Journal of critical care
-
Journal of critical care · Dec 2013
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyDexmedetomidine preserves attention/calculation when used for cooperative and short-term intensive care unit sedation.
Differential effects on cognition were recently demonstrated between dexmedetomidine (DEX) and propofol (PRO) when used for cooperative sedation. Propofol was found to reduce cognition, whereas DEX improved cognition. To further discriminate these effects, we evaluated the effect of PRO vs DEX in selected areas of cognition. ⋯ Our findings indicate that DEX improved ACE attention/calculation subscale in awake patients receiving cooperative sedation. This is in contrast to the deterioration in all mean ACE subscale scores observed using PRO, suggesting DEX preserved cognitive function with specific preservation of focus and attention and allows for greater cognition compared with PRO across all cognitive domains.
-
Journal of critical care · Dec 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialFosphenytoin for seizure prevention in childhood coma in Africa: A randomized clinical trial.
We conducted a double-blind trial to determine whether a single intramuscular injection of fosphenytoin prevents seizures and neurologic sequelae in children with acute coma. ⋯ A single intramuscular injection of fosphenytoin (20 phenytoin equivalents/kg) does not prevent seizures or neurologic deficits in childhood acute nontraumatic coma.
-
Journal of critical care · Dec 2013
Multicenter StudyPrehospital use of inhaled steroids and incidence of acute lung injury among patients at risk.
Inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) attenuated lung injury in animal studies. We investigated the association between prehospital ICS and incidence of acute lung injury (ALI) among patients at risk. ⋯ Preadmission use of ICS in a hospitalized population of patients at risk for ALI was not significantly associated with a lower incidence of ALI once controlled by comprehensive propensity-matched analysis.
-
Journal of critical care · Dec 2013
Comparative StudyRisk prediction of hospital mortality for adult patients admitted to Australian and New Zealand intensive care units: Development and validation of the Australian and New Zealand Risk of Death model.
The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a new mortality prediction model (Australian and New Zealand Risk of Death [ANZROD]) for Australian and New Zealand intensive care units (ICUs) and compare its performance with the existing Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) III-j. ⋯ The ANZROD has better calibration; discrimination compared with the APACHE III-j. Further research is required to validate performance over time and in specific subgroups of ICU population.