Medicina intensiva
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Letter Case Reports
L-Carnitine in valproic acid-induced hyperammonemia.
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Proportional assist ventilation plus (PAV+) applies pressure depending on the patient's inspiratory effort, automatically adjusting flow and volume assist to changes in respiratory mechanics. We aimed to assess the clinical factors associated with the success of PAV+ as first-line support in the acute phase of critical illness. ⋯ PAV+ proved feasible as first-line ventilatory support in 63% of the patients, mostly in individuals without extreme derangements in WOBTOT. Tachypnea and hypercapnia were the clinical factors associated with failure, though statistical significance was not reached.
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Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) with conventional therapy improves the outcome of patients with acute respiratory failure due to hypercapnic decompensation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema (ACPE). This review summarizes the main effects of NIV in these pathologies. ⋯ In ACPE, NIV accelerates the remission of symptoms and the normalization of blood gas parameters, reduces the need for endotracheal intubation, and is associated with a trend towards lesser mortality, without increasing the incidence of myocardial infarction. The ventilation modality used in ACPE does not affect the patient prognosis.
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In recent decades we have witnessed a change in mentality in which patient autonomy has reached significant preponderance, with informed consent as the prime example. The approach in situations where the patient cannot make decisions varies from one country to another, affording greater or lesser importance to the wishes of the family when a surrogate has not been designated. Several studies show discrepancies between the decisions of patients and that the decisions which their surrogates have taken for them. We review concepts such as greatest benefit, evaluate the potential limitations of advance care directives, and consider different options when the action or treatment proposed by professionals comes into conflict with the ideas expressed by the patient's family or surrogates, and which has led to different legally sanctioned solutions in some regions.
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Observational Study
Oxidative stress in immunocompetent patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia. A pilot study.
A comparison was made of the oxidative stress (OS) levels of patients with either viral or bacterial severe community-acquired pneumonia (sCAP) and of patients without infection (healthy volunteers (HV) and patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI)). ⋯ Our results suggest the occurrence of higher OS in sCAP patients compared with HV. In contrast, lower TBARS levels were observed in VCAP patients, suggesting an increase of antioxidant activity related to the redox glutathione system. However, further research involving a larger cohort is needed in order to confirm these findings.