Seminars in respiratory and critical care medicine
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Sepsis-induced cardiac dysfunction is a frequent and severe complication of septic shock. The mechanisms responsible for its development are complex and intricate. Echocardiography is the best method to make the diagnosis of cardiac dysfunction. ⋯ The transpulmonary thermodilution monitor and the pulmonary artery catheter can also be used to alert clinicians or to monitor the effects of inotropic therapy. Dobutamine is the first-line therapy. Its administration remains a matter of debate and should be carefully monitored in terms of efficacy and tolerance.
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Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Apr 2011
ReviewValue of the serum procalcitonin level to guide antimicrobial therapy for patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia.
Procalcitonin's contribution to the diagnosis of nosocomial infection, particularly ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), is poor: its levels in patients with microbiologically documented VAP the day infection is diagnosed range from normal to extremely high. Moreover, the results of four studies showed that, despite relatively good specificity, this marker had low sensitivity for the diagnosis of VAP. ⋯ Two recent studies showed that a procalcitonin-based strategy (recommending that treating physicians stop antibiotics when the procalcitonin concentration was <0.5 ng/mL, or had decreased by ≥80%) led to less antibiotic consumption by VAP patients, compared with a conventional strategy, with no adverse outcome. Accordingly, for VAP patients, procalcitonin may be used to stop antibiotics as early as day 3 after their initiation, if its concentration is <0.5 ng/mL or has decreased by ≥80%, compared with the first peak concentration.
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Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Apr 2011
ReviewExtracorporeal membrane oxygenation for 2009 influenza A (H1N1)-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome.
The 2009 novel swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus was identified in April 2009 in Mexico, and the World Health Organization declared the first phase 6 global influenza pandemic of the century on June 11, 2009. The pandemic spread worldwide in just a few weeks. Most patients diagnosed with H1N1-2009 virus had a self-limited respiratory illness. ⋯ Despite attempts to optimize ventilator settings, some patients developed refractory hypoxemia or hypercapnia and received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) as a rescue therapy. In most of these cases, patients were retrieved from outside major cities and safely transported under ECMO to experienced tertiary centers through semiformal referral networks. However, whether the 25 to 50% mortality observed in the reported ECMO series was affected by the recourse to this technique could not be established.