Current opinion in critical care
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Apr 2021
ReviewHow do we identify the crashing traumatic brain injury patient - the neurosurgeon's view.
To provide an overview on recent advances in the field of assessment and monitoring of patients with severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI) in neurocritical care from a neurosurgical point of view. ⋯ Based on the current evidence, serial clinical assessment, neuroimaging, intracranial and cerebral perfusion pressure and brain tissue oxygen monitoring are key components of sTBI care. Clinical assessment has a crucial role in identifying the crashing patient with sTBI, especially from a neurosurgical standpoint. Multimodal monitoring and clinical assessment should be seen as complementary evaluation methods that support one another.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Apr 2021
ReviewHow to diagnose delayed cerebral ischaemia and symptomatic vasospasm and prevent cerebral infarction in patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage.
Delayed cerebral ischaemia (DCI) complicates the clinical course of patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) in 20--30% and substantially worsens outcome. In this review, we describe a multimodal diagnostic approach based on underlying mechanisms of DCI and provide treatment options with a special focus on the most recently published literature. ⋯ The complex pathophysiology underlying DCI urges for a multimodal diagnostic approach triggering targeted interventions. Novel treatment concepts still have to be proven in large trials.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Apr 2021
ReviewHow much oxygen for the injured brain - can invasive parenchymal catheters help?
Each year in the United States there are over 2.5 million visits to emergency departments for traumatic brain injury (TBI), 300,000 hospitalizations, and 50,000 deaths. TBI initiates a complex cascade of events which can lead to significant secondary brain damage. Great interest exists in directly measuring cerebral oxygen delivery and demand after TBI to prevent this secondary injury. Several invasive, catheter-based devices are now available which directly monitor the partial pressure of oxygen in brain tissue (PbtO2), yet significant equipoise exists regarding their clinical use in severe TBI. ⋯ While current evidence regarding the use of PbtO2 remains mixed, three ongoing clinical trials are expected to definitively answer the question of what role PbtO2 monitoring plays in severe TBI.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Apr 2021
ReviewOvercoming challenges to enteral nutrition delivery in critical care.
Existing data and all ICU nutrition guidelines emphasize enteral nutrition (EN) represents a primary therapy leading to both nutritional and non-nutritional benefits. Unfortunately, iatrogenic malnutrition and underfeeding is virtually ubiquitous in ICUs worldwide for prolonged periods post-ICU admission. Overcoming essential challenges to EN delivery requires addressing a range of real, and frequently propagated myths regarding EN delivery. ⋯ It is the essential implementation of this new evidence occurs to overcome real and perceived EN challenges. This data should lead to increased standardization/protocolization of ICU nutrition therapy to ensure personalized nutrition care delivering the right nutrition dose, in the right patient, at the right time to optimize clinical outcome.
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Timely and adequate management are the key priorities in the care of peritonitis. This review focuses on the cornerstones of the medical support: source control and antiinfective therapies. ⋯ Early clinical diagnosis, timely and adequate source control and antiinfective therapy are the essential pillars of the management of peritonitis in ICU patients.