Current opinion in critical care
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Oct 2006
ReviewFungal infections and their treatment in the intensive care unit.
To describe and bring together recent development in the diagnosis and treatment of both community-acquired and opportunistic fungal infections in the intensive care unit. ⋯ Improved diagnostic tests and newer antifungal agents have been introduced, leading to earlier diagnosis and treatment.
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Bleeding remains a challenge in surgery. A unique drug, recombinant factor VIIa, causes clotting exclusively at bleeding sites. Recombinant factor VIIa has recently been introduced to surgery where current evidence, consisting mostly of case reports, suggest remarkable safety and efficacy. The first randomized controlled trials are only now being published with less remarkable results. This manuscript summarizes the current evidence. ⋯ Current evidence does not yet support recombinant factor VIIa as standard of care in surgery. However, the evidence indicates that recombinant factor VIIa should be used in intracerebral hemorrhage and massive perioperative or traumatic bleeding refractory to conventional therapies. For now, the bedside decision to use recombinant factor VIIa remains a matter of surgical judgment.
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Perioperative nutrition has been extensively studied, but numerous questions remain unanswered. This review focuses on new developments in nutrient delivery in the immediate perioperative period. Issues specifically addressed include which patients are most likely to benefit from perioperative nutritional supplementation, and the optimal route, timing, and quantity of nutrient delivery. ⋯ The particulars of nutritional support for perioperative and critically ill patients remain controversial. Recent studies addressing specific issues in this diverse discipline perhaps raise more questions than are answered. However, each new contribution to the literature brings us closer to an understanding of optimal nutritional management in the metabolically stressed patient.