Annals of cardiac anaesthesia
-
Comparative Study Observational Study
Retrospective study on prognostic importance of serum procalcitonin and amino-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide levels as compared to Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation IV Score on Intensive Care Unit admission, in a mixed Intensive Care Unit population.
Timely decision making in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is very essential to improve the outcome of critically sick patients. Conventional scores like Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE IV) are quite cumbersome with calculations and take minimum 24 hours. Procalcitonin has shown to have prognostic value in ICU/Emergency department (ED) in disease states like pneumonia, sepsis etc. NTproBNP has demonstrated excellent diagnostic and prognostic importance in cardiac diseases. It has also been found elevated in non-cardiac diseases. We chose to study the prognostic utility of these markers on ICU admission. ⋯ The current study demonstrated a good predictive value of NTproBNP, in terms of mortality and morbidity comparable to that of APACHE-IV score. Procalcitonin, however, was found to have doubtful prognostic importance. These findings need to be confirmed in a prospective larger study.
-
Observational Study
The role of blood lactate clearance as a predictor of mortality in children undergoing surgery for tetralogy of Fallot.
The identification of biomarkers for predicting morbidity and mortality, particularly in pediatric population undergoing cardiac surgery will contribute toward improving the patient outcome. There is an increasing body of literature establishing the clinical utility of hyperlactatemia and lactate clearance as prognostic indicator in adult cardiac surgical patients. However, the relationship between lactate clearance and mortality risk in the pediatric population remains to be established. ⋯ Lactate clearance in the early postoperative period (6 h) is associated with decreased mortality rate. Patients with higher lactate clearance (>10%) after 6 h have improved outcome compared with those with lower lactate clearance.
-
A growing number of patients are undergoing prolonged management of advanced heart failure with the use of continuous flow left ventricular assist devices (LVADs). Subsequently, an increasing number of patients are presenting with complications associated with these devices. ⋯ Difficulty and poor prognosis may make reoperation less than desirable. Here, we present a case of successful thrombolysis following intravenous administration of tissue plasminogen activator in the Intensive Care Unit setting.
-
Mechanical ventilation remains the cornerstone in the management of severe acute respiratory failure. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is the most common cause of respiratory failure. ⋯ NMB and prone ventilation are modalities that have been clearly linked to reduced mortality in ARDS. Rescue therapies pose a clinical challenge requiring a precarious balance of risks and benefits, as well as, in-depth knowledge of therapeutic limitations.