Stories Category: Intensive Care
A multifaceted intervention to improve treatment with oral anticoagulants in atrial fibrillation
Oral anticoagulation is underused in patients with atrial fibrillation. We assessed the impact of a multifaceted educational intervention, versus usual care, on oral anticoagulant use in patients with atrial fibrillation.... read more
FDA Approves ‘living drug’ to Cure Cancer
FDA has approved the first treatment to redesign immune system so it attacks the cancer cells. Kymriah therapy, which leaves 83% of people free of a type of blood cancer, costs about $475,000 and was developed by Novartis.... read more
Individualizing Thresholds of Cerebral Perfusion Pressure Using Estimated Limits of Autoregulation
Individualized autoregulation-guided cerebral perfusion pressure management may be a plausible alternative to fixed cerebral perfusion pressure threshold management in severe traumatic brain injury patients. Prospective randomized... read more
Oxygen Therapy in Suspected Acute Myocardial Infarction
Routine use of supplemental oxygen in patients with suspected myocardial infarction who did not have hypoxemia was not found to reduce 1-year all-cause mortality. A total of 6629 patients were enrolled. The median duration... read more
Current Clinical Nutrition Practices in Critically Ill Patients in Latin America
In the ICU setting in Latin America, malnutrition was highly prevalent and caloric intake failed to meet targeted energy delivery in 40% of critically ill adults receiving nutrition therapy. Supplemental administration of... read more
Are contact isolation precautions (CP) necessary when caring for patients infected or colonized with endemic MRSA or VRE?
Researchers from the University of Nebraska Medical Center Division of Infectious Diseases and Nebraska Medicine Department of Infection Control and Epidemiology recently published results from a two-year observational study... read more
Hyperfibrinolysis in Severe Isolated TBI May Occur Without Tissue Hypoperfusion
Hyperfibrinolysis is associated with tissue injury in both patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and in non-TBI patients. However, tissue hypoperfusion is associated with hyperfibrinolysis in non-TBI patients, but not... read more
Microcirculatory assessment of patients under VA-ECMO
Of the 24 patients included in the study population, 15 survived and 9 died while on VA-ECMO. PVD of the sublingual microcirculation at initiation of VA-ECMO can be used to predict ICU mortality in patients with cardiogenic... read more
Acetaminophen in the ICU: Mixed Findings
Does having a fever help fight infection? Patients who got acetaminophen to relieve fever while in intensive care units did about as well as patients who got a placebo when it came to mortality. But in a puzzling finding,... read more
Septic shock with no diagnosis at 24 hours: a pragmatic multicenter prospective cohort study
The lack of a patent source of infection after 24 hours of management of shock considered septic is a common and disturbing scenario. A multicenter observational cohort study in ten intensive care units (ICU) in France.... read more
Performance of a Modern Glucose Meter in ICU
Performance of a Modern Glucose Meter in ICU and General Hospital Inpatients: 3 Years of Real-World Paired Meter and Central Laboratory Results. Due to accuracy concerns, the Food and Drug Administration issued guidance to... read more
Restricting volumes of resuscitation fluid in adults with septic shock after initial management
A protocol restricting resuscitation fluid successfully reduced volumes of resuscitation fluid compared with a standard care protocol in adult ICU patients with septic shock.... read more
The Association of Early Combined Lactate and Glucose Levels with Subsequent Renal and Liver Dysfunction
Abnormal combined lactate and glucose measurements may provide an early indication of organ dysfunction. In critically ill patients a 'normal' glucose with an elevated lactate should not be considered desirable, as this combination... read more
Standardize ICU Admission Practices to Cut Costs
Hospitals that admitted patients to ICUs more often were more likely to routinely perform invasive procedures and incur higher costs with no commensurate improvement in mortality.... read more
Hospitals with most heart patients in ICU have worse results: Study
Heart attack or heart failure patients are more likely to get worse or die at hospitals that are more likely to treat them in the ICU, a new study suggests.... read more
Glycemic control, mortality, and hypoglycemia in critically ill patients
Network meta-analysis showed no mortality benefit of tight glycemic control in critically ill patients, but fivefold more hypoglycemia versus mild or very mild control. Thirty-six randomized trials (17,996 patients) were... read more
Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There!
An excellent analogy on how doing nothing can be the best option. Penalty kicks in soccer can make fans crumple with anguish or weep with elation. The kicker sends the ball rocketing toward the goal and goalkeepers lunge... read more
