Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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A competing risk is an event (for example, death in the ICU) that hinders the occurrence of an event of interest (for example, nosocomial infection in the ICU) and it is a common issue in many critical care studies. Not accounting for a competing event may affect how results related to a primary event of interest are interpreted. In the previous issue of Critical Care, Wolkewitz and colleagues extended traditional models for competing risks to include random effects as a means to quantify heterogeneity among ICUs. ⋯ Moreover, since hazards in competing risks make it difficult to disentangle the effects of frequency and timing of the competing events, their interpretation can be murky. Use of mixtures of flexible and succinct parametric time-to-event models for competing risks permits disentanglement of the frequency and timing at the price of requiring stronger data and a higher number of parameters. We used data from a clinical trial on fluid management strategies for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome to support our recommendations.
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The accurate assessment of intravascular volume status for the therapy of severe hypovolemia and shock is difficult and critical to critically ill patients. Non-invasive evaluation of fluid responsiveness by the rapid infusion of a very limited amount of volume is an important clinical goal. This study aimed to test whether echocardiographic parameters could predict fluid responsiveness in critically ill patients following a low-volume (50-ml crystalloid solution) infusion over 10 seconds. ⋯ In critically ill patients, the variation of CO and VTI after the administration of 50-ml crystalloid solution over 10 seconds (∆CO50 and ∆VTI50) can accurately predict fluid responsiveness.
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Tetanus is still a scourge among the under-privileged populations of the world, and unfortunately remains an important cause of death although a cheap, safe and highly efficacious vaccine is available. The rarity of the disease in some parts of the world results in newly trained physicians being unable to make a clinical diagnosis, and hampers the conduct of adequately powered randomized controlled trials. ⋯ New evidence is emerging regarding the use of antibiotics and intrathecal immunoglobulin in tetanus. It is imperative, therefore, that all physicians working in critical care should be aware of the current advances and evidence-based guidelines for management of tetanus in order to achieve the best outcomes, which Rodrigo and colleagues have reviewed in a recent issue of Critical Care.
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The increased use of anticoagulants for the prevention and treatment of thromboembolic diseases has led to a rising incidence of anticoagulant-related intracranial hemorrhage (AICH) in the aging western population. High mortality accompanies this form of hemorrhagic stroke, and significant and debilitating long-term consequences plague survivors. Although management guidelines for such hemorrhages are available for the older generation anticoagulants, they are still lacking for newer agents, which are becoming popular among physicians. ⋯ Surgical interventions are options fraught with complications, and are decided on a case-by-case basis. Our current state of understanding of this condition and its management is insufficient. This deficit calls for more population-based studies and therapeutic trials to better evaluate risk factors for, and to prevent and treat AICH.