Blood purification
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Acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are common causes of hypoxemic respiratory failure. Multiple etiologies lead to direct and indirect pulmonary injury that progresses through an acute exudative phase, fibroproliferative phase, and recovery phase. Inflammatory mechanisms are thought to play a predominant role in the pathophysiology of ALI/ARDS. ⋯ Inhaled nitric oxide has been used to improve oxygenation but has not resulted in any outcome benefit. Glucocorticoids may be beneficial in the fibroproliferative phase of lung injury by suppressing chronic inflammation. Rigorous clinical trials of new and established interventions are required to determine optimum therapy and reduce mortality in ALI/ARDS.
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The administration of intravenous fluids is perhaps the most common treatment given in the intensive care unit. According to biologic rationale, ongoing fluid losses should be replaced to maintain fluid homeostasis and relative or absolute deficiencies in circulating blood volume should be prevented or rapidly corrected. There is agreement that insensible fluid losses and isotonic fluid losses should be replaced with a judicious mixture of water and crystalloid solutions. ⋯ Crystalloids might be favored in trauma patients. These views remain inadequately supported by evidence. A randomized controlled trial now under way should increase the evidence base for practice in this area.
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Both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory mediators participate in the pathogenesis of sepsis and explain the failure of specific therapies to improve survival. Continuous extracorporeal therapies have been proposed as a therapeutic option in sepsis. ⋯ We have shown that such treatment may lead to improved survival in a rabbit model of sepsis and to improved hemodynamics, reduced norepinephrine dose and restoration of near-to-normal responsiveness of blood leukocytes to endotoxin in humans. It is anticipated that treatment of plasma, as a device modular to conventional hemofiltration, may pave the way to innovative approaches to the extracorporeal treatment of septic patients.
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Severe sepsis involves a generalised inflammatory response, mediated by a number of cellular and humoral factors. Modulation of this response holds the promise of improved survival. Plasma exchange has been suggested as an adjunctive therapy in grave infective illnesses such as meningococcaemia, because it might remove harmful bacterial products and excessive endogenous inflammatory mediators. ⋯ Plasma exchange remains an intuitively attractive but unproven therapy in sepsis. More controlled clinical trials are needed.
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End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on hemodialysis experience a greatly increased rate of atherosclerotic complications. In both hemodialysis and general populations, it has become evident that inflammation plays a central role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic complications. C-reactive protein (CRP), the major acute phase protein in man, has been found to predict all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in ESRD patients on hemodialysis maintenance therapy. ⋯ Destructive periodontal diseases in the general population have been associated with both an increased prevalence of atherosclerotic complications and an elevation in serum CRP values. In view of the prevalence of destructive periodontal diseases in the general population, and since periodontal evaluations are normally not performed as part of a medical assessment, destructive periodontal diseases may be an over looked source of inflammation in ESRD patients on hemodialysis therapy. The intent of this report is to review the possible role destructive periodontal diseases and associated periodontal infections may play in the management of the ESRD patient on hemodialysis maintenance therapy.