Prehospital Antibiotics in the Ambulance for Sepsis

Prehospital Antibiotics in the Ambulance for Sepsis

Emergency medical services (EMS) personnel have already made substantial contributions to improving care for patients with time-dependent illnesses, such as trauma and myocardial infarction. Patients with sepsis could also... read more

Effect of Procalcitonin-guided Antibiotic Treatment on Mortality in Acute Respiratory Infections

Effect of Procalcitonin-guided Antibiotic Treatment on Mortality in Acute Respiratory Infections

Use of procalcitonin to guide antibiotic treatment in patients with acute respiratory infections reduces antibiotic exposure and side-effects, and improves survival. Widespread implementation of procalcitonin protocols in... read more

Critical Care Cycling Study (CYCLIST) Trial Protocol

Critical Care Cycling Study (CYCLIST) Trial Protocol

Critical Care Cycling Study (CYCLIST) trial protocol: a randomised controlled trial of usual care plus additional in-bed cycling sessions versus usual care in the critically ill. In-bed cycling with patients with critical... read more

Lowering systolic blood pressure would save more than 100,000 lives per year, study finds

Lowering systolic blood pressure would save more than 100,000 lives per year, study finds

Intensive treatment to lower systolic (top number) blood pressure to below 120 would save more than 100,000 lives per year in the United States, say scientists. Two thirds of the lives saved would be men and two thirds would... read more

Early Exercise in Critically Ill Youth and Children, a Preliminary Evaluation

Early Exercise in Critically Ill Youth and Children, a Preliminary Evaluation

Early mobilization is safe and feasible in the PICU. In-bed cycling may facilitate greater duration and intensity of mobilization, in critically ill children. A full-scale randomized controlled trial is warranted to evaluate... read more

The Septic Shock 3.0 Definition and Trials

Ranjit Deshpande, MD, speaks with James A. Russell, MD, about the article, "The Septic Shock 3.0 Definition and Trials: A Vasopressin and Septic Shock Trial Experience," published in the June 2017 issue of Critical Care Medicine.... read more

Does a 1-h Rest After a Successful SBT Really Improve Extubation Outcome?

Does a 1-h Rest After a Successful SBT Really Improve Extubation Outcome?

Discussion on whether reconnection to mechanical ventilation for 1h after a successful spontaneous breathing trial (SBT) reduces reintubation in critically ill patients: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.... read more

Can we stop worrying about the age of blood?

Can we stop worrying about the age of blood?

Blood transfusions are common in critically ill patients; two in five adults admitted to an ICU receive at least one transfusion during their hospitalization. Recently, there has been growing concern about the potential dangers... read more

Enteral vs. Parenteral Early Nutrition in Ventilated Adults with Shock

Enteral vs. Parenteral Early Nutrition in Ventilated Adults with Shock

In critically ill adults with shock, early isocaloric enteral nutrition did not reduce mortality or the risk of secondary infections but was associated with a greater risk of digestive complications compared with early isocaloric... read more

Effect of treatment delay on the effectiveness and safety of antifibrinolytics in acute severe hemorrhage

Effect of treatment delay on the effectiveness and safety of antifibrinolytics in acute severe hemorrhage

Antifibrinolytics reduce death from bleeding in trauma and post-partum haemorrhage. We examined the effect of treatment delay on the effectiveness of antifibrinolytics. We obtained data for 40,138 patients from two randomised... read more

Shock Trauma to Study Body Cooling for Patients in Cardiac Arrest from Massive Bleeding

Shock Trauma to Study Body Cooling for Patients in Cardiac Arrest from Massive Bleeding

The R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland has opened a clinical trial to study whether rapidly cooling the body temperature of patients whose hearts stop due to massive blood loss will give surgeons... read more

Assessing Usefulness of Randomized Clinical Trials

Assessing Usefulness of Randomized Clinical Trials

In the pyramid of evidence based medicine randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are considered to be one of the most reliable study designs when evaluating the cause and effect of treatment modalities. When evaluating randomized... read more

Long-term outcomes in patients with septic shock transfused at a lower versus a higher haemoglobin threshold

Long-term outcomes in patients with septic shock transfused at a lower versus a higher haemoglobin threshold

Long-term mortality rates and HRQoL did not differ in patients with septic shock and anaemia who were transfused at a haemoglobin threshold of 7 g/dl versus a threshold of 9 g/dl. We may reject a more than 3 % increased hazard... read more

Does Early Mobilization Reduce Time in the Surgical ICU?

Does Early Mobilization Reduce Time in the Surgical ICU?

Is early mobilization in the surgical intensive care unit (ICU) beneficial? Here is a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial in five university hospitals, where they recruited a total of 200 patients.... read more