Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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It has been shown that early central venous oxygen saturation (ScvO2)-guided optimization of hemodynamics can improve outcome in septic patients. The early ScvO2 profile of other patient groups is unknown. The aim of this study was to characterize unplanned admissions in a multidisciplinary intensive care unit (ICU) with respect to ScvO2 and outcome. ⋯ Low ScvO2 in unplanned admissions and high SAPS II are associated with increased mortality. Standard ICU treatment increased ScvO2 in patients with a low admission ScvO2, but the increase was not associated with LOSICU or LOShospital.
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To gain insight into factors that might affect results of future case-control studies, we performed an analysis of children with sepsis and purpura admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital (Rotterdam, The Netherlands). ⋯ Age and gender are determinants of severity of paediatric sepsis and purpura. Survival rates have improved during the last two decades.
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Clinical data considering vasopressin as an equivalent option to epinephrine in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) are limited. The aim of this prehospital study was to assess whether the use of vasopressin during CPR contributes to higher end-tidal carbon dioxide and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) levels and thus improves the survival rate and neurological outcome. ⋯ End-tidal carbon dioxide and MAP are strong prognostic factors for the outcome of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Resuscitated patients treated with vasopressin alone or followed by epinephrine have higher average and final end-tidal carbon dioxide values as well as a higher MAP on admission to the hospital than patients treated with epinephrine only. This combination vasopressor therapy improves restoration of spontaneous circulation, short-term survival, and neurological outcome. In the subgroup of patients with initial asystole, it improves the hospital discharge rate.
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Comparative Study
Discordance between microvascular permeability and leukocyte dynamics in septic inducible nitric oxide synthase deficient mice.
Microvascular dysfunction causing intravascular leakage of fluid and protein contributes to hypotension and shock in sepsis. We tested the hypothesis that abrogation of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) activation would decrease leukocyte rolling, leukocyte adhesion, and microvascular leakage in sepsis. We compared wild-type mice made septic by cecal ligation and puncture with mice deficient in iNOS. ⋯ Leukocyte adhesion and vascular leakage were discordant in this setting. The finding that septic iNOS-deficient mice exhibited less microvascular leakage than wild-type septic mice despite equivalent increases in leukocyte adhesion suggests an important role for nitric oxide in modulating vascular permeability during sepsis.
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In a recent issue of Critical Care, Mally and colleagues reported outcomes from an observational study of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Slovenia. Multivariable analysis identified independent predictors for hospital discharge, including higher end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) levels, higher mean arterial pressure (MAP) and the recency (years) of the arrest. ETCO2 has been previously demonstrated to correlate with cardiac index, and predict successful resuscitation. ⋯ During this period a number of factors could have contributed to the improved outcome. These include new guidelines, the awareness of the importance of good CPR (including avoidance of hyperventilation), and better post-resuscitation care (including therapeutic hypothermia). It is hard to unravel the actual contribution of these factors to the final outcome, but the authors should be commended for their excellent overall results, and their thought provoking manuscript.