Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Multicenter Study
Reducing mortality in severe sepsis with the implementation of a core 6-hour bundle: results from the Portuguese community-acquired sepsis study (SACiUCI study).
To evaluate the impact of compliance with a core version of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign 6-hour bundle on 28 days mortality. ⋯ Compliance with this core bundle was associated with a significant reduction in the 28 days mortality. Urgent action should be taken in order to ensure that early sepsis diagnosis is followed by full completion of this "core bundle" followed by activation of expertise help in severe sepsis.
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In the past decade there has been a resurgence of interest in the clinical use of inert gases. In the present paper we review the use of inert gases as anesthetics and neuroprotectants, with particular attention to the clinical use of xenon. We discuss recent advances in understanding the molecular pharmacology of xenon and we highlight specific pharmacological targets that may mediate its actions as an anesthetic and neuroprotectant. We summarize recent in vitro and in vivo studies on the actions of helium and the other inert gases, and discuss their potential to be used as neuroprotective agents.
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Prone ventilation (PV) is a ventilatory strategy that frequently improves oxygenation and lung mechanics in critical illness, yet does not consistently improve survival. While the exact physiologic mechanisms related to these benefits remain unproven, one major theoretical mechanism relates to reducing the abdominal encroachment upon the lungs. Concurrent to this experience is increasing recognition of the ubiquitous role of intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) in critical illness, of the relationship between IAH and intra-abdominal volume or thus the compliance of the abdominal wall, and of the potential difference in the abdominal influences between the extrapulmonary and pulmonary forms of acute respiratory distress syndrome. ⋯ Any proning-related intervention that secondarily influences IAP/IAH is likely to greatly influence respiratory mechanics and outcomes. Further study of the role of IAP/IAH in the physiology and outcomes of PV in hypoxemic respiratory failure is thus required. Theories relating inter-relations between prone positioning and the abdominal condition are presented to aid in designing these studies.
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A decade after the introduction of lung-protective ventilation strategies with low tidal volumes, the adverse effects of mechanical ventilation remain a scientific and clinical challenge. This situation has fueled the search for adjuvant pharmacological strategies to advance the benefit of protective ventilation in an additive or synergistic manner. In a recent issue of Critical Care, Müller and coworkers demonstrate convincingly that the initiation of high-dose simvastatin treatment prior to the onset of mechanical ventilation can attenuate adverse effects in overventilated mice. The present commentary discusses the need for adjuvant therapy in mechanical ventilation, the scientific rational for statin therapy in this context, and potential limitations for its implementation into clinical practice.
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The withdrawal of marketing approval for aprotinin resulted in more clinicians administering tranexamic acid to patients at increased risk of bleeding and adverse outcome. The latest in a series of retrospective analyses of observational data is published in Critical Care and suggests an increase in mortality, when compared to data from the aprotinin era, in those patients having surgery when a cardiac chamber is opened. The added observation of an increase in cerebral excitatory phenomena (seizure activity) with tranexamic acid has a known mechanism and questions if such patients should be given this drug.