Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Hyperglycemia is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients and strict glycemic control has become standard care for adults. Recent studies have questioned the optimal targets for such management and reported increased rates of iatrogenic hypoglycemia in both critically ill children and adults. The ability to provide accurate, real-time continuous glucose monitoring would improve the efficacy and safety of this practice in critically ill patients. The aim of our study is to determine if a continuous, interstitial glucose monitor will correlate with blood glucose values in critically ill children. ⋯ In one of the largest studies to date, in a highly vulnerable ICU population, CGM values have a clinically acceptable correlation with the BG values now used diagnostically and therapeutically. Our data contest the theoretical concerns posed by some regarding CGM use in the ICU. The existing medical evidence may now support a role for CGM devices in the identification and management of hyperglycemia in diverse ICU settings.
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Discrepancies of 5-24% between superior vena cava oxygen saturation (ScvO2) and mixed venous oxygen saturation (SvO2) have been reported in patients with severe heart failure. Thenar muscle tissue oxygenation (StO2) measured with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) during arterial occlusion testing decreases slower in sepsis/septic shock patients (lower StO2 deoxygenation rate). The StO2 deoxygenation rate is influenced by dobutamine. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the StO2 deoxygenation rate and the ScvO2-SvO2 discrepancy in patients with severe left heart failure and additional sepsis/septic shock treated with or without dobutamine. ⋯ In patients with severe heart failure with additional severe sepsis/septic shock the ScvO2-SvO2 discrepancy presents a clinical problem. In these patients the skeletal muscle StO2 deoxygenation rate is inversely proportional to the difference between ScvO2 and SvO2; dobutamine does not influence this relationship. When using ScvO2 as a treatment goal, the NIRS measurement may prove to be a useful non-invasive diagnostic test to uncover patients with a normal ScvO2 but potentially an abnormally low SvO2.
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Statins reduce risk of cardiovascular events and have beneficial pleiotropic effects; both may reduce mortality in critically ill patients. We examined whether statin use was associated with risk of death in general intensive care unit (ICU) patients. ⋯ Preadmission statin use was associated with reduced risk of death following intensive care. The associations seen could be a pharmacological effect of statins, but unmeasured differences in characteristics of statin users and non-users cannot be entirely ruled out.
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Fever is a common occurrence in the intensive care unit, and pharmacologic approaches are limited, particularly in patients unable to tolerate enteral medications. Although a study by Morris and colleagues in the previous issue of Critical Care suggests that intravenous ibuprofen is safe and effective in critically ill patients, the study is small and the drug was given over only a 24-hour period. Additional studies will need to be performed to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of intravenous ibuprofen in critically ill patients.
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During the past decade, there have been an increasing number of studies investigating the precise role of T regulatory cells in human disease. First recognized for their ability to prevent autoimmunity, T regulatory cells control effector CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes and innate immune cells by several different suppressive mechanisms, like cell to cell contact, secretion of inhibitory cytokines and cytolysis. This suppressive function of T regulatory cells could contribute in a similar way to the profound immune dysfunction seen in critical illness whether the latter is due to sepsis or severe injury.