Incidence, Prevalence, and Management of MRSA Bacteremia Across Patient Populations

Incidence, Prevalence, and Management of MRSA Bacteremia Across Patient Populations

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection is still a major global healthcare problem. Of concern is S. aureus bacteremia, which exhibits high rates of morbidity and mortality and can cause metastatic or... read more

Successful Long-Term ECMO for Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis

Successful Long-Term ECMO for Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is an established life-saving procedure for severe acute respiratory failure due to various causes. Long-term extracorporeal membrane oxygenation might be considered if the primary causes... read more

External Validity of Electronic Sniffers for Automated Recognition of ARDS

External Validity of Electronic Sniffers for Automated Recognition of ARDS

Automated electronic sniffers may be useful for early detection of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) for institution of treatment or clinical trial screening. Published electronic sniffer algorithms for ARDS may... read more

Clinical Impact of COPD on Non-cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis

Clinical Impact of COPD on Non-cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis

Clinical impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis. A study on 1,790 patients from the Spanish Bronchiectasis Historical Registry. Patients with BE related to COPD have the same... read more

Effect of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Treatment on Renal Function in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease

Effect of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Treatment on Renal Function in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with impaired renal function, but uncertainty exists over whether OSA treatment can influence renal outcomes. Objectives: To determine the effects of continuous positive airway... read more

When Evidence Says No, but Doctors Say Yes

Long after research contradicts common medical practices, patients continue to demand them and physicians continue to deliver. The result is an epidemic of unnecessary and unhelpful treatments.... read more

Effects of Polymyxin B Hemoperfusion on Mortality in Patients With Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock

Effects of Polymyxin B Hemoperfusion on Mortality in Patients With Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock

Several studies have reported a survival benefit for polymyxin B hemoperfusion treatment in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. However, recently, a propensity-matched analysis and a randomized controlled trial... read more

New Diagnostic Tests: More Harm Than Good

New Diagnostic Tests: More Harm Than Good

Although new diagnostics may advance the time of diagnoses in selected patients, they will increase the frequency of false alarms, overdiagnosis, and overtreatment in others. Bjorn Hofmann and H. Gilbert Welch explain how... read more

In Treating Sepsis, Questions About Timing and Mandates

In Treating Sepsis, Questions About Timing and Mandates

The question of whether Rory's Regulations save lives isn’t asked or answered in the recent study. Sepsis deaths were already decreasing in the United States before the mandate, and determining its contribution to... read more

How to Remove the Grey Area Between VAP and VAT?

How to Remove the Grey Area Between VAP and VAT?

We read with great interest the study performed by Paula Ramirez and colleagues. The study included 71 patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and the authors coined a new term called "gradual VAP".... read more

Rescue Strategy for Treating Severe Carbapenemase-Producing Klebsiella Pneumoniae Infections

Rescue Strategy for Treating Severe Carbapenemase-Producing Klebsiella Pneumoniae Infections

Recent reports have suggested the efficacy of a double carbapenem (DC) combination, including ertapenem, for the treatment of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CR-Kp) infections. We aimed to evaluate the clinical... read more

Cardiovascular Testing and Clinical Outcomes in Emergency Department Patients With Chest Pain

Cardiovascular Testing and Clinical Outcomes in Emergency Department Patients With Chest Pain

In patients who present to the emergency department with chest pain without evidence of ischemia, is cardiac testing - noninvasive testing or coronary angiography - associated with changes in revascularization or acute myocardial... read more

Focus on Brain Injury – The Staircase Approach

Focus on Brain Injury – The Staircase Approach

Focus on brain injury, staircase approach for the treatment of intracranial hypertension after TBI. The development of clinical protocols based on both laboratory and clinical data has underpinned the achievements of neurocritical... read more

Withholding Pantoprazole for Stress Ulcer Prophylaxis in Critically Ill Patients

A decreased frequency of upper gastrointestinal bleeding and a possible association of proton pump inhibitor use with Clostridium difficile and ventilator-associated pneumonia have raised concerns recently. The Reevaluating... read more

Sepsis and Therapeutic Interventions

Sepsis and Therapeutic Interventions

The global burden of sepsis is substantial. Therefore, in a retrospective before-after clinical study, Marik et al compared the outcome and clinical course of consecutive septic patients treated with intravenous vitamin C,... read more

Airway glucose homeostasis: a new target in the prevention and treatment of pulmonary infection

Airway glucose homeostasis: a new target in the prevention and treatment of pulmonary infection

In health, the glucose concentration of airway surface liquid (ASL) is 0.4mM, around 12 times lower than blood glucose concentration. Airway glucose homeostasis is a set of processes that actively maintain low ASL glucose... read more

Angiotensin II may improve vasopressors’ efficacy

Angiotensin II may improve vasopressors’ efficacy

Adding angiotensin II to available vasopressor therapies correlated with significantly improved arterial pressure in patients with catecholamine-resistant vasodilatory shock and less adverse effects, according to a study... read more