Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · Oct 2010
Intensive care-acquired hypernatremia after major cardiothoracic surgery is associated with increased mortality.
Hypernatremia is common in the medical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and has been described as an independent risk factor for mortality. Hypernatremia has not yet been studied in a collection of ICU patients after cardiothoracic surgery. Therefore, we wanted to determine the incidence of hypernatremia in a surgical ICU and its association with outcomes of critically ill surgical patients. ⋯ Hypernatremia is a common event early in the course of critical illness after major cardiothoracic surgery and is independently associated with ICU mortality within 28 days. Future research should focus on the impact of hypernatremia on physiological functions as well as adequate and safe treatment of the electrolyte disorder.
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Intensive care medicine · Oct 2010
Intensive care reimbursement practices: results from the ICUFUND survey.
To assess patterns of intensive care reimbursement practices. ⋯ Our result indicates that ICU physicians who receive detailed financial information about their units are more satisfied with their reimbursement system than those not receiving this information. Nursing workload score may have advantage over other forms of reimbursement practices. ICU physicians would like to be more involved in their unit's financial aspects and would prefer separate funding from hospital.
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Previous studies have shown that patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) after "office hours" are more likely to die. However these results have been challenged by numerous other studies. We therefore analysed this possible relationship between ICU admission time and in-hospital mortality in The Netherlands. ⋯ Hospital mortality in The Netherlands appears to be increased outside office hours and during the weekends, even when corrected for illness severity at admission. However, incomplete adjustment for certain confounders might still play an important role. Further research is needed to fully explain this difference.
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Intensive care medicine · Oct 2010
Normal citratemia and metabolic tolerance of citrate anticoagulation for hemodiafiltration in severe septic shock burn patients.
Anticoagulation during renal replacement therapy remains an important challenge for burn patients due to their high risk of bleeding. In this study we compared the efficacy and safety of citrate anticoagulation to heparin anticoagulation for hemodiafiltration (HDF) in severe burn patients, focusing on metabolic tolerance and handling of citrate. ⋯ In septic shock burn patients, citrate for CVVHDF was efficient and safe, and superior to heparin for hemorrhagic complications and filter survival. Observed metabolic stability was most likely due to a marked loss of citrate in effluent volume and subsequent low total citrate load for the patient.
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Intensive care medicine · Oct 2010
Increased muscle-to-serum lactate gradient predicts progression towards septic shock in septic patients.
During septic shock, muscle produces lactate and pyruvate by way of an exaggerated Na(+), K(+)-ATPase-stimulated aerobic glycolysis associated with epinephrine stimulation. We hypothesized that patients with sepsis without shock and increased epinephrine levels or an increased muscle-to-serum lactate gradient are likely to evolve towards septic shock. Thus, in sepsis patients, we investigated (1) whether muscle produces lactate and pyruvate, and (2) whether muscle lactate production is linked to epinephrine levels and the severity of the patient's condition. ⋯ Muscle produces lactate and pyruvate during sepsis, and this production is highly correlated with plasma epinephrine secretion and severity of illness.