Seminars in respiratory and critical care medicine
-
Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Jun 2017
ReviewOropharyngeal Decontamination with Antiseptics to Prevent Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia: Rethinking the Benefits of Chlorhexidine.
Daily oral care with chlorhexidine for mechanically ventilated patients is ubiquitous in contemporary intensive care practice. The practice is predicated upon meta-analyses suggesting that adding chlorhexidine to daily oral care regimens can reduce ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) rates by up to 40%. Close analysis, however, raises three concerns: (1) the meta-analyses are dominated by studies in cardiac surgery patients in whom average duration of mechanical ventilation is < 1 day and thus their risk of VAP is very different from other populations, (2) diagnosing VAP is subjective and nonspecific yet the meta-analyses gave equal weight to blinded and nonblinded studies, potentially biasing them in favor of chlorhexidine, and (3) there is circularity between diagnostic criteria for VAP and chlorhexidine; as an antiseptic, chlorhexidine may decrease the frequency of positive respiratory cultures but fewer cultures does not necessarily mean fewer pneumonias. ⋯ Instead, there was a possible signal that oral chlorhexidine may increase mortality rates. Observational data have raised similar concerns. This article will review the theoretical basis for adding chlorhexidine to oral care regimens, delineate potential biases in randomized controlled trials comparing oral care regimens with and without chlorhexidine, explore the unexpected mortality signal associated with oral chlorhexidine, and provide practical recommendations.
-
Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Jun 2017
ReviewIs There a Role for Inhaled Antibiotics in the Treatment of Ventilator-Associated Infections?
The increasing emergence of multidrug-resistant organisms creates a therapeutic challenge for physicians treating ventilator-associated respiratory infections. As the production of new systemic antibiotics lags far behind the emergence of worsening antibiotic resistance, intensivists are turning to inhaled antibiotics to use as adjunctive therapy. When given properly, these drugs can provide high concentrations of drug in the lung that could not be achieved with intravenous antibiotics without significant systemic toxicity. ⋯ Inhaled therapy has also been used to treat ventilator-associated tracheobronchitis. These preliminary data suggest aerosolized delivery of antimicrobials may effectively treat resistant pathogens with high minimum inhibitory concentrations when used in time-limited protocols and delivered with devices known to deposit antibiotics in the area of infection. Large, multisite, clinical, randomized placebo-controlled studies are needed to confirm these data.
-
Pregnancy is a dynamic process that consists of profound physiological changes mediated by hormonal, mechanical, and circulatory pathways. Understanding of changes in physiology is essential for distinguishing abnormal and normal signs and symptoms in a pregnant patient. These physiological changes also have important pharmacotherapeutic considerations for a pregnant patient. ⋯ Interventional pulmonary procedures can be safely performed in pregnant women while keeping in mind the maternal anatomic and physiologic changes. Furthermore, management of a maternal cardiopulmonary arrest requires important modifications in patient positioning and intravenous access to ensure adequate efficacy of chest compressions, circulation, and airway management. This review will provide an overview of maternal physiologic changes with a focus on cardiopulmonary physiology, pharmacotherapeutic considerations, diagnostic and interventional pulmonary procedures during pregnancy, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation in pregnancy.
-
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a pulmonary vasculopathy associated with abnormal cardiopulmonary hemodynamics and a limited life expectancy due to right heart failure. Young women are preferentially affected. Women with PAH are at increased risk of complications and death during pregnancy for both the mother and the fetus. ⋯ Despite the approval of numerous therapies for PAH in recent years, pregnancy avoidance or early termination is still recommended in women with PAH because of poor outcomes. In this review, we will discuss physiologic and hormonal changes in pregnancy as they relate to pulmonary vascular disease and right heart function. We will review current consensus recommendations and outline the management of pregnancy in PAH when it does occur.
-
Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Apr 2017
ReviewGeneral Care of the Pregnant Patient in the Intensive Care Unit.
Pregnant women represent a small subset of all intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and may require intensive care for "obstetric" or "nonobstetric" reasons. Women may be admitted to the ICU at any stage of pregnancy or in the postpartum period. Pregnancy may be discovered at the time of admission to the ICU. ⋯ Delivery of the fetus for either maternal or fetal indications may be necessary and should be planned for, even if considered unlikely to be required. Care of the postpartum woman has its own challenges, including managing lactation and facilitating mother/infant contact. In this article, the general care aspects of ICU treatment of the pregnant woman will be discussed, including monitoring, physiological target setting, and general supportive care.