Current opinion in critical care
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Acute, nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) is a common medical emergency encountered worldwide. Despite medical and technological advances, it remains associated with significant morbidity and mortality. ⋯ A structured approach to the patient with acute UGIB that includes early hemodynamic resuscitation and stabilization, preendoscopic risk stratification using validated instruments, pharmacologic and endoscopic intervention, and postendoscopy therapy is important to optimize patient outcome and assure efficient use of medical resources.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Feb 2015
ReviewExtracorporeal life support for severe acute respiratory distress syndrome.
To provide a summary of the recent literature on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in adults with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), focusing on advances in equipment, current conventional and unconventional indications, complications, and future applications. ⋯ High-quality evidence for the routine use of ECMO for management of adult patients with severe ARDS is still lacking. An ongoing randomized controlled trial (ECMO to rescue lung injury in severe ARDS) will contribute valuable data to guide clinical decisions to opt for this supportive therapy.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Feb 2015
ReviewDiscontinuation of ventilatory support: new solutions to old dilemmas.
Weaning from mechanical ventilation implies two separate but closely related aspects of care, the discontinuation of mechanical ventilation and removal of artificial airway, which implies routine clinical dilemmas. Extubation delay and extubation failure are associated with poor clinical outcomes. We sought to summarize recent evidence on weaning. ⋯ There is an interesting body of clinical research in the discontinuation of mechanical ventilation. Recent randomized controlled studies provide high-level evidence for the best approaches to weaning, especially in patients who fail the first spontaneous breathing trial or targeted populations.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Feb 2015
ReviewBalancing neuromuscular blockade versus preserved muscle activity.
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is still associated with a high mortality. The best way to ensure mechanical ventilation in ARDS patients is still debated, recent data arguing for a muscle paralysis and a controlled ventilation whereas other elements being in favor of a preserved spontaneous breathing. The purpose of this review is to discuss the benefits and the disadvantages of both strategies. ⋯ In ARDS patients, the ventilator strategy should be a balance between muscle paralysis in the most hypoxemic patients and preserved spontaneous breathing after improvement or from the acute phase in less severe forms. However, monitoring plateau pressure, tidal volume and perhaps also transpulmonary pressure seems crucial to limit the occurrence of ventilator-induced lung injury.