Validation and Clinical Implications of the IDSA/ATS Minor Criteria for Severe Community-Acquired Pneumonia

Validation and Clinical Implications of the IDSA/ATS Minor Criteria for Severe Community-Acquired Pneumonia

These findings support the use of the IDSA/ATS minor criteria to predict hospital mortality and guide ICU admission in inpatients with Community-Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) who do not require emergency mechanical ventilation... read more

Initial Inflammatory Profile in Community-acquired Pneumonia Depends on Time since Onset of Symptoms

Initial Inflammatory Profile in Community-acquired Pneumonia Depends on Time since Onset of Symptoms

Time since symptom onset modifies the systemic inflammatory profile at Community-acquired Pneumonia (CAP) diagnosis. This information has relevant clinical implications for management, and it should be taken into account... read more

The Effect of Alcohol Consumption on the Risk of ARDS

The Effect of Alcohol Consumption on the Risk of ARDS

Chronic high alcohol consumption significantly increases the risk of ARDS. This finding suggests that patients admitted to hospital should be screened for chronic alcohol use. Seventeen observational studies (177,674 people)... read more

Pressure ulcers in ICU patients: Incidence and clinical and epidemiological features

Pressure ulcers in ICU patients: Incidence and clinical and epidemiological features

Pressure ulcers in ICU patients: Incidence and clinical and epidemiological features: A multicenter study in southern Brazil. The main objective is to evaluate the incidence and risk factors of pressure ulcers (PU) in adult... read more

Distinguishing Pneumonia From Pneumonitis to Safely Discontinue Antibiotics

Distinguishing Pneumonia From Pneumonitis to Safely Discontinue Antibiotics

Consequences of pulmonary aspiration can be biphasic with dissimilar sequelae. An early phase, coined pneumonitis, involves an inflammatory reaction to gastrointestinal contents with a pH typically less than 2.4 resulting... read more

Immunocompromised Patients with ARDS

Immunocompromised Patients with ARDS

Immunosuppression is frequent in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and infections are the main risk factors for ARDS in these immunocompromised patients. Their management differs from that of immunocompetent... read more

Automated System Detects Risk of VAP

Automated System Detects Risk of VAP

Approximately 50 percent of all patients receiving mechanical ventilator support develop ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have developed an automated system for identifying... read more

A 10-year review of total hospital onset ICU bloodstream infections at an Academic Medical Center

A 10-year review of total hospital onset ICU bloodstream infections at an Academic Medical Center

Across all ICUs, the rates of primary BSIs progressively fell from 2.11/1000 patient days in FY05 to 0.32/1000 patient days in FY14; an 85.0% decrease (P<0.0001). Secondary BSIs also progressively decreased from 3.56/1000... read more

Metabolic Profiles in Community-Acquired Pneumonia

Metabolic Profiles in Community-Acquired Pneumonia

This study demonstrates that serum metabolomics approaches based on the LC-MS/MS platform can be applied as a tool to reveal metabolic changes during CAP and establish a metabolite signature related to disease severity. The... read more

Mechanical Ventilation: Physiological and Clinical Applications

Mechanical Ventilation: Physiological and Clinical Applications

Known for its simple explanations and in-depth coverage of patient-ventilator management, this evidence-based text walks readers through the most fundamental and advanced concepts surrounding mechanical ventilation and guides... read more

Empiric Antibiotics Tend To Be Prolonged in ICU

Empiric Antibiotics Tend To Be Prolonged in ICU

Using antibiotics in critically ill patients is very much walking a tightrope. No one wants to miss an infection in a patient who could go downhill quickly, but no one wants to overuse these precious drugs, either.... read more

Risk Factors for HAI After Pediatric Cardiac Surgery

Risk Factors for HAI After Pediatric Cardiac Surgery

Mechanical ventilation greater than or equal to 3 days, dopamine use, genetic abnormality, and delayed sternal closure were associated with healthcare-associated infections after pediatric cardiac surgery. Since the use of... read more

Antibiotic Therapy in Comatose Mechanically Ventilated Patients Following Aspiration

Dr. Fraser, MD, speaks with Jean Baptiste Lascarrou, MD, about the article, "Antibiotic Therapy in Comatose Mechanically Ventilated Patients Following Aspiration: Differentiating Pneumonia from Pneumonitis," published in... read more

Tracheotomy in the ICU: Guidelines from a French Expert Panel

Tracheotomy in the ICU: Guidelines from a French Expert Panel

Tracheotomy is widely used in intensive care units (ICUs), albeit with great disparities between medical teams in terms of frequency and modality. Indications and techniques are, however, associated with variable levels of... read more

Temporal Trends in Incidence, Sepsis-Related Mortality, and Hospital-Based Acute Care After Sepsis

Temporal Trends in Incidence, Sepsis-Related Mortality, and Hospital-Based Acute Care After Sepsis

Owing to increasing incidence and declining mortality, the number of sepsis survivors at risk for hospital readmission rose significantly between 2010 and 2015. The 30-day hospital readmission rates for sepsis declined modestly... read more

A Doctor Without Health Insurance? What Could Go Wrong?

A Doctor Without Health Insurance? What Could Go Wrong?

It's probably nothing. That's what I said to myself not long ago when I started feeling lousy. I should know, since I'm a physician. But I learned the hard way that those "nothings" can get serious fast - and without health... read more

Noninvasive Ventilation in Patients With Do-Not-Intubate and Comfort-Measures-Only Orders

Noninvasive Ventilation in Patients With Do-Not-Intubate and Comfort-Measures-Only Orders

A large proportion of patients with do-not-intubate orders who received noninvasive ventilation survived to hospital discharge and at 1 year, with limited data showing no decrease in quality of life in survivors. Provision... read more