Articles: chronic.
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Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is defined as severe hypoxemic respiratory failure resulting from diffuse lung injury and secondary to direct and indirect insults. Despite advances, mortality remains as high as 40-60%. Neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs) are used to facilitate mechanical ventilation in patients with ARDS and have been shown to improve arterial partial pressure of oxygen. However, the association between NMBAs and mortality is unclear. Furthermore, morbidity concerns exist, particularly regarding a putative role in intensive care unit (ICU)-acquired weakness. ⋯ Treatment in early severe ARDS with the NMBA, cisatracurium, for 48 hr was associated with lower adjusted 90-day mortality. It was also associated with decreased morbidity, which included increased ventilator-free days, increased ICU-free days, and increased organ failure-free days. These benefits occurred without increasing the incidence of ICU-acquired weakness.
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An excellent bibliographic study of the most cited anesthesia papers of all time, resulting in a collection of 600 papers across 15 subspecialty areas:
- Airway
- Cardiovascular & vascular
- General & physiology
- Head & neck
- Monitoring
- Obstetric
- Acute pain
- Chronic pain
- Pediatric anesthesia
- Preoperative management
- Postoperative care
- Pharmacology
- Regional & LA
- Pulmonary physiology
Fluid management and transfusion
It is ironic that as electronic access to medical literature becomes more pervasive, the ability for an individual to maintain a semblance of broad awareness of that body of knowledge becomes more difficult. (Tripathi, 2011)
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The HTA-report (Health Technology Assessment) deals with over- and undertreatment of pain therapy. Especially in Germany chronic pain is a common reason for the loss of working hours and early retirement. In addition to a reduction in quality of life for the affected persons, chronic pain is therefore also an enormous economic burden for society. ⋯ Despite the relatively high number of studies in Germany the HTA-report shows a massive lack in health care research. Based on the studies a further expansion of out-patient pain and palliative care is recommended. Further training for all involved professional groups must be improved. An independent empirical analysis is necessary to determine over or undertreatment in pain care.
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About one third of hospital mortality in critically ill patients occurs after Intensive Care Unit (ICU) discharge. Some authors have recently hypothesized that unresolved or latent inflammation and sepsis may be an important factor that contributes to death following successful discharge from the ICU. ⋯ At ICU discharge serum CRP concentration was a poor marker of post-ICU prognosis. Post-ICU death appears to be unrelated to the persistent inflammatory response.