Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Sep 2014
Multicenter StudySubstance P Mediates Reduced Pneumonia Rates After Traumatic Brain Injury.
Traumatic brain injury results in significant morbidity and mortality and is associated with infectious complications, particularly pneumonia. However, whether traumatic brain injury directly impacts the host response to pneumonia is unknown. The objective of this study was to determine the nature of the relationship between traumatic brain injury and the prevalence of pneumonia in trauma patients and investigate the mechanism of this relationship using a murine model of traumatic brain injury with pneumonia. ⋯ The data demonstrate that patients with traumatic brain injury have lower rates of pneumonia compared to non-head-injured trauma patients and suggest that the mechanism of this effect occurs through traumatic brain injury-induced release of substance P, which improves innate immunity to decrease pneumonia.
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Critical care medicine · Sep 2014
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyA Multicenter, Randomized Clinical Trial of IV Iron Supplementation for Anemia of Traumatic Critical Illness.
To evaluate the efficacy of IV iron supplementation of anemic, critically ill trauma patients. ⋯ Iron supplementation increased the serum ferritin concentration significantly, but it had no discernible effect on transferrin saturation, iron-deficient erythropoiesis, hemoglobin concentration, or packed RBC transfusion requirement. Based on these data, routine IV iron supplementation of anemic, critically ill trauma patients cannot be recommended (NCT 01180894).
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Critical care medicine · Sep 2014
Multicenter StudyRapid Response Team Implementation and In-Hospital Mortality.
To determine the relationship between implementation of rapid response teams and improved mortality rate using a large, uniform dataset from one state in the United States. ⋯ In-hospital mortality improved in six of 10 acute tertiary care hospitals in the post-rapid response team time period when compared with the pre-rapid response team time period. Because of a long-term trend of decline in hospital mortality, these decreases could not be unambiguously attributed to rapid response team implementation. Further research should examine additional objective outcomes and optimal configuration of rapid response teams to maximize intervention effectiveness.