Neurocritical care
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Infection and venous thromboembolism (VTE) are associated with worse outcomes after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). The relationship between infection and VTE in ICH patients is unclear. We hypothesized that infection would be associated with subsequent VTE after ICH. ⋯ Infections are associated with subsequent risk of VTE among patients with ICH. Further investigation is required to elucidate mechanisms behind this association and to improve VTE prevention after ICH.
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Intracranial compliance refers to the relationship between a change in intracranial volume and the resultant change in intracranial pressure (ICP). Measurement of compliance is useful in managing cardiovascular and respiratory failure; however, there are no contemporary means to assess intracranial compliance. Knowledge of intracranial compliance could complement ICP and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) monitoring in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and may enable a proactive approach to ICP management. In this proof-of-concept study, we aimed to capitalize on the physiologic principles of intracranial compliance and vascular reactivity to CO2, and standard-of-care neurocritical care monitoring, to develop a method to assess dynamic intracranial compliance. ⋯ Indirect assessment of dynamic intracranial compliance in TBI patients using standard-of-care monitoring appears feasible and suggests a prolonged period of derangement out to 5 days post-injury. Further study is ongoing to determine if the PCI-a new physiologic index, complements utility of ICP and/or CPP in guiding management of patients with severe TBI.
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Limiting tidal volume (VT), plateau pressure, and driving pressure is essential during the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), but may be challenging when brain injury coexists due to the risk of hypercapnia. Because lowering dead space enhances CO2 clearance, we conducted a study to determine whether and to what extent replacing heat and moisture exchangers (HME) with heated humidifiers (HH) facilitate safe VT lowering in brain-injured patients with ARDS. ⋯ The dead space reduction provided by HH allows to safely reduce VT without modifying PaCO2 nor cerebral perfusion. This permits to provide a wider proportion of brain-injured ARDS patients with less injurious ventilation.
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Specific prognostic models for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) have short and simple features, whereas intensive care unit (ICU) severity scales include more complicated parameters. Even though newly developed ICU severity scales have disease-specific properties, they still lack radiologic parameters, which is crucial for ICH. ⋯ Although all three ICH-specific prognostic scales performed satisfactory results for predicting one-year mortality, the common intensive care severity scoring showed better performance. SAPS-III scores may be recommended for use in EDs after proper customization.