Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · Sep 1999
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical TrialInhalation of nitric oxide in acute lung injury: results of a European multicentre study. The European Study Group of Inhaled Nitric Oxide.
To determine whether inhalation of nitric oxide (INO) can increase the frequency of reversal of acute lung injury (ALI) in nitric oxide (NO) responders. ⋯ Improvement of oxygenation by INO did not increase the frequency of reversal of ALI. Use of inhaled NO in early ALI did not alter mortality although it did reduce the frequency of severe respiratory failure in patients developing severe hypoxaemia.
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Intensive care medicine · Sep 1999
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyPrevalence, etiologies and outcome of the acute respiratory distress syndrome among hypoxemic ventilated patients. SRLF Collaborative Group on Mechanical Ventilation. Société de Réanimation de Langue Française.
To evaluate the prevalence and outcome of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) among patients requiring mechanical ventilation. ⋯ In this survey we found that very few patients fulfilled the ALI non-ARDS criteria and that the mortality of the group with ARDS was high.
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Intensive care medicine · Sep 1999
Comparative StudyApplication of mortality prediction systems to individual intensive care units.
To evaluate the predictive accuracy of the severity of illness scoring systems in a single institution. ⋯ Although the overall mortality was consistent with the predicted mortality, the poor fit of the data to the model impairs the validity of the result. The observed outcome could be due to erratic quality of care, or differences between the study population and the patient population in the original studies. The data cannot be used to distinguish between these possibilities. To increase predictive accuracy when studying individual intensive care units and enhance quality of care assessments it may be necessary to adapt the model to the patient population.
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Intensive care medicine · Sep 1999
Comparative StudyImproved prognosis of acute respiratory distress syndrome 15 years on.
Evaluation of the impact of low-volume, pressure-limited ventilation on the recovery rate of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ⋯ Mortality due to ARDS of pulmonary origin has declined in our unit over the last 15 years. Low-volume, pressure-limited (protective) ventilation seems the most likely reason for improved survival, despite hypercapnia.