Der Anaesthesist
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Mechanical circulatory support using extracorporeal life support systems (ECLS) has significantly increased in recent years. These critically ill patients pose special challenges to the multiprofessional treatment team and require comprehensive, interdisciplinary and interprofessional concepts. For this reason, to ensure the best possible patient care a standardized ECLS training module has been created at national specialist society level, taking emergency and intensive care management into account.
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In a pandemic situation the overall mortality rate is of considerable interest; however, these data must always be seen in relation to the given healthcare system and the availability of local level of care. A recently published German data evaluation of more than 10,000 COVID-19 patients treated in 920 hospitals showed a high mortality rate of 22% in hospitalized patients and of more than 50% in patients requiring invasive ventilation. Because of the high infection rates in Bavaria, a large number of COVID-19 patients with considerable severity of disease were treated at the intensive care units of the LMU hospital. The LMU hospital is a university hospital and a specialized referral center for the treatment of patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ⋯ The mortality rate in the ventilated COVID-19 intensive care patients was considerably different from the general rate in Germany. The data showed that treatment in an ARDS referral center could result in a lower mortality rate. Low-dose administration of steroids may be another factor to improve patient outcome in a preselected patient population. In the authors' opinion, critically ill COVID-19 patients should be treated in an ARDS center provided that sufficient resources are available.
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As the incidence of diseases during pregnancy or in the puerperium necessitating intensive medical care is very low, intensive care physicians are faced with a multitude of unfamiliar challenges in the treatment of this patient collective. The physiological and pathophysiological alterations during pregnancy induce some specific features with respect to the intensive medical treatment of pregnant or postpartum patients. Therefore, the first article in this CME series summarizes the most important principles and current recommendations on the care of pregnant or postpartum patients who need intensive medical treatment, always under consideration of the well-being of mother and child. The second article describes the diagnostics and treatment of special selected pathologies.