Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · May 2002
Daily organ-system failure for diagnosis of persistent intra-abdominal sepsis after postoperative peritonitis.
To evaluate the time-course of two organ failure scores (SOFA and Goris) after surgery for postoperative peritonitis in critically ill patients according to the persistence/nonpersistence of intraabdominal sepsis (IAS). ⋯ In critically ill patients with postoperative peritonitis, the postoperative time course of the SOFA and the Goris organ failure scores was different between patients with or without intra-abdominal persistent sepsis. The lack of improvement of one of these scores on postoperative day 2 may suggest persistent intraabdominal sepsis and supports the need for a new surgical exploration.
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Intensive care medicine · May 2002
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialProne position as prevention of lung injury in comatose patients: a prospective, randomized, controlled study.
Comatose patients frequently exhibit pulmonary function worsening, especially in cases of pulmonary infection. It appears to have a deleterious effect on neurologic outcome. We therefore conducted a randomized trial to determine whether daily prone positioning would prevent lung worsening in these patients. ⋯ In a selected population of comatose ventilated patients, daily prone positioning reduced the incidence of lung worsening.
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Intensive care medicine · May 2002
Iatrogenic cerebral air embolism: importance of an early hyperbaric oxygenation.
To assess the relationship between the time period before hyperbaric oxygenation therapy (HBO) and clinical outcome in patients with iatrogenic cerebral air embolism. ⋯ We stress the beneficial effect of an early HBO in air embolism, the importance of an increased awareness of physicians concerned with this severe complication, and the need to develop techniques to detect air emboli in the cerebral circulation.
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Intensive care medicine · May 2002
Comparative StudyQuality of data collected for severity of illness scores in the Dutch National Intensive Care Evaluation (NICE) registry.
To analyse the quality of data used to measure severity of illness in the Dutch National Intensive Care Evaluation (NICE) registry, after implementation of quality improving procedures. ⋯ The current data quality of the NICE registry is good and justifies evaluative research. These positive results might be explained by the implementation of several quality assurance procedures in the NICE registry, such as training and automatic data checks. Electronic supplementary material to this paper can be obtained by using the Springer LINK server located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00134-002-1272-z