Maastricht University

About: Maastricht University is a education organization based out in Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 19263 authors who have published 53291 publications receiving 2266866 citations. The organization is also known as: Universiteit Maastricht & UM.

Coronary angiography after cardiac arrest without ST-segment elevation

Abstract: Background Ischemic heart disease is a major cause of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The role of immediate coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the treatme...

Splinting vs surgery in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome: a randomized controlled trial.

Abstract: ContextCarpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) can be treated with nonsurgical or surgical options. However, there is no consensus on the most effective method of treatment.ObjectiveTo compare the short-term and long-term efficacy of splinting and surgery for relieving the symptoms of CTS.Design, Setting, and PatientsA randomized controlled trial conducted from October 1998 to April 2000 at 13 neurological outpatient clinics in the Netherlands. A total of 176 patients with clinically and electrophysiologically confirmed idiopathic CTS were assigned to wrist splinting during the night for at least 6 weeks (89 patients) or open carpal tunnel release (87 patients); 147 patients (84%) completed the final follow-up assessment 18 months after randomization.Main Outcome MeasuresGeneral improvement, number of nights waking up due to symptoms, and severity of symptoms.ResultsIn the intention-to-treat analyses, surgery was more effective than splinting on all outcome measures. The success rates (based on general improvement) after 3 months were 80% for the surgery group (62/78 patients) vs 54% for the splinting group (46/86 patients), which is a difference of 26% (95% confidence interval [CI], 12%-40%; P<.001). After 18 months, the success rates increased to 90% for the surgery group (61/68 patients) vs 75% for the splinting group (59/79 patients), which is a difference of 15% (95% CI, 3%-27%; P = .02). However, by that time 41% of patients (32/79) in the splint group had also received the surgery treatment.ConclusionTreatment with open carpal tunnel release surgery resulted in better outcomes than treatment with wrist splinting for patients with CTS.

A comparison of cardiac output derived from the arterial pressure wave against thermodilution in cardiac surgery patients

Abstract: In three clinical centres, we compared a new method for measuring cardiac output with conventional thermodilution. The new method computes beat-to-beat cardiac output from radial artery pressure by simulating a three-element model of aortic input impedance, and includes non-linear aortic mechanical properties and a self-adapting systemic vascular resistance. We compared cardiac output by continuous model simulation (MF) with thermodilution cardiac output (TD) in 54 patients (18 female, 36 male) undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery. We made three or four conventional thermodilution estimates spread equally over the ventilatory cycle. In 490 series of measurements, thermodilution cardiac output ranged from 2.1 to 9.3, mean 5.0 litre min-1. MF differed +0.32 (1.0) litre min-1 on average with limits of agreement of -1.68 and +2.32 litre min-1. Differences decreased when the first series of measurements in a patient was used to calibrate the model. In 436 remaining series, the mean difference became -0.13 (0.47) litre min-1 with limits of agreement of -1.05 and +0.79 litre min-1. When consecutive measurements were made, the change was greater than 0.5 litre min-1, on 204 occasions. The direction of change was the same with both methods in 199. The difference between the methods remained near zero during surgery suggesting that a single calibration per patient was adequate. Aortic model simulation with radial artery pressure as input reliably monitors changes in cardiac output in cardiac surgery patients. Before calibration, the model cannot replace thermodilution, but after calibration the model method can quantitatively replace further thermodilution estimates.

Determination of phylloquinone and menaquinones in food. Effect of food matrix on circulating vitamin K concentrations.

Abstract: Fluctuations in international normalized ratio values are often ascribed to dietary changes in vitamin K intake. Here we present a database with vitamin K1 and K2 contents of a w