The Medical clinics of North America
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Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is effective if established early and coupled with specific therapeutic interventions. Most cardiopulmonary arrest is due to ventricular fibrillation and early defibrillation offers the highest probability of success. ⋯ The American Heart Association guidelines for CPR are still valid and are the basis for our current CPR. A practical perspective is presented whereby the therapeutic interventions are pursued systematically in an expeditious and coordinated fashion so that the key interventions are made within the first 10 to 15 minutes of the arrest.
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The symptoms, signs, and pathophysiology of two major forms of shock are discussed. Newer modalities of pharmacologic and supportive therapy for stabilization and reversal of these states are presented, including the use of the intra-aortic balloon pump and early surgical therapy for cardiogenic shock.
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In summary, gram-negative sepsis is unique among infectious illnesses in that it is a disorder that recruits endogenous physiologic processes to mediate tissue injury. This host damage frequently occurs in the absence of microbial invasion of affected organs. The resultant hypotension, coagulation defects, and organ dysfunction may be associated with serious morbidity or may contribute to mortality. ⋯ Nor does it seem likely that future elucidation of the inflammatory mechanisms of sepsis will lead to the generation of therapeutic agents that will significantly improve survival. On the other hand, prophylactic or therapeutic modalities that deter colonization or invasion by pathogenetic organisms or that alter the ability of pathogens to evoke adverse host responses may be more likely to impact on the incidence and morbidity of gram-negative bacillary infections. Until modifications in the initial interactions of gram-negative pathogens with human hosts can be realized, the mortality of gram-negative sepsis is likely to remain high.
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Med. Clin. North Am. · Jul 1986
ReviewAcute respiratory failure and chronic obstructive lung disease.
Patients with COPD who develop acute respiratory failure require special attention in their management. Patients with severe COPD often have cor pulmonale, complex acid/base compensations, and altered respiratory control mechanisms. These need to be considered when approaching the patient with an acute decompensation. Because of the improving prognosis in this group of patients, aggressive management should be undertaken using combinations of bronchodilator medications, oxygen, bronchial hygiene, and antibiotics.
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Med. Clin. North Am. · Jul 1986
ReviewClinical indicators in sepsis and septic adult respiratory distress syndrome.
Sepsis and septic ARDS remain clinical problems of great significance because of the numbers of patients affected each year and the high mortality associated with development of the syndrome. The standard therapies for these conditions, judicious antibiotic administration and supportive care, continue to be the mainstays of treatment for these patients, but mortality even with optimal conventional therapy is between 50% and 90% for septic ARDS. ⋯ Two therapies that are used extensively in the intensive care unit today--corticosteroid administration and PEEP--have not been shown to reduce the overall mortality of sepsis or septic ARDS. Newer therapeutic modalities, designed to protect against or reverse cardiovascular consequences of sepsis, reduce the incidence of multiorgan system failure, and diminish the high incidence of uncontrolled infections in these patients, are needed; investigations of these interventions are in progress.