Indian journal of critical care medicine : peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine
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Indian J Crit Care Med · Jun 2015
Association between a prolonged corrected QT interval and outcomes in patients in a medical Intensive Care Unit.
Patients admitted into a medical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) have varying illnesses and risk factors. An electrocardiogram (ECG) is a useful tool to assess the cardiac status. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of QT prolongation of the ECG in patients admitted to a medical ICU in a tertiary hospital, to assess outcomes in terms of mortality, cardiovascular events, and duration of ICU stay. ⋯ We found that prolonged QTc is common (30%) in our medical ICU at admission and a large proportion (35%) received drugs capable of prolonging QT interval. These patients with QTc prolongation have a higher odds ratio for adverse outcomes.
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Indian J Crit Care Med · Jun 2015
Early clinical prediction of neurological outcome following out of hospital cardiac arrest managed with therapeutic hypothermia.
Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) may improve neurological outcome in comatose patients following out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). The reliability of clinical prediction of neurological outcome following TH remains unclear. In particular, there is very limited data on survival and predictors of neurological outcome following TH for OHCA from resource-constrained settings in general and South Asia in specific. ⋯ Status myoclonus within 24 h, absence of brainstem reflexes and motor response worse than flexion on day 3 reliably predict unfavorable neurological outcome in comatose patients with OHCA treated with TH.
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Indian J Crit Care Med · May 2015
Problems and limitations in thrombolysis of acute stroke patients at a tertiary care center.
(1) To evaluate the number of patients thrombolysed within 1 h of arrival to emergency room (ER) (2) To identify reasons for delay in thrombolysis of acute stroke patients. ⋯ Reasons for delay in thrombolysis are: Absence of stroke education program for common people. Lack of priority for triage and imaging for stroke patients.
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Indian J Crit Care Med · May 2015
Urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin in critically ill surgical cancer patients.
Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (N-GAL) is an early biomarker of acute kidney injury (AKI) due to various etiologies. On the other hand, N-GAL is also elevated in patients with acute inflammatory conditions and in several solid neoplasms. The goal of this study was to assess the efficacy of N-GAL as a predictor of AKI and mortality in oncological surgical patients postoperatively in the intensive care unit (ICU). ⋯ In oncological postoperative patients admitted to the ICU, urinary N-GAL was an independent predictor of AKI; moreover, its level was higher in the deceased patients.