This nice (and brief) review article on interpreting elevated troponin levels can be summed up by its quote from cardiologist Robert Jesse: “When troponin was a lousy assay it was a great test, but now that it’s becoming a great assay, it’s getting to be a lousy test.” Troponin abnormality is set at the 99th [… read more]
Numerous small (n~100), single-center randomized trials have shown a benefit of omega-3 fatty acids in acute lung injury and ARDS (reduced mortality, length of stay, and organ failure; improved oxygenation and respiratory mechanics). A meta-analysis combining these studies suggested a stat.significant benefit in mortality (risk ratio 0.67), ventilator requirement (-5 days), and ICU stay (-4 [… read more]
Faster recovery from severe sepsis (or other disorders causing patchy/global hypoperfusion) should be accompanied by a faster disappearance of lactate from the bloodstream. The rate of lactate clearance was reported by Nguyen et al in Crit Care Med 2004 (among others) to predict survival from septic shock, and a strategy substituting lactate clearance of 10% for [… read more]
Severe sepsis makes the heart irritable, probably due to all the evil humors and increased cardiac demand. Between 6-20% of patients with severe sepsis develop atrial fibrillation for the first time; that’s old news. What’s been unclear is what new-onset atrial fibrillation in severe sepsis means: is it an expected, yeah-so-what marker of critical illness, [… read more]
Daniel Brodie and Matthew Bacchetta offer a nice review of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in adults, based on their experience at Columbia University in New York City. This general overview describes ECMO techniques and re-visits the CESAR trial results — the only major randomized controlled trial on ECMO in ARDS [… read more]
Each individual episode of critical illness produces a mushroom cloud of data, most of which dissipates without being recorded at all (think realtime infusion rates of vasopressors and continuous ECG monitoring). A few large databases capture outcomes data from multiple participating hospitals (like the National Inpatient Sample), and the new MIMIC-II integrated data system can [… read more]
Walkey et al combined 8 randomized trials including 1,641 people with MRSA pneumonia, and found no significant differences between those treated with linezolid or vancomycin in survival, resolution of clinical pneumonia, eradication from sputum of MRSA, or adverse events. Authors dispute linezolid’s supposedly higher lung penetration, pointing out that that dogma evolved from studies of healthy people; [… read more]
Webb and Samuels (Emory neuro-intensivists) report on a brain-injured patient who, after induced hypothermia and rewarming, had absent brainstem function and a confirmatory apnea test. However, in the O.R. for organ donation 24 hours later, brainstem function transiently returned and the surgery had to be aborted. They urge caution to the rest of us in [… read more]
Medications are often stopped during transfers of care. Bell et al analyzed administrative-level data for almost 400,000 hospitalizations in Ontario, Canada, as well as 90-day follow-up outpatient prescription data. They conclude that medications were likely to be discontinued after discharge from the hospital or ICU, “potentially unintentionally.” Five medication classes were analyzed (inhalers, anticoagulant/antiplatelets, acid-suppressors, thyroxine [… read more]
Novel therapies for septic shock over the past 4 decades. Suffredeni AF, Munford RS. JAMA 2011;306:194-199.
Neither a large 2009 multicenter study nor a 2011 meta-analysis showed any clinical benefit from the use of ICU telemedicine. Lilly et al report the results of a large single-center study in which they progressively implemented ICU telemedicine among 6,290 patients in 7 ICUs (a stepped-wedge design), with non-telemedicine groups acting as controls at each [… read more]
Dumas et al prospectively observed 1145 consecutive victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest who survived to admission in France between 2000 and 2009. Among VT/VF patients, 65% got therapeutic hypothermia, while 60% of PEA/asystole patients did, with higher proportions receiving hypothermia later in the study period (86 and 73% respectively) . Most people in the PEA/asystole [… read more]
For one year, Dallas et al prospectively followed 2,060 intubated MICU/SICU patients at Barnes-Jewish, and concluded that 83 (4%) developed VAP and 28 (1.4%) got VAT, which was defined as fever and 100,000 CFUs in tracheal secretions, without an infiltrate. By their reckoning, a third of VATs progressed to VAPs. Pathogens (mainly MDR bacteria) overlapped. [… read more]
ICU Prognosis is Easy, Except When It’s Not How accurate are predictions of mortality by ICU team members? For 560 consecutive patients admitted to a single MICU at the University of Chicago, the authors polled the patient’s attending, fellow, resident, and nurse privately each day, asking simply: “Will this patient survive to discharge?” They collected [… read more]
In a well-intentioned performance improvement initiative, Daniel Kett and the IMPACT-HAP team prospectively observed 303 patients at risk for MDR pneumonia at four academic hospitals. Surprisingly, more of those who got appropriate antibiotics died (34%) than those treated off-ATS/IDSA guidelines (20%), with Kaplan-Meier-modeled 28-day survival of 65% vs. 79%, p=0.0044. The authors were concerned enough [… read more]
In the longest longitudinal study of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) yet, Herridge et al followed 109 young survivors of severe ARDS (medians: age 44; Lung Injury Score 3.7 out of 4) in Canada for 5 years, enrolling 1998-2001. Twelve died in the first year. At 5 years, the survivors remained below their pre-ARDS exercise tolerance; they [… read more]
Dalteparin is a low-molecular weight heparin that, unlike enoxaparin, is safe for people with renal failure. Among 3,746 ICU patients in 6 countries, followed until hospital discharge, there was no difference in the rate of proximal deep venous thrombosis (5.1% vs 5.8%, 1′ endpoint) between once-daily dalteparin and twice-daily UFH, as detected by twice-weekly ultrasounds. [… read more]
A 44-page guideline from the American Heart Association on the management of massive & submassive pulmonary embolism; proximal deep venous thrombosis, and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Circulation 2011;123:1788-1830. FREE FULL TEXT
Severe sepsis has had a 35-45% mortality rate in clinical trials. Gagan Kumar et al use national observational data to suggest that while population rates of severe sepsis are increasing, survival has likely improved, with mortality falling from 39% to 27%, 2000-2007. However, most of the new survivors are not going home, but rather to [… read more]
According to compelling new data, you can win the genetic lottery and live healthy all your life, and you’ll still be more likely to die from your first heart attack than the diabetic guy in the next bed who keeps going outside to smoke to relieve his chest pain. But you’ll at least have had more time [… read more]
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