Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Aug 2018
Randomized Controlled TrialEffect of a Perioperative Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump in High-Risk Cardiac Surgery Patients: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of perioperative intra-aortic balloon pump use in high-risk cardiac surgery patients. ⋯ In high-risk patients undergoing cardiac surgery, the perioperative use of an intra-aortic balloon pump did not reduce the occurrence of a composite outcome of 30-day mortality and major complications compared with usual care alone.
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Critical care medicine · Aug 2018
Mortality Measures to Profile Hospital Performance for Patients With Septic Shock.
Sepsis care is becoming a more common target for hospital performance measurement, but few studies have evaluated the acceptability of sepsis or septic shock mortality as a potential performance measure. In the absence of a gold standard to identify septic shock in claims data, we assessed agreement and stability of hospital mortality performance under different case definitions. ⋯ Risk-standardized septic shock mortality rates varied considerably between hospitals, suggesting that septic shock is an important performance target. However, efforts to profile hospital performance were sensitive to septic shock case definitions, suggesting that septic shock mortality is not currently ready for widespread use as a hospital quality measure.
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Critical care medicine · Aug 2018
Duration of Respiratory Failure After Trauma Is Not Associated With Increased Long-Term Mortality.
Although 1-year survival in medically critically ill patients with prolonged mechanical ventilation is less than 50%, the relationship between respiratory failure after trauma and 1-year mortality is unknown. We hypothesize that respiratory failure duration in trauma patients is associated with decreased 1-year survival. ⋯ Duration of mechanical ventilation in the critically injured is not associated with 1-year mortality. Duration of ventilation following injury should not be used to predict long-term survival.
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Critical care medicine · Aug 2018
Cecal Ligation and Puncture Alters Glucocorticoid Receptor Expression.
Interventional trials on glucocorticoids in sepsis have yielded capricious results. Recent studies have identified multiple glucocorticoid receptor isoforms. The relative abundance of these isoforms in septic patients and following murine cecal ligation and puncture is unknown. The objective of this study is to determine the effects of cecal ligation and puncture on glucocorticoid receptor isoform abundance. ⋯ Cecal ligation and puncture altered glucocorticoid receptor α and glucocorticoid receptor β isoform expression in tissues and decreased functional responses in heart and liver. Decreases in glucocorticoid receptor α and increases in glucocorticoid receptor β might explain the diminished glucocorticoid responsiveness observed in sepsis.