Current opinion in critical care
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Jun 2016
ReviewIs hypothermia indicated during cardiopulmonary resuscitation and after restoration of spontaneous circulation?
Targeted temperature management (TTM) after cardiac arrest has become a standard therapy in postresuscitation care. However, many questions addressing the optimum treatment protocol remain unanswered. ⋯ To maximize its beneficial potential, TTM should be customized to resuscitation covariates. Despite open questions on the optimum treatment protocol, active cooling should be started as soon as possible and hyperthermic conditions should be prevented in any case. To answer the question if intra-arrest cooling or prehospital cooling induction is indicated, additional studies are needed.
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An increasing number of patients are placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for respiratory or cardiac failure. Sound understanding of physiology and configuration of ECMO is essential for proper management. This review covers different monitoring parameters and tools for patients supported with different types of ECMO. ⋯ The review will help physicians better assess adequate ECMO support by using the appropriate parameters for each type of configuration.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Jun 2016
ReviewHigh-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation: current and future directions.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) represents the cornerstone of cardiac arrest resuscitation care. Prompt delivery of high-quality CPR can dramatically improve survival outcomes; however, the definitions of optimal CPR have evolved over several decades. The present review will discuss the metrics of CPR delivery, and the evidence supporting the importance of CPR quality to improve clinical outcomes. ⋯ Through recent laboratory and clinical investigations, a more evidence-based definition of high-quality CPR continues to emerge. Exciting opportunities now exist to study quantitative metrics of CPR and potentially guide resuscitation care in a goal-directed fashion. Concepts of high-quality CPR have also informed new approaches to training and quality improvement efforts for cardiac arrest care.
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Stress ulcer prophylaxis (SUP) is considered standard of care in the majority of critically ill patients in the ICU. In this review, we will present the current evidence for the use of SUP in ICU patients, including data on the prevalence of gastrointestinal bleeding and the balance between benefits and harms of SUP. ⋯ The prevalence of gastrointestinal bleeding in critically ill patients in the ICU is low, the prognostic importance is ambiguous, and SUP is widely used. The balance between benefits and harms of SUP is unknown, and clinical equipoise exists. High-quality randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews assessing benefits and harms of SUP in ICU patients are highly warranted.