Current opinion in critical care
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Devices for assessing microcirculation at the bedside have been a technological breakthrough in the critical care field. Thanks to this technology, a large body of scientific evidence has highlighted the relevance of microcirculatory disruptions during critical illness. The goal of this review is to analyze the current knowledge concerning microcirculation monitoring, mainly focused on clinically available devices. ⋯ Currently, there are several methods for microcirculatory monitoring. To properly apply and correctly interpret the information they provide, clinicians should know the fundamental principles and the strengths and weaknesses of the clinically available devices.
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The purpose of this article is to review the current status of public access defibrillation and the various utility modalities of early defibrillation. ⋯ Recent advances in the use of public access defibrillation show great potential for optimizing early defibrillation. With new technological solutions, AEDs can be transported to the cardiac arrest location reaching OHCAs in both public and private locations. Furthermore, new technological innovations could potentially identify and automatically alert the emergency medical services in nonwitnessed OHCA previously left untreated.
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This review considers the latest evidence relating to the epidemiology and outcomes, treatment guidelines, diagnostic and therapeutic interventions in traumatic cardiac arrest. ⋯ Trauma related cardiac arrest differs from cardiac arrest due to medical causes. Whilst the core principles of treatment are similar, a higher priority is placed on identifying and treating reversible causes.
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Acute coronary syndromes represent the commonest cause of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in adults. Coronary angiography (CAG) followed by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been established as the treatment strategy for these patients. In this review, we aim first to discuss the potential risks and expected benefits from it, the caveats in its implementation, and the current tools for patient selection. Then summarize the recent evidence on the group of patients without ST-segment elevation on post-return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) ECG. ⋯ Recent studies show no benefit with immediate CAG in groups of patients without ST-segment elevation on post-ROSC ECG. Further refinements in selecting the appropriate patients for immediate CAG seem necessary.