Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · Nov 1998
Detection of endotracheal tube obstruction by analysis of the expiratory flow signal.
Acute obstruction of endotracheal tubes (ETT) increases airway pressure, decreases tidal volume, increases the risk of dynamic hyperinflation by prolonging the duration of passive expiration, and prevents reliable calculation of tracheal pressure. We propose a computer-assisted method for detecting ETT obstruction during controlled mechanical ventilation. The method only requires measurement of the expiratory flow. ⋯ An ETT obstruction can be reliably distinguished from an increase in pure airway resistance by a characteristic pattern change in the tauE(V(E)) function, which can be detected easily even by an automated pattern recognition system.
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Intensive care medicine · Nov 1998
Effect of plasma and LPS on respiratory burst of neutrophils in septic patients.
To compare the respiratory burst of neutrophils in sepsis and control patients using lipopolysaccharide (LPS), autologous plasma, and a combination of the two. ⋯ (1) Some components of the plasma of septic patients may have a profound effect on neutrophil response; (2) plasma as a respiratory burst stimulus differentiates between sepsis and non-sepsis samples better than other common stimuli; (3) precautions must be taken when using plasma together with LPS because of the different response depending on whether LPS-priming precedes the plasma stimulus or both are introduced simultaneously and whether septic or nonseptic plasma is used.
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Intensive care medicine · Nov 1998
Predictors of respiratory function deterioration after transfer of critically ill patients.
Critically ill patients are often transferred due to the growing number of diagnostic procedures required to be performed outside the intensive care unit. These transfers have proved to be very critical. The aim of this study was to evaluate predictors for the deterioration of respiratory function in critically ill patients after transfer. ⋯ Our predictors were able to indicate deterioration after transfer correctly in 20 of 22 patients (91%), combined with a false-positive rate in 17 of 49 (35%).
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Intensive care medicine · Nov 1998
Do we know the costs of what we prescribe? A study on awareness of the cost of drugs and devices among ICU staff.
To evaluate the level of cost awareness of drugs and devices among intensive care unit (ICU) doctors with variable levels of experience (senior intensivists, junior intensivists, residents). ⋯ The doctors in the study showed a high level of inaccurate cost awareness of drugs and devices.