1/ 1st week of NeuroICU fellowship. A #tweetorial summary:
1⃣ Pt in DI. Give anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), call it “pit drip”
2⃣Pt in distributive shock. Give ADH, call it “vaso”
3⃣Pt on ASA needs EVD. Give ADH (sort of), call it “DDAVP”
4⃣ Fellow postcall & confused, give….
2/ Just kidding… everyone knows the drug for that is
3/ All the names and purposes of ADH had me feeling ⬇️
So – a review of all things ADH including:
✅It’s various aliases
✅Receptors and function
✅Clinical utility in NeuroICU (+general ICUs)
4/ Starting with nomenclature:
Anti-diuretic hormone, desmopressin, DDAVP, vasopressin, AVP, Pitressin, Vasostrict – are they really all the same?
Not quite.
5/ Anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) can be used interchangeably for the neurohypophyseal hormone secreted by the posterior pituitary.
10/
You can remember that V2⃣ receptors increase H2⃣O retention.
AVP and DDAVP both bind here, but DDAVP has a much stronger affinity to these receptors.
11/ In the NeuroICU, we’re primarily using ADH in this context to treat central DI resulting from transsphenoidal adenomectomy (TSA) or cerebral herniation resulting compression of pit stalk/gland.
A vasopressin bolus and gtt are usually the initial choice for DI treatment.
12/ We often given vasopressin 2.5-5unit IV while waiting for the gtt, and then give 0.25-1 unit/hour which is titrated to Uosm, UOP, and serum sodium.
All of which need to be very, very closely monitored!
13/ Long term, DI is managed with desmopressin (DDAVP) given PO, nasally, subQ or IV.
As a PO drug, its absorption can be unpredictable. Finding right dose requires some trial & a lot of monitoring.
Typical:
PO dose: 0.1mg qHS - 0.3mg TID.
IV doses: 1-2mcg qHS to BID
14/ Totally counterintuitively ADH can also regulate the correction of Na+ in chronically hypovolemic hyponatremic patients
If that seems incredibly ludicrious (…why would we give a patient with ⬇️sodium H2O retention drug??) read: tinyurl.com/5fydkkh7 from @ibookCC.
15/ So… ADH can be used to treat hypernatremia in central DI and prevent overcorrection of sodium in chronic hypovolemic hyponatremia. Vasopressin or desmopressin work for these purposes.
16/ How does ADH result in vasoconstriction?
This is mediated by binding of ADH to V1⃣ receptors located in smooth muscles which triggers catecholamine-independent vasoconstriction.
Image: tinyurl.com/46yhekft
17/ Doses here are fixed @ either vasopressin 0.03 or 0.04 units/min.
Remember, the DI dose is vasopressin 0.5-1 unit/*hour*
I remember thinking that they were orders of magnitude different, but because of the time denominator, the shock dose is actually ~2-5x larger
18/ Finally, both vasopressin and desmopressin/DDAVP have intrinsic platelet activating properties
DDAVP has the added effect of releasing von Willebrand factor & F VIII from endothelial cells.
Image reminding u of the importance of vWF (image @NEJM)
19/ Since the 1970s desmopressin was used to prevent bleeding in pt w/ 🔽vWF
The bleeding dose is a 1x IV Desmopressin 0.3mcg/kg (~20-30mcg).
For comparison, the anti-diuretic dose is 1-3mcg IV. The hemostasis dose is thus x10 higher.
Effect is max @ ~30 mins. last 6-8hr
20/ In the neuroICU we very commonly see patients with ICH who were taking ASA. PATCH trial (Lancet 2016) demonstrated worse outcomes in patients who received platelet transfusion to “reverse” ASA’s effect.
Given DDAVPs' platelet activating effect, this a good alternative?
21/ Maybe?
Retrospective Assessment of Desmopressin Effectiveness & Safety in Patients w Antiplatelet-Associated Intracra pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31567345/
Early Admin of Desmopressin and Platelet Transfusion for Reducing Hematoma Expansion in Patients With Acut… pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32304415/
A 70 yo W with history of HTN presented with significant IVH from a ruptured AVM.
Admission EKG showed this:
A #brugada pattern. She had no personal or family history of syncope / sudden death. And on admission (time of this EKG) she was not febrile. About 12 hours later we repeated the EKG:
Trops normal and ECHO later in the day demonstrated a normal EF and grade 1 DD, but no wall motion abnormality. No apical ballooning. There was mildly increase LV wall thickness.
2/ With the TREAT-CAD trial, lots of talk about dissection treatment. Whether your team anti-platelets or team anticoagulation (🙋🏻 Must. Give. Heparin (@MGHNeurology) 4 ever. I know you feel this, @namorris!) consideration about the location of dissection is possibly important.
3/ Also, regardless of your team… TREAT-CAD was not able to demonstrate non-inferiority of ASA, just saying.
Aspirin versus anticoagulation in cervical artery dissection (TREAT-CAD): an open-label, randomised, non-inferiorit… pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33765420/
2/
First and foremost, let’s be clear that to be dead by brain criteria, the patient must have cessation of ALL brain function *INCLUDING absence of respiratory drive.*
Thinking "But... I thought you just said...."?
3/
The contradiction here lies in that ventilators are sometimes too sensitive.
2/ Reminder: The 12 cranial nerve nuclei are located in the brainstem, and if you have trouble remembering where they are, welcome to the club. Here’s a reminder! Will post the medulla section Monday, stay tuned.
3/ We’ll move from central to peripheral etiologies.
The brainstem is like Times Square in NYC- so much going on in a very small space.
A small insult can easily cause damage to multiple cranial nerves. amiright, #stroketwitter?