Journal of intensive care medicine
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Early predictors of prognosis in comatose patients post cardiac arrest help inform decisions surrounding continuation or withdrawal of treatment and provide a framework on which to better inform relatives of the likely outcome. Markers defined prior to the widespread use of therapeutic hypothermia post arrest may no longer be reliable and an up-to-date analysis of the literature is presented.
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J Intensive Care Med · Apr 2018
Observational StudyAssociation of Microcirculation, Macrocirculation, and Severity of Illness in Septic Shock: A Prospective Observational Study to Identify Microcirculatory Targets Potentially Suitable for Guidance of Hemodynamic Therapy.
Clinically unapparent microcirculatory impairment is common and has a negative impact on septic shock, but specific therapy is not established so far. This prospective observational study aimed at identifying candidate parameters for microcirculatory-guided hemodynamic therapy. ClinicalTrials.gov : NCT01530932. ⋯ In patients with septic shock, microcirculatory reserve as assessed by SvcO2max following VOT was impaired and negatively correlated with severity of illness and fluid balance. In contrast to CI, SvcO2max determined on day 1 or day 2 was significantly negatively correlated with cumulative fluid balance on day 4. Therefore, early microcirculatory measurement of SvcO2max might be superior to CI in guidance of sepsis therapy to avoid fluid overload. This has to be addressed in future clinical studies.
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J Intensive Care Med · Apr 2018
Elevated Red Cell Distribution Width Is Associated With Decreased Ventilator-Free Days in Critically Ill Patients.
Elevated red cell distribution width (RDW) is associated with mortality in a variety of respiratory conditions. Recent data also suggest that RDW is associated with mortality in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Although respiratory failure is common in the ICU, the relationship between RDW and pulmonary outcomes in the ICU has not been previously explored. Therefore, our goal was to investigate the association of admission RDW with 30-day ventilator-free days (VFDs) in ICU patients. ⋯ We observed an inverse association of RDW and 30-day VFD, despite controlling for demographics, nutritional factors, and severity of illness. This supports the need for future studies to validate our findings, understand the physiologic processes that lead to elevated RDW in patients with respiratory failure, and determine whether changes in RDW may be used to support clinical decision-making.