Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Jun 2022
Systematic Review and Comparison of Publicly Available ICU Data Sets-A Decision Guide for Clinicians and Data Scientists.
As data science and artificial intelligence continue to rapidly gain traction, the publication of freely available ICU datasets has become invaluable to propel data-driven clinical research. In this guide for clinicians and researchers, we aim to: 1) systematically search and identify all publicly available adult clinical ICU datasets, 2) compare their characteristics, data quality, and richness and critically appraise their strengths and weaknesses, and 3) provide researchers with suggestions, which datasets are appropriate for answering their clinical question. ⋯ We identified four publicly available adult clinical ICU datasets. Sample size, severity of illness, treatment intensity, and frequency of reported parameters differ markedly between the databases. This should guide clinicians and researchers which databases to best answer their clinical questions.
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Critical care medicine · Jun 2022
Patient-Centered Outcomes Following COVID-19: Frailty and Disability Transitions in Critical Care Survivors.
As the pandemic advances, the interest in the long-lasting consequences of COVID-19 increases. However, a few studies have explored patient-centered outcomes in critical care survivors. We aimed to investigate frailty and disability transitions in COVID-19 patients admitted to ICUs. ⋯ Frailty and disability were more frequent 90 days after hospital discharge compared with baseline in COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU. Our results show that most COVID-19 critical care survivors transition to poorer health status, highlighting the importance of long-term medical follow-up for this population.
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Critical care medicine · Jun 2022
Observational StudyBrain Biopsy for Neurological Diseases of Unknown Etiology in Critically Ill Patients: Feasibility, Safety, and Diagnostic Yield.
Brain biopsy is a useful surgical procedure in the management of patients with suspected neoplastic lesions. Its role in neurologic diseases of unknown etiology remains controversial, especially in ICU patients. This study was undertaken to determine the feasibility, safety, and the diagnostic yield of brain biopsy in critically ill patients with neurologic diseases of unknown etiology. We also aimed to compare these endpoints to those of non-ICU patients who underwent a brain biopsy in the same clinical context. ⋯ Brain biopsy in critically ill patients with neurologic disease of unknown etiology is associated with high diagnostic yield, therapeutic modifications and postbiopsy survival advantage. Safety profile seems acceptable in most patients. The benefit/risk ratio of brain biopsy in this population should be carefully weighted.