Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Comment
Ethyl pyruvate for the treatment of acetaminophen intoxication: alternative to N-acetylcysteine?
N-acetylcysteine is the classical antidote for acetaminophen overdose-induced hepatotoxicity, but its efficacy is limited by the need for early and only temporary treatment. Therefore, Yang and colleagues tested the hypothesis of whether ethyl pyruvate--another anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compound, which they had previously shown to protect against liver injury of various other etiologies--may allow circumventing these limitations. ⋯ On the one hand, this research paper confirms the need for biomarkers to monitor organ recovery after acetaminophen. On the other hand, this paper adds to the ongoing discussion on the usefulness of ethyl pyruvate as a resuscitation fluid in the critically ill.
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In the past two decades, healthcare adopted industrial strategies for process measurement and control. In the industry model, care is taken to avoid minimal deviations from a standard. In healthcare there is scarce data to support that a similar strategy can lead to better outcomes. Briefly, when compliance is high, further attempts to improve uptake of a process are seldom made. Our intensive care unit (ICU) improved the compliance with minimizing sedation from a high baseline of 80.4% (95% CI: 66.9 to 90.2) to 96.2% (95% CI: 95.2 to 97.0) 12 months after a quality improvement initiative. We sought to measure whether this minute improvement in compliance led to a reduction in duration of mechanical ventilation. ⋯ In a system already working at high levels of compliance, outcomes can still be improved. Our intervention was successful in reducing the length of mechanical ventilation. ICUs should have a process of quality assurance in place to provide constant monitoring of key quality of care processes and correct deviations from the proposed standard.
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β2-adrenergic receptor agonists accelerate resolution of pulmonary edema in experimental and clinical studies of acute lung injury (ALI). ⋯ These results suggest that aerosolized albuterol does not improve clinical outcomes in ALI patients. Routine use of β2 agonist therapy in mechanically ventilated ALI patients cannot be recommended.
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Intra-abdominal hypertension is frequent in surgical and medical critically ill patients. Intra-abdominal hypertension has a serious impact on the function of respiratory as well as peripheral organs. ⋯ The optimal setting of mechanical ventilation and its impact on respiratory function and hemodynamics in ARDS associated with intra-abdominal hypertension are far from being assessed. We suggest that the optimal ventilator management of patients with ARDS and intra-abdominal hypertension would include the following: (a) intra-abdominal, esophageal pressure, and hemodynamic monitoring; (b) ventilation setting with protective tidal volume, recruitment maneuver, and level of positive end-expiratory pressure set according to the 'best' compliance of the respiratory system or the lung; (c) deep sedation with or without neuromuscular paralysis in severe ARDS; and (d) open abdomen in selected patients with severe abdominal compartment syndrome.