Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · Oct 2010
ReviewThe RAGE axis in systemic inflammation, acute lung injury and myocardial dysfunction: an important therapeutic target?
The sepsis syndromes, frequently complicated by pulmonary and cardiac dysfunction, remain a major cause of death amongst the critically ill. Targeted therapies aimed at ameliorating the systemic inflammation that characterises the sepsis syndromes have largely yielded disappointing results in clinical trials. Whilst there are many potential reasons for lack of success of clinical trials, one possibility is that the pathways targeted, to date, are only modifiable very early in the course of the illness. More recent approaches have therefore attempted to identify pathways that could offer a wider therapeutic window, such as the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) and its ligands. ⋯ RAGE is an inflammation-perpetuating receptor with a diverse range of ligands. Evidence supporting a role of the RAGE axis in the pathogenesis of systemic inflammation, ALI and myocardial dysfunction is compelling with numerous animal experiments showing the beneficial effects of inhibiting the RAGE axis. Despite a number of unanswered questions that need to be further addressed, the potential for inhibiting RAGE-mediated inflammation in humans undoubtedly exists.
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Intensive care medicine · Oct 2010
Transfusion-related acute lung injury in ICU patients admitted with gastrointestinal bleeding.
Transfusion of blood components is common in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) for gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, yet the incidence and risk factors for development of transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) in these patients are unknown. ⋯ TRALI is common in critically ill ESLD patients with gastrointestinal bleeding. Nonleukoreduced red blood cells and FFP are significant transfusion-specific risk factors and their use should be re-evaluated in bleeding patients with ESLD.
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Intensive care medicine · Oct 2010
Critical care management of patients with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.
Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a life-threatening condition associated with multiple organ dysfunction. We sought to describe ICU management and outcomes in HLH patients meeting HLH-2004 criteria and to identify determinants of mortality. ⋯ Aggressive supportive care combined with specific treatment of the precipitating factor can produce meaningful survival in patients with HLH responsible for multiple organ failures. Survival is highest in patients with HLH related to Castleman's disease or B cell lymphoma.
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Intensive care medicine · Oct 2010
Impact of organ dysfunction on mortality in ICU patients with hematologic malignancies.
To compare evolution in organ dysfunction (OD) between hematologic malignancy patients with and without bacterial infection (BI) precipitating intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and to assess its impact on mortality. ⋯ BI is associated with a more severe initial but a more rapidly reversible OD and a subsequent lower mortality compared to other complications in ICU patients with hematologic malignancies. These findings further support the recommendation that these patients should certainly benefit from advanced life support, and in the case of an uncertain long-term prognosis due to the underlying malignancy, at least from a 3-day ICU trial.