Tag: infection
Procalcitonin Testing to Guide Antibiotic Therapy in Acute Upper and Lower Respiratory Tract Infections
Is the use of procalcitonin for guiding antibiotic decisions in patients with acute upper and lower respiratory tract infections associated with improved clinical outcomes compared with usual care? Among patients with varying... read more
Improving Survival Rates From Sepsis
Sepsis kills more Australians each year than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. Daily, as many as 20,000 people worldwide are thought to die from this deadly disease. Also known as blood poisoning, sepsis is a life-threatening... read more
Phage Treatment of an Aortic Graft Infected with Pseudomonas Aeruginosa
Another phage therapy success. Bacteria-killing Viruses found in a pond knocked out an antibiotic resistant infection. Management of prosthetic vascular graft infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa can be a significant... read more
Research Aims to Fine-Tune Sepsis Diagnosis
Work designed to improve diagnosis of one of the leading causes of death in children is under way in Brisbane, led by a University of Queensland researcher. Mater Research Institute-UQ Associate Professor Luregn Schlapbach... read more
Incidence of NV-HAP in the United States
Because nonventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia (NV-HAP) is understudied, our purpose was to determine the incidence, overall burden, and level of documented pneumonia preventive interventions of NV-HAP in 24 U.S. hospitals.... read more
Sepsis Patients can be Risk Stratified at the Time of Diagnosis
Multicenter Meta-Analysis Reveals Sepsis Patients can be Risk Stratified at the Time of Diagnosis Demonstrating Potential to Improve Critical Care Medicine on a Global Scale. For this study, the team identified a large collection... read more
How The Burn Trauma ICU Eliminated Central Line Infections
Is zero possible? In the case of central line infections, the answer was once no. A CLABSI (central line associated blood stream infection) was once considered a car crash, or an expected inevitability of care. When University... read more
Danger Signals in the ICU
Damage-associated molecular pattern activation and release is an important research for intensive care practitioners. It will add to our understanding of the phase and state of the innate immune response to an insult. Early... read more
On Diagnosing Sepsis
Two years ago, a panel appointed by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, referred to as a consensus conference, proposed a new definition for sepsis and new diagnostic... read more
Sepsis Incidence: A Population-Based Study
The incidence of sepsis with organ dysfunction is higher than most previous estimates independent of definition. The inclusion of all inpatients started on intravenous antibiotic treatment of sepsis in a population makes... read more
Oral Versus Intravenous Antibiotics for the Treatment Of Bone and Joint Infection
Oral antibiotic therapy is non-inferior to IV therapy when used during the first six weeks in the treatment for bone and joint infection, as assessed by definitive treatment failure within one year of randomisation. These... read more
Predictors, Prevalence, and Outcomes of Early Crystalloid Responsiveness Among Initially Hypotensive Patients With Sepsis and Septic Shock
Two in three hypotensive sepsis patients were responsive to initial fluid resuscitation. Heart failure, hypothermia, immunocompromise, hyperlactemia, and coagulopathy were associated with the refractory phenotype. Fluid resuscitation... read more
The Overlooked Danger of Delirium in Hospitals
The condition, once known as "ICU psychosis," disproportionately affects seniors and those who have been heavily sedated—and the delusions can last long after they're discharged. Patients treated in intensive-care units... read more
Do We Need New Trials of Procalcitonin-Guided Antibiotic Therapy?
Using biomarkers as a guide to tailor the duration of antibiotic treatment in respiratory infections is an attractive hypothesis assessed in several studies. Recent work aiming to summarize the evidence assessed the effect... read more
AI Can Predict Sepsis to Save Lives
Emory University researchers have created a "Sepsis Expert" algorithm that works in real time to predict the onset of sepsis, the deadly condition that often takes hold in healthcare settings. Banking on information from... read more
Risk Factors for Ventilator-Associated Events in a PICU
There is an association between ventilator-associated condition and infection-related ventilator-associated complication in critically ill children with acute kidney injury, ventilatory support, and neuromuscular blockade.... read more
Managing Sepsis and Septic Shock Current Guidelines and Definitions
While sepsis defies simple definition, it's generally understood to be a clinical syndrome caused by infection that may have profound adverse physiologic consequences. Although its precise incidence is unknown, sepsis is... read more
Differences in Impact of Definitional Elements on Mortality Precludes International Comparisons of Sepsis Epidemiology
Within a sepsis cohort, we illustrate case-mix heterogeneity using definitional elements (infection source and organ dysfunction). In the context of improving outcomes, we illustrate differential secular trends in impact... read more
Defining Sepsis on the Wards: Comparing Two Sepsis Definitions
Sepsis is defined as a dysregulated host response to infection, resulting in acute organ dysfunction. Although the condition has been thoroughly studied in the intensive care unit (ICU), accurate data collection outside of... read more
What Is PICS and How Does it Affect Patients and Families
Every year, about 6 million people are admitted to intensive care units with a life-threatening illness. As medical technology advances, more people survive conditions that once would have been fatal. However, about half... read more
Importance of Second Antibiotic Doses in ED Sepsis Patients
Most studies evaluating early antibiotic administration in sepsis patients focus on timing of the first dose. We highlight many of these studies in our recent review article on Appropriate Antibiotic Therapy in Emergency... read more
Is Fever the Normal Temperature of Sepsis
We know that hypothermia in sepsis is associated with increased mortality but other than that we tend to see fever in sepsis as something bad. We tend to perceive sepsis patients as more sick the more the temperature is elevated.... read more
