Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Comment Letter
Prophylactic open abdomen in patients with postoperative intra-abdominal hypertension.
Postoperative intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) is a frequent occurrence in critically ill patients operated on for severe abdominal trauma, secondary peritonitis or ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. IAH may progress to abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) with new-onset organ dysfunction. Early recognition of IAH and interventions that prevent the development of ACS may preserve vital organ functions and increase the probability of survival. ⋯ Because significant morbidity and mortality are associated with the open abdomen, the measurement of IAP immediately after the fascial closure, when feasible, could offer an objective method for determining the optimal IAP threshold for leaving the abdomen open. The management of the open abdomen requires a temporary abdominal closure (TAC) system that would ideally prevent the development of ACS and facilitate later primary fascia closure. Among several TAC systems, the most promising are those that provide negative pressure to the wound or continuous fascial traction or both.
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Mechanical ventilation (MV) can injure the lungs and contribute to an overwhelming inflammatory response, leading to acute renal failure (ARF). We previously showed that poly(adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase (PARP) is involved in the development of ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) and the related ARF, but the mechanisms underneath remain unclear. In the current study we therefore tested the hypothesis that renal blood flow and endothelial, functional and tissue changes in the kidney of rats with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced lung injury aggravated by MV, is caused, in part, by activation of PARP by peroxynitrite. ⋯ The peroxynitrite-induced PARP activation is involved in renal hypoperfusion, impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation and resultant dysfunction, and injury, in a model of lung injury.
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Recruitment maneuvers (RMs) seem to be more effective in extrapulmonary acute lung injury (ALI), caused mainly by sepsis, than in pulmonary ALI. Nevertheless, the maintenance of adequate volemic status is particularly challenging in sepsis. Since the interaction between volemic status and RMs is not well established, we investigated the effects of RMs on lung and distal organs in the presence of hypovolemia, normovolemia, and hypervolemia in a model of extrapulmonary lung injury induced by sepsis. ⋯ Volemic status should be taken into account during RMs, since in this sepsis-induced ALI model hypervolemia promoted and potentiated lung injury compared to hypo- and normovolemia.
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In a recent issue of Critical Care, Brandt and colleagues report the effects of a 'liberal' fluid loading protocol compared to a more 'restrictive' protocol on hemodynamics and mortality in pigs in which septic shock had been induced. It appears that the former protocol was associated with higher mortality in spite of improved hemodynamics compared to the latter. ⋯ They also do not exclude a specific toxic effect of the larger volumes of hydroxyethyl starch in the 'liberal' strategy. The precise nature of a toxic effect remains obscure, however, but may involve the kidneys.