Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Potential survival benefit of polymyxin B hemoperfusion in patients with septic shock: a propensity-matched cohort study.
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether polymyxin B hemoperfusion (PMX-HP) improves the survival of patients with septic shock. ⋯ Our results strongly suggest that PMX-HP reduces all-cause hospital mortality and length of ICU stay in patients with septic shock.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Severe varicella-zoster virus pneumonia: a multicenter cohort study.
Pneumonia is a dreaded complication of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection in adults; however, the data are limited. Our objective was to investigate the clinical features, management, and outcomes of critically ill patients with VZV-related community-acquired pneumonia (VZV-CAP). ⋯ Severe VZV-CAP is responsible for an acute pulmonary involvement associated with a significant morbidity and mortality. Steroid therapy did not influence mortality, but increased the risk of superinfection.
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An important limitation of many critical care trial designs is that they hypothesize large, and potentially implausible, reductions in mortality. Interpretation of trial results could be improved by systematic assessment of the plausibility of trial hypotheses; however, such assessment has not been attempted in the field of critical care medicine. The purpose of this study was to determine clinicians' views about prior probabilities and plausible effect sizes for ongoing critical care trials where the primary endpoint is landmark mortality. ⋯ For some of the largest ongoing critical care trials, many clinicians regard prior probabilities as low and consider that plausible effects on absolute mortality are less than 5%. Further work is needed to determine whether pooled estimates obtained by surveying clinicians are replicable and accurate or whether other methods of estimating prior probability are preferred.