Current opinion in critical care
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Oct 2014
Review Historical ArticleA history of outcome prediction in the ICU.
There are few first-hand accounts that describe the history of outcome prediction in critical care. This review summarizes the authors' personal perspectives about the development and evolution of Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation over the past 35 years. ⋯ There is increasing evidence that superior accuracy in outcome prediction requires complex modeling with detailed adjustment for diagnosis and physiologic abnormalities. Thus, an automated electronic system is recommended for gathering data and generating predictions. Support, either public or private, is required to assist users and to update and improve models. Current outcome prediction models have increasingly focused on benchmarks for resource use, a trend that seems likely to increase in the future.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Oct 2014
ReviewVeno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for adult cardiovascular failure.
To examine the utility and technical challenges of applying veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for acute cardiovascular failure in adults with acute and chronic causes of heart failure. ⋯ Veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is an expensive, complex, resource intensive support. It is essential that its future use be guided by evidence obtained from centres that have demonstrated timely, safe support.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Oct 2014
ReviewSetting the vision: applied patient-reported outcomes and smart, connected digital healthcare systems to improve patient-centered outcomes prediction in critical illness.
Prediction models in critical illness are generally limited to short-term mortality and uncommonly include patient-centered outcomes. Current outcome prediction tools are also insensitive to individual context or evolution in healthcare practice, potentially limiting their value over time. Improved prognostication of patient-centered outcomes in critical illness could enhance decision-making quality in the ICU. ⋯ A learning health system infrastructure integrating electronic patient-reported outcomes may aid in the management of critical illness-associated conditions and yield tools to improve prognostication of patient-centered outcomes in critical illness.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Oct 2014
ReviewFluid removal in acute heart failure: diuretics versus devices.
Fluid removal and relief of congestion are central to treatment of acute heart failure. Diuretics have been the decongestive mainstay but their known limitations have led to the exploration of alternative strategies. This review compares diuretics with ultrafiltration and examines the recent evidence evaluating their use. ⋯ Decongestion remains a major challenge in acute heart failure. Although recent studies provide useful data to guide practice, the relatively poor outcomes point to the continued need to identify better strategies for safe and effective decongestion.
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Because of heart-lung interactions, weaning from mechanical ventilation induces strong hemodynamic changes that can lead to weaning-induced cardiac failure. Cardiac patients are particularly at risk for this complication. In this review, we will summarize the most recent advances concerning the mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment of weaning-induced cardiac failure. ⋯ Nowadays, the diagnosis of weaning-induced pulmonary edema can be easily made. Identifying such an event is important as an appropriate treatment, guided by the suspected mechanisms leading to the cardiac failure, should hasten weaning from mechanical ventilation.