Indian journal of critical care medicine : peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine
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Severity scales are important adjuncts of treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) in order to predict patient outcome, comparing quality-of-care and stratification for clinical trials. Even though disease severity scores are not the key elements of treatment, they are however, an essential part of improvement in clinical decisions and in identifying patients with unexpected outcomes. ⋯ However, it is also important to note that the choice of the severity score scale, index, or model should accurately match the event, setting or application; as mis-application, of such systems can lead to wastage of time, increased cost, unwarranted extrapolations and poor science. This article provides a brief overview of ICU severity scales (along with their predicted death/survival rate calculations) developed over the last 3 decades including several of them which has been revised accordingly.
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Indian J Crit Care Med · Apr 2014
Association between heat shock protein 70 gene polymorphisms and clinical outcomes in intensive care unit patients with sepsis.
The objective of the following study is to evaluate the associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the Heat Shock Protein 70 (HSP70) gene, gene expression of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and medical intensive care unit (MICU) stay and organ failure in sepsis. ⋯ HSP70 genotypes may determine some adverse outcomes in patients with sepsis.
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Indian J Crit Care Med · Apr 2014
Propofol versus flunitrazepam for inducing and maintaining sleep in postoperative ICU patients.
Sleep deprivation is a common problem on intensive care units (ICUs) influencing not only cognition, but also cellular functions. An appropriate sleep-wake cycle should therefore be maintained to improve patients' outcome. Multiple disruptive factors on ICUs necessitate the administration of sedating and sleep-promoting drugs for patients who are not analgo-sedated. ⋯ Continuous low-dose injection of propofol for promoting and maintaining night sleep in ICU patients who are not analgo-sedated was superior to flunitrazepam regarding sleep quality and sleep structure.