Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
-
In the publication of this article [1], there is an error in the Abstract. This has now been included in this correction article.
-
Multicenter Study
Impact of a posttraumatic cerebral infarction on outcome in patients with TBI: the Italian multicenter cohort INCEPT study.
Post-traumatic cerebral infarction (PTCI) is common after traumatic brain injury (TBI). It is unclear what the occurrence of a PTCI is, how it impacts the long-term outcome, and whether it adds incremental prognostic value to established outcome predictors. ⋯ PTCI is a common complication in patients suffering from a moderate or severe TBI and is an independent risk factor for long-term disability. The addition of PTCI to the IMPACT core and extended predictive models significantly increased their performance in predicting the GOS.
-
Observational Study
Real-time shear wave ultrasound elastography: a new tool for the evaluation of diaphragm and limb muscle stiffness in critically ill patients.
Muscle weakness following critical illness is the consequence of loss of muscle mass and alteration of muscle quality. It is associated with long-term disability. Ultrasonography is a reliable tool to quantify muscle mass, but studies that evaluate muscle quality at the critically ill bedside are lacking. Shear wave ultrasound elastography (SWE) provides spatial representation of soft tissue stiffness and measures of muscle quality. The reliability and reproducibility of SWE in critically ill patients has never been evaluated. ⋯ SWE is a reliable technique to evaluate limb muscles and the diaphragm in both healthy controls and in critically ill patients.
-
Observational Study
The effect of cisatracurium infusion on the energy expenditure of critically ill patients: an observational cohort study.
Both overfeeding and underfeeding of intensive care unit (ICU) patients are associated with worse outcomes. A reliable estimation of the energy expenditure (EE) of ICU patients may help to avoid these phenomena. Several factors that influence EE have been studied previously. However, the effect of neuromuscular blocking agents on EE, which conceptually would lower EE, has not been extensively investigated. ⋯ Our data suggest that continuous infusion of cisatracurium in mechanically ventilated ICU patients is associated with a significant reduction in EE, although the magnitude of the effect is small. Sepsis and higher body temperature are associated with increased EE. Cisatracurium infusion is associated with overfeeding in only a minority of patients and therefore, in most patients, no reductions in caloric prescription are necessary.