Neurocritical care
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Historically, the prognosis for poor grade subarachnoid hemorrhage patients has been considered dismal. As a result, many hospitals have chosen conservative management over aggressive therapy. This guarded approach, however, is based on studies that do not take into account newer, more effective, management protocols and more recent long-term evidence that significant neurological recovery occurs in the months to years following discharge. More accurate and predictive methods are needed to decide when aggressive therapy is warranted. ⋯ This study demonstrates that significant recovery occurs in the weeks to months after poor grade aSAH. Pupillary reactivity on admission can be used as a predictor of survival and recovery at intermediate and long-term time points, more so than Hunt and Hess grade.
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Adequate caloric intake is associated with improved outcome in neurocritical illness, but factors influencing the provision of enteral nutrition (EN) have not been systematically evaluated. The primary goal of the study was to determine the EN intake of neurosurgical intensive care unit (ICU) patients within the first week of illness and investigate the factors contributing to achieving caloric goals. ⋯ System-based clinical care factors appear to have great impact on the successful provision of EN in the first week of neurocritical illness.
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Cerebral microdialysis is an invasive monitoring tool allowing analysis of various substances derived from the extracellular space in brain tissue such as glutamate, glycerol, lactate, and pyruvate. In order to assess the potential effects of hemicraniectomy, hypothermia and conservative therapy on these substances, we used neurochemical monitoring with microdialysis in large human stroke patients. ⋯ Microdialysis allows bed-side monitoring of neuroprotective effects of stroke rescue therapies such as hypothermia and hemicraniectomy. Rescue of peri-infarct tissue and/or prevention of secondary ischemic injury could be associated with a lower mortality in invasively treated patients.
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Case Reports
Prolonged retention of awareness during cardiopulmonary resuscitation for asystolic cardiac arrest.
To describe high level of awareness in a patient undergoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation for an asystolic cardiac arrest and review the literature regarding this phenomenon. ⋯ It is possible to retain a high level of awareness following cardiac arrest, particularly with effective CPR. Recognition of this situation when it occurs allows appropriate decisions to be made regarding the use of sedation and the length of resuscitative efforts.
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Hypothermic brain protection has been linked to how rapidly cooling is initiated and how quickly and uniformly the therapeutic hypothermic zone (THZ) is reached. The nasopharyngeal (NP) approach is uniquely suited for preferential brain cooling due to anatomic proximity to the cerebral circulation, cavernous sinus, and carotid arteries. This study explores a novel NP cooling approach employing evaporative characteristics of aerosolized perfluorochemical (PFC). ⋯ The NP-PFC procedure more rapidly induced preferential brain cooling as compared to WBC without adverse effects.