Statins have anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating effects, and among critically ill patients, continuing or starting statins have improved soft outcomes in observational and small randomized studies. For example, starting a statin reduced progression of sepsis in ward patients and statins improved organ failure scores in acute lung injury (the HARP trial). But in their first shot at [… read more]
ICU-related Dysphagia and Swallowing Disorders More than 700,000 people develop respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation each year in the U.S. alone, and those that survive are at elevated risk for developing swallowing dysfunction. The aspiration syndromes that follow can be devastating, especially if not recognized and addressed early. Denver’s Madison Macht et al provide a clinical [… read more]
24/7 Intensivist Coverage Does Not Improve Outcomes: Meta-Analysis The debate over whether ICUs should be staffed around the clock by intensivist physicians has simmered for more than 20 years, with opinions on both sides driven more by values and personal biases than evidence. Recent studies have confirmed the benefit of daytime intensivists in ICUs but failed [… read more]
Mechanical Ventilation in ARDS Due to Sepsis See all PulmCCM reviews of: Surviving Sepsis Guidelines Sepsis is one of the main causes of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), in which the lungs are injured by circulating inflammatory mediators, resulting in severely impaired gas exchange usually requiring invasive mechanical ventilation. ARDS also results in poor lung [… read more]
Intubation Checklists in the ICU and ED Can They Save Lives? Endotracheal intubation in the ICU or emergency department is often challenging, to understate by a lot. Intubations outside the operating room are often emergent rush jobs on crashing, hypotensive, severely hypoxemic patients, or people with who have just self-extubated. Pulmonologists’ and emergency physicians’ familiarity [… read more]
Low Tidal Volume Ventilation Improves Outcomes in Elective Surgery Using low tidal volumes (6-8 mL/kg ideal body weight, or about 500 mL in the average man) during mechanical ventilation has been known for more than a decade to be lifesaving for people with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Since reducing mortality by a relative 22% [… read more]
Biomarkers Predict COPD Exacerbations (Sort Of) In addition to daily breathlessness, people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often experience exacerbations of shortness of breath and coughing. Those with more severe COPD tend to have more frequent and severe exacerbations, lower enjoyment of life, and more rapid loss of lung function. The strongest predictor of [… read more]
Early Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) Didn’t Save Lives Under the high stress of critical illness, people lose fat and muscle quickly. Obesity appears to be protective during critical illness, possibly because those extra fat reserves come in handy during this period of accelerated catabolism. The strong physiological rationale and the psychological pressure not to appear to be [… read more]
Prone Positioning Saves Lives in Severe ARDS Patients: NEJM It’s long been known that positioning patients with ARDS on mechanical ventilation face-down (prone) improves their oxygenation. (There are various theories why prone positioning helps, such as by reducing ARDS’s injurious heterogeneous alveolar overdistension.) The improved oxygen levels have never translated into improved outcomes in ARDS [… read more]
No Benefit Seen From Monitoring Gastric Volume in Ventilated Patients on Tube Feedings Early enteral nutrition for patients on mechanical ventilation is considered the standard of care. It’s been assumed that delayed gastric emptying, resulting in a stomach full of liquid nutrition, predisposes patients to have aspiration events and develop ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP). Therefore, [… read more]
Killer Carbapenem-Resistant Bacteria Spreading Across U.S. Gut-living bacteria like Klebsiella are gaining resistance to carbapenems at an alarming rate, and long-term acute care hospitals (LTACs) and nursing homes seem to be the incubators for these killer bugs spreading across the U.S. Carbapenems like meropenem and doripenem have been the gold standard to treat infections from [… read more]
image: wikimedia Pulse Oximetry: The 30-Second Time Machine Why does it seem to take so long to re-oxygenate your crashing patient? Because your pulse oximeter is lying to you, no matter how good it is. Telescopes show us how a star looked millions or billions of years ago; pulse oximeters create a similar, though tiny [… read more]
In ARDS, Obesity May Protect Life (But Not Kidneys) by Blair Westerly, MD Obesity is an epidemic and common in intensive care units in the United States. Furthermore, while acute kidney injury (AKI) is also common in critically ill patients, obese patients carry additional risk for AKI because of increased baseline comorbidities. Both obesity and [… read more]
“Like this … kind of” Passive Leg Raise Improved Management of Patients in Shock* (*some assembly required) by Blair Westerly, MD Providing the right amount of fluid is vital in a critically ill patient, as both too little and too much can result in poor outcomes. Yet even with this understanding, the clinical assessment of [… read more]
(image: Wikipedia) High-Frequency Oscillatory Ventilation (HFOV) for ARDS Two Randomized Trials: Early HFOV Doesn’t Help, May Harm High-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) has been proposed as a first-line therapy for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). By delivering 3-15 breaths per second of tiny tidal volumes (~70 mL), HFOV has appeal as the “ultimate” lung protective ventilator [… read more]
Weaning From Mechanical Ventilation Update (See More PulmCCM Reviews) by Brett Ley, MD Nearly 800,000 patients require mechanical ventilation yearly. There’s no doubt it is a life-saving intervention, but it is one that is fraught with the potential for iatrogenesis, especially if continued for longer than necessary. That is the main message of this review in [… read more]
Ultrafiltration No Better Than Diuresis for CHF Exacerbations by Blair Westerly, MD Cardiorenal syndrome — simultaneous heart failure and renal failure — is a frequently encountered problem in people with acute decompensated heart failure. Treatment with diuretics for congestive heart failure exacerbations is standard care, but diuretics may at times worsen renal function. Venovenous ultrafiltration [… read more]
“Trach Collar” Trials Beat Pressure Support for Long-Term Ventilator Weaning By Blair Westerly, MD Patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation linger in ICUs and long-term acute care hospitals for weeks, accounting for a significant portion of intensive care unit costs and often suffering serious complications while dependent on the ventilator. Despite this issue’s rising importance, the [… read more]
Knowing When, When Knowing Is Impossible By Paul C. McLean The child was her first, and there were complications and aggressive therapies from the start and for months. She was unaware that the medical team was coming to believe the baby would not survive, that aggressive treatments no longer served a therapeutic purpose and were [… read more]
Low Tidal Volumes Improve Outcomes in Non-ARDS Patients Since the landmark ARDSnet trial of low tidal volume ventilation published in the NEJM in 2000, protecting the injured lung with low tidal volumes has been widely adopted. In case you missed it, that trial showed that low tidal volume ventilation (6 ml/kg IBW) improved mortality from [… read more]
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