Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · Feb 2004
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialEffects on skeletal muscle of intravenous glutamine supplementation to ICU patients.
To evaluate the effect of four doses of intravenous glutamine supplementation on skeletal muscle metabolism. ⋯ Intravenous glutamine supplementation to ICU patients for a period of five days resulted in normalization of plasma glutamine concentrations in a dose-dependent way whereas muscle glutamine concentrations were unaffected.
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Intensive care medicine · Feb 2004
Clinical TrialPatient State Index (PSI) measures depth of sedation in intensive care patients.
To investigate whether the electroencephalogram (EEG)-based Patient State Index (PSI) indicates the level of sedation as measured by Ramsay score in intubated and mechanically ventilated patients in the ICU. ⋯ As the high prediction probability and the analysis of paired comparisons suggest, PSI may be used to quantify the level of propofol/sufentanil sedation in ICU patients. Further studies are required to test whether these promising results can be verified for other drug combinations.
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Intensive care medicine · Feb 2004
Comparative StudyValidation of the new Intensive Care Nursing Scoring System (ICNSS).
To validate a new Intensive Care Nursing Scoring System (ICNSS). ⋯ Nursing workload varied between the different admission types. ICNSS explained a similar percentage of the variation of the admission scores of APACHE II and SAPSS II as TISS and discriminated between non-survivors and survivors. ICNSS is a suitable nursing workload instrument to be used with the TISS score.
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Intensive care medicine · Feb 2004
Comparative StudyPrediction of mortality in an Indian intensive care unit. Comparison between APACHE II and artificial neural networks.
To compare hospital outcome prediction using an artificial neural network model, built on an Indian data set, with the APACHE II (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II) logistic regression model. ⋯ Artificial neural networks, trained on Indian patient data, used fewer variables and yet outperformed the APACHE II system in predicting hospital outcome.
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Intensive care medicine · Feb 2004
Intensive care admission decisions for a patient with limited survival prospects: a questionnaire and database analysis.
To explore the concept of futility by asking clinicians for estimates of survival and admission decisions for an intensive care unit patient with little chance of survival, and to compare these estimates with results from an intensive care database. ⋯ Experienced intensivists did not agree on estimated survival. Even when estimates agreed, admission decisions varied. Database analysis suggested that clinical judgement is relevant when assessing the risk of dying. Lack of consensus on survival estimates and admission decisions suggests that it would be difficult to achieve agreement on appropriate use of intensive care resources and on what constitutes futile treatment.