Crit Care Resusc
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The use of catecholamines to defend and resuscitate patients with septic shock remains a cornerstone of intensive care medicine. The pharmacological support of the failing circulation during sepsis and septic shock should be directed at augmenting perfusion of vital organs and facilitating venous return, rather than peripheral arterial vasoconstriction. There appears to be a teleological rationale for primary use of catecholamines to augment failing endogenous neurohumoral and neuroendocrine cardiovascular systems. ⋯ Supplemental endocrine replacement therapy with low-dose corticosteroids and vasopressin appears biologically plausible and has an emerging role. Results of large-scale, high-quality trials of endogenous catecholamines for sepsis and septic shock are awaited. These may provide additional, important information for evidence-based guidelines, which currently remain of limited clinical utility.
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Comparative Study
Enteral nutrition versus glucose-based or lipid-based parenteral nutrition and tight glycaemic control in critically ill patients.
Early administration of nutrition and attention to tight glycaemic control are both associated with improved outcomes in critically ill patients. We hypothesized that blood glucose control would be better achieved in patients receiving enteral rather than parenteral nutrition and, in the latter group, would be better achieved using a "balanced" glucose plus lipid solution than a dextrose-based solution as calorie source. ⋯ When used in association with a tight glycaemic control regimen, PN is not associated with poorer glycaemic control in critically ill patients than EN.
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Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a significant cause of death, but there is little published information on its incidence and outcomes in Australia. ⋯ Survival from OHCA in Sydney is low, and lower in patients aged 80 years or older. The incidence of OHCA in Sydney is similar to that in the rest of the world. Mortality occurs early after OHCA. Hence, for interventions to be effective in improving survival, they need to be targeted at the early stages of OHCA.
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Biography Historical Article
Notable Australian contributions to the management of ventilatory failure of acute poliomyelitis: with special reference to the Both respirator and Dr. John A. Forbes.
When Australia's 1937 epidemic of poliomyelitis created an urgent need for extra ventilating machines to compensate for respiratory paralysis, Edward Both, an innovative Adelaide biomedical engineer, invented a wooden-cabinet respirator capable of being made relatively quickly in sufficient quantity. His device, here called "the Both", alleviated the problem at Adelaide's Northfield Infectious Diseases Hospital and others, and in late 1938 was introduced into England when Both was visiting there. Appreciating its merits, Lord Nuffield financed assembly-line production at the Morris motor works in Cowley, Oxford. ⋯ Dr John Forbes at Fairfield became the foremost Australian clinician for expertise with the Both. Before the advent of intermittent positive pressure ventilation, the Both's usefulness had seen it tried for ventilatory failure in some non-polio conditions, but uptake of that application was limited. Nonetheless, Nuffield's philanthropy with the (Nuffield-)Both ultimately furthered progress along the 20th century pathway to intensive care medicine.
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To generate baseline data describing Australasian intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation (IABP) weaning practice. ⋯ The Australasian approach to IABP weaning is eclectic. While ratio reduction weaning appears the most successful manner of support withdrawal, it may be a consequence of a volume-outcome relationship, with high- end users achieving better results through IABP familiarity.