Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · Nov 2005
The influence of missing components of the Acute Physiology Score of APACHE III on the measurement of ICU performance.
To determine the impact of missing Acute Physiology Score (APS) values on risk-adjusted mortality. ⋯ Since missing APS values may lead to underestimation of the predicted mortality rates, the number and type of missing variables should be taken into consideration when assessing the performance of an ICU. Unless data collection is standardized, future prognostic models should use variables that are routinely measured in most critically ill patients without sacrificing statistical precision.
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Intensive care medicine · Nov 2005
Clinical TrialSonography as an alternative to radiography for nasogastric feeding tube location.
To evaluate bedside sonographic confirmation of weighted-tip nasogastric feeding tube position, by comparison to radiography. ⋯ Bedside sonography performed by nonradiologists is a sensitive method for confirming the position of weighted-tip feeding nasogastric feeding tubes. It is more rapid than conventional radiography and can easily be taught to ICU physicians. Conventional radiography could be reserved for cases in which sonography is inconclusive.
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Intensive care medicine · Nov 2005
Randomized Controlled TrialOral nystatin prophylaxis of Candida spp. colonization in ventilated critically ill patients.
Colonization of multiple body sites is a leading risk factor for Candida spp. infection in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. We evaluated whether oral nystatin prophylaxis reduces Candida spp. colonization in ventilated ICU patients. ⋯ Oral nystatin prophylaxis efficiently prevented Candida spp. colonization in ICU patients at low risk of developing invasive candidiasis. Further studies are needed to determine whether this strategy remains efficient in reducing Candida spp. infections in higher risk ICU patients.
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Intensive care medicine · Nov 2005
Correlation between intra-abdominal and intracranial pressure in nontraumatic brain injury.
To examine on the basis of a large number of measurements whether increased IAP is associated with increased ICP and decreased CPP in ventilated patients with nontraumatic brain injury. ⋯ Increases in IAP are associated with increases in ICP and decreases in CPP in ventilated patients with nontraumatic brain injury, even at low levels of IAP.
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Intensive care medicine · Nov 2005
Multicenter StudyImpact of anemia on outcome in critically ill patients with severe acute renal failure.
To evaluate the prognostic value of hemoglobin levels in critically ill patients with acute renal failure (ARF) requiring dialysis. ⋯ These results suggest that initial hemoglobin level could be helpful in identifying patients with ARF requiring dialysis at high risk of death.