Who May Benefit Most From Future Vitamin D Intervention Trials

High-dose vitamin D3 supplementation was associated with a reduction of 28-day mortality in a mixed population of critically ill adults with vitamin D deficiency when excluding patients who died or were discharged within... read more

Neuromuscular Blockade for ARDS Was No Help, In Supine Patients

Neuromuscular Blockade for ARDS Was No Help, In Supine Patients

Continuous neuromuscular blockade for severe ARDS became common practice after the ACURASYS trial showed it reduced mortality by an absolute 9%. A larger trial, ROSE, now finds no benefit of the therapy over usual care, but... read more

Low-dose Nocturnal Dexmedetomidine Prevents ICU Delirium

Low-dose Nocturnal Dexmedetomidine Prevents ICU Delirium

Dexmedetomidine is associated with less delirium than benzodiazepines, and better sleep architecture than either benzodiazepines or propofol; its effect on delirium and sleep when administered at night to patients requiring... read more

Testing Epinephrine for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

Testing Epinephrine for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

Despite having a powerful effect on restoring spontaneous circulation after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, epinephrine produced only a small absolute increase in survival with no increase in favorable functional recovery... read more

Haloperidol for the Management of Delirium in Adult ICU Patients

Haloperidol for the Management of Delirium in Adult ICU Patients

Among critically ill patients, haloperidol administration compared with placebo does not significantly affect short-term mortality, incidence of delirium, ICU length of stay, or delirium or coma-free days. Additionally, there... read more

Effect of Levocarnitine vs Placebo as an Adjunctive Treatment for Septic Shock

Effect of Levocarnitine vs Placebo as an Adjunctive Treatment for Septic Shock

In this dose-finding, phase 2 adaptive randomized trial, patients with septic shock and moderate organ dysfunction were treated early in the course of illness with low (6 g), medium (12 g), or high (18 g) doses of levocarnitine... read more

Remodeling ICU Care

Remodeling ICU Care

A new study finding that two antipsychotics were no more effective than placebo for delirium in critical illness spurs discussion about alternative methods for managing that care. Neither haloperidol nor ziprasidone — both... read more

Caffeine Accelerates Emergence from Isoflurane Anesthesia in Humans

Caffeine Accelerates Emergence from Isoflurane Anesthesia in Humans

Intravenous caffeine is able to accelerate emergence from isoflurane anesthesia in healthy males without any apparent adverse effects. All randomized participants were included in the analysis. The mean time to emergence... read more

Positive Topline Results for Novel Alzheimer’s Drug

Positive Topline Results for Novel Alzheimer’s Drug

A novel drug is showing promise for helping improve cognition in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD), according to new topline results. A phase 3 trial of more than 800 patients showed that those who were... read more

Effect of Bronchodilation, Exercise Training, and Behavior Modification on Symptoms and Physical Activity in COPD

Effect of Bronchodilation, Exercise Training, and Behavior Modification on Symptoms and Physical Activity in COPD

Tiotropium/olodaterol, with or without ExT, improved EET in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) taking part in an SMBM program. Combination bronchodilation, with or without ExT, did not provide additional... read more

Hydrocortisone plus Fludrocortisone for Adults with Septic Shock

Hydrocortisone plus Fludrocortisone for Adults with Septic Shock

The use of steroids in critically ill patients continues to be controversial. Whilst there are signals for improved cardiovascular parameters, this did not translate to clear mortality benefits. The most recent of these trials... read more

Low-dose vs. High-dose Magnesium in Rapid Afib

Low-dose vs. High-dose Magnesium in Rapid Afib

Magnesium sulfate has been used as an adjunct medication for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) due to its ability to lessen sinus node depolarization via calcium antagonism. Prior studies investigating magnesium in... read more

Adjunctive Glucocorticoid Therapy in Patients with Septic Shock

Adjunctive Glucocorticoid Therapy in Patients with Septic Shock

Among patients with septic shock undergoing mechanical ventilation, a continuous infusion of hydrocortisone did not result in lower 90-day mortality than placebo. We randomly assigned patients with septic shock who were undergoing... read more

Intraoperative ketamine for prevention of postoperative delirium or pain after major surgery in older adults

Intraoperative ketamine for prevention of postoperative delirium or pain after major surgery in older adults

Between Feb 6, 2014, and June 26, 2016, 1360 patients were assessed, and 672 were randomly assigned, with 222 in the placebo group, 227 in the 0·5 mg/kg ketamine group, and 223 in the 1·0 mg/kg ketamine group. There was... read more