Stories Category: Intensive Care
Vitamin D Deficiency in ICU Patients
Vitamin D research has experienced a true hype in all fields of medicine in the last decades. In critical illness, this increased interest has only started 10 years ago. The high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in... read more
Incidence of Hypoglycemia in Following Insulin‐based Acute Treatment of Hyperkalemia
Iatrogenic hypoglycemia, as a result of treatment for hyperkalemia, is a common occurrence. Hyperkalemia occurs disproportionately in patients with acute kidney injury or end‐stage renal disease, and these patients are... read more
Refractory Septic Shock: Our Pragmatic Approach
Despite timely intervention, there exists a small subgroup of patients with septic shock who develop progressive multi-organ failure. Seemingly refractory to conventional therapy, they exhibit a very high mortality. Such... read more
Key Enablers and Barriers for Improving ICU Outcomes
Several enablers and barriers to implementing ICU follow-up clinics and peer support groups should be taken into account and leveraged to improve ICU recovery. Among the most important enablers are motivated clinician leaders... read more
Sedation is Necessary to Minimize Patients’ Discomfort During Mechanical Ventilation
More than half of critical care nurses believe sedation is needed to minimize discomfort and distress among patients receiving mechanical ventilation, according to survey results published recently in the American Journal... read more
Platelet Function During ECMO in Adult Patients
Employing impedance aggregometry and flow cytometry, we found both impaired platelet aggregation and decreased platelet activation on day 1 of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) support compared with healthy controls.... read more
Implementation of a Standardized Transfusion Protocol for Cardiac Patients Treated With Venoarterial ECMO Is Associated With Decreased Blood Component Utilization and May Improve Clinical Outcome
The data indicate that implementation of a standardized transfusion protocol, using more restrictive transfusion indications in cardiac ECMO patients, was associated with reduced blood product utilization, decreased complications,... read more
Mechanical Ventilation Management during ECMO for ARDS
Ultra-protective lung ventilation on ECMO was largely adopted across medium to high case-volume ECMO centers. In contrast with previous observations, mechanical ventilation settings during ECMO did not impact patients' prognosis... read more
Mechanical Ventilation-induced Diaphragm Atrophy Strongly Impacts Clinical Outcomes
Diaphragm atrophy developing during mechanical ventilation strongly impacts clinical outcomes. Targeting an inspiratory effort level similar to that of healthy subjects at rest might accelerate liberation from ventilation.... read more
Determinants of Health-Related Quality of Life After ICU
Preexisting comorbidity counts, but not severity of ICU illness, are strongly associated with health-related quality of life and physical symptoms in the year following critical illness. We prospectively collected data... read more
The Complex Kinetics of Blood Endocan During the Time Course of Sepsis and ARDS
This study highlights the kinetics of endocan in severe sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), thus helping to understand the apparently conflicting results observed in the literature. However, the interpretability... read more
Antipsychotics Not Helpful for Delirium in ICU
Delirium is a confused mental state that includes changes in awareness, thinking, judgment, sleeping patterns, and behavior. It can affect patients of any age but is more common among older adults who experience major illness... read more
Procalcitonin-Guided Use of Antibiotics for Lower Respiratory Tract Infection
The provision of procalcitonin assay results, along with instructions on their interpretation, to emergency department and hospital-based clinicians did not result in less use of antibiotics than did usual care among patients... read more
AKI in Critically Ill Patients After Noncardiac Major Surgery
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication of major surgery. However, acute kidney injury occurring within the first 48 hours after surgery (early acute kidney injury) and therefore likely related to the surgery itself... read more
