 4 weeks after injection. We compared the extubation time, time of changing from balloon cannula to metal cannula, hospitalization time and incidence of recurrent pulmonary infection between these patients and other patients accepted conventional curation. (1) The drooling severity scale (DSFS-S), the drooling frequency scale (DSFS-F), the drooling frequency and severity scale total score (DSFS-T) were significantly lower at 4 weeks after BTA injection compared to prior-treatment (p<.001). (2) uSFR of 1 week and 4 weeks were both statistically decreased than the untreated condition (p<.001). (3) Compared with the conventional group, the time of changing from balloon cannula to metal cannula was shortened obviously (p<.05) and incidence of recurrent pulmonary infection was clearly decreased (p<.05) after BTA treatment CONCLUSION: Ultrasound-guided BTA injection into salivary glands can effectively reduce saliva secretion. We also found that the time of changing cannula was shortened obviously and the incidence of recurrent pneumonia infection was reduced. BTA injection of salivary glands to cure drooling could advance to the clinical therapy in severe neurological patients after tracheotomy.

Combining Action Observation Treatment with a Brain-Computer Interface System: Perspectives on Neurorehabilitation.

Action observation treatment (AOT) exploits a neurophysiological mechanism, matching an observed action on the neural substrates where that action is motorically represented. This mechanism is also known as mirror mechanism. In a typical AOT session, one can distinguish an observation phase and an execution phase. During the observation phase, the patient observes a daily action and soon after, during the execution phase, he/she is asked to perform the observed action at the best of his/her ability. Indeed, the execution phase may sometimes be difficult for those patients where motor impairment is severe. Although, in the current practice, the physiotherapist does not intervene on the quality of the execution phase, here, we propose a stimulation system based on neurophysiological parameters. This perspective article focuses on the possibility to combine AOT with a brain–computer interface system (BCI) that stimulates upper limb muscles, thus facilitating the execution of actions during a rehabilitation session. Combining a rehabilitation tool that is well-grounded in neurophysiology with a stimulation system, such as the one proposed, may improve the efficacy of AOT in the treatment of severe neurological patients, including stroke patients, Parkinson’s disease patients, and children with cerebral palsy.

Study on patient-ventilator synchrony of neurally adjusted ventilatory assist ventilation in severe neurological diseases patients with tracheotomy

To explore the patient-ventilator interaction of neurally adjusted ventilatory assist (NAVA) in patients with severe neurological diseases. A prospective study was conducted. Sixteen severe neurological patients with tracheotomy admitted to neurosurgery intensive care unit (NSICU) of Yijishan Hospital of the First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College from September 2019 to February 2020 were enrolled. According to the random number table method, they were treated with pressure support ventilation (PSV) mode followed by NAVA mode or NAVA mode followed by PSV mode mechanical ventilation. Each mode was ventilated for 24 hours. The number of auto-triggering, ineffective trigger, double trigger, inspiratory trigger delay, premature cycling, late cycling, and patient-ventilator asynchronous time (inspiratory trigger delay time, premature cycling time, and late cycling time) within 1 minute were recorded every 8 hours for 3 minutes. The average number of asynchronies per minute, asynchrony index (AI), total AI, asynchrony time, arterial blood gas analysis, and coefficient variation (CV%) of respiratory mechanics parameters of each asynchrony type between the two modes were compared. There were significant decrease in the number or AI of auto-triggering, ineffective trigger, inspiratory trigger delay, premature cycling, and late cycling with NAVA mode ventilation compared with PSV mode ventilation [auto-triggering times (times/min): 0.00 (0.00, 0.00) vs. 0.00 (0.00, 0.58), auto-triggering AI: 0.00 (0.00, 0.00) vs. 0.00 (0.00, 0.02), ineffective trigger times (times/min): 0.00 (0.00, 0.33) vs. 1.00 (0.33, 2.17), ineffective trigger AI: 0.00 (0.00, 0.02) vs. 0.05 (0.02, 0.09), inspiratory trigger delay times (times/min): 0.00 (0.00, 0.58) vs. 0.67 (0.33, 1.58), inspiratory trigger delay AI: 0.00 (0.00, 0.02) vs. 0.05 (0.02, 0.09), premature cycling times (times/min): 0.00 (0.00, 0.33) vs. 0.33 (0.08, 1.00), premature cycling AI: 0.00 (0.00, 0.01) vs. 0.02 (0.00, 0.05), late cycling times (times/min): 0.00 (0.00, 0.00) vs. 1.17 (0.00, 4.83), late cycling AI: 0.00 (0.00, 0.00) vs. 0.07 (0.00, 0.25), all P < 0.05]. But there was significant increase in the number or AI of double trigger with NAVA mode ventilation as compared with PSV mode ventilation [times (times/min): 1.00 (0.33, 2.00) vs. 0.00 (0.00, 0.00), AI: 0.04 (0.02, 0.11) vs. 0.00 (0.00, 0.00), both P < 0.05]. Total AI and incidence of total AI > 0.1 showed significant decrease during NAVA mode ventilation as compared with PSV mode ventilation [total AI: 0.08 (0.04, 0.14) vs. 0.22 (0.18, 0.46), incidence of total AI > 0.1: 37.50% (6/16) vs. 93.75% (15/16), both P < 0.01]. There was no significant difference in asynchronous time or arterial blood gas analysis between the two modes. There were significant increases in variances of peak airway pressure (Ppeak) and expiratory tidal volume (VTe) during NAVA mode ventilation as compared with PSV mode ventilation [Ppeak coefficient of variation (CV%): 11.25 (7.12, 15.17)% vs. 0.00 (0.00, 2.82)%, VTe CV%: (8.93±5.53)% vs. (4.71±2.61)%, both P < 0.05]. Compared with PSV mode, NAVA mode can reduce the occurrence of patient-ventilator asynchronous events, reduce the AI and the occurrence of serious patient-ventilator asynchronous events, so as to improve the patient-ventilator interaction. NAVA and PSV modes can achieve the same gas exchange effect. At the same time, NAVA mode has potential advantages in avoiding insufficient or excessive ventilation support, diaphragm protection and prevention of ventilator-induced lung injury.

Application of FOCUS-PDCA model in nasointestinal enteral nutrition in severe neurological patients

Objective To explore the application of FOCUS-PDCA model in nasointestinal enteral nutrition in severe neurological patients. Methods Patients admitted to the neurological intensive care unit of the hospital were selected as the study subjects. 53 patients admitted from January 2017 to December 2017 were the control group, and 78 patients admitted from January 2018 to December 2018 were the observation group.The control group adopted conventional nasointestinal enteral nutrition support, while the observation group applied FOCUS-PDCA model to find out the weak links of nasointestinal tube placement and nutrition support in clinical nursing for patients with severe neurological diseases, analyze the reasons, formulate rectification measures, formulate standardized procedures and standardize nursing.The time, success rate, incidence of enteral nutrition complications, nutritional index and clinical outcome of the two groups were compared. Results The incidence of complications such as aspiration, diarrhea and reflux in the observation group was lower than that in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Serum albumin and hemoglobin in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group.The success rate of blind insertion increased from 56.00% in 2017 to 93.30% in 2018.The average length of tube placement decreased from 168 minutes in 2017 to 23 minutes in 2018.There were statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of ICU stay days and hospitalization costs(P<0.05). Conclusions The application of FOCUS-PDCA model can shorten the time of nasointestinal catheterization, improve the success rate of catheterization, reduce the occurrence of enteral nutrition complications in patients with severe neurological diseases, and facilitate enteral nutrition supply and benign outcome of patients with severe neurological diseases. Key words: FOCUS-PDCA model; Neurological intensive; Nasointestinal tube; Nasojejunal tube feeding (NJF)

Research progress in quality improvement of sputum sample collection in severe neurological patients

As the severe neurological patients have special disease characteristics such as disorder of consciousness, respiratory dysfunction and dysfunction of autonomic nervous system, patients could not cooperated with weakly coughing and increasing oral secretion in patients, so it is difficult to collect sputum specimens in clinic and easily to obtain unqualified sputum specimens. According to the disease characteristics of severe neurological patients, this paper summarizes the key process of collecting sputum samples, to provide guidance for clinical nursing work, and improve the quality of sputum specimens so that provide accurate diagnostic bases for clinical treatment. Key words: Quality of sputum specimens; Severe neurological case; Review

Is there a mind? Electrophysiology of unconscious patients.

Event related brain potentials (ERPs) provide information about cortical processing in severe neurological patients whose cognitive abilities cannot be expressed in their behavior. In coma, ERPs contribute to the prediction of the outcome. In a vegetative state, ERPs uncover the functional state of cortical processes. The significance of ERPs in the neurophysiological study of consciousness is discussed.