Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Observational Study
Real-world corticosteroid use in severe pneumonia: a propensity-score-matched study.
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide despite correct antibiotic use. Corticosteroids have long been evaluated as a treatment option, but heterogeneous effects on survival have precluded their widespread implementation. We aimed to evaluate whether corticosteroids might improve clinical outcomes in patients with severe CAP and high inflammatory responses. ⋯ Corticosteroid treatment may be of benefit for patients with CAP who have septic shock and/or a high inflammatory response and requirement for invasive mechanical ventilation. Corticosteroids appear to have no impact on mortality when these features are not present.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Persisting neuroendocrine abnormalities and their association with physical impairment 5 years after critical illness.
Critical illness is hallmarked by neuroendocrine alterations throughout ICU stay. We investigated whether the neuroendocrine axes recover after ICU discharge and whether any residual abnormalities associate with physical functional impairments assessed 5 years after critical illness. ⋯ Five years after ICU admission, most hormones and binding proteins of the thyroid, somatotropic and adrenal axes had recovered. The residual long-term abnormality within the thyroid axis was identified as risk factor for long-term physical impairment, whereas that within the somatotropic axis may be a compensatory protective response. Whether targeting of the residual abnormality in the thyroid axis may improve long-term physical outcome of the patients remains to be investigated. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00512122, registered on July 31, 2007 ( https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00512122 ).
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We hypothesized that as CARDS may present different pathophysiological features than classic ARDS, the application of high levels of end-expiratory pressure is questionable. Our first aim was to investigate the effects of 5-15 cmH2O of PEEP on partitioned respiratory mechanics, gas exchange and dead space; secondly, we investigated whether respiratory system compliance and severity of hypoxemia could affect the response to PEEP on partitioned respiratory mechanics, gas exchange and dead space, dividing the population according to the median value of respiratory system compliance and oxygenation. Thirdly, we explored the effects of an additional PEEP selected according to the Empirical PEEP-FiO2 table of the EPVent-2 study on partitioned respiratory mechanics and gas exchange in a subgroup of patients. ⋯ In COVID-19 ARDS during the early phase the effects of raising PEEP are highly variable and cannot easily be predicted by respiratory system characteristics, because of the heterogeneity of the disease.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
17α-Ethinyl estradiol-3-sulfate increases survival and hemodynamic functioning in a large animal model of combined traumatic brain injury and hemorrhagic shock: a randomized control trial.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and severe blood loss resulting in hemorrhagic shock (HS) represent leading causes of trauma-induced mortality, especially when co-occurring in pre-hospital settings where standard therapies are not readily available. The primary objective of this study was to determine if 17α-ethinyl estradiol-3-sulfate (EE-3-SO4) increases survival, promotes more rapid cardiovascular recovery, or confers neuroprotection relative to Placebo following TBI + HS. ⋯ EE-3-SO4 is efficacious in promoting survival and more rapidly restoring cardiovascular homeostasis following polytraumatic injuries in pre-hospital environments (rural and military) in the absence of standard therapies. Poly-therapeutic approaches targeting additional mechanisms (increased hemostasis, oxygen-carrying capacity, etc.) should be considered in future studies.