Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · Dec 1996
Severe community-acquired pneumonia in ICUs: prospective validation of a prognostic score.
To determine predictors of intensive care unit (ICU) mortality in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), to develop a pneumonia-specific prognostic index, and to evaluate this index prospectively. ⋯ This index, which performs well in classifying patients at high-risk of death, may help physicians in initial patient care (appropriateness of the initial antimicrobial therapy) and guide future clinical research (analysis and design of therapeutic trials).
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Intensive care medicine · Dec 1996
Measuring health and health state preferences among critically ill patients.
a) to examine the EuroQol instrument's ability to assess a patient's state of health prior to admission to an ICU; b) to describe a patient's health-related quality of life (HRQoL) before the onset of the condition leading to admission to the ICU, and prior to discharge; c) to compare patients' preferences for a "common core" of EuroQol health states with preferences from healthy individuals. ⋯ The EuroQol can be reliably used with proxies to determine the state of health of patients prior to admission to the ICU. Preferences between healthy individuals and ICU patients differed.
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Intensive care medicine · Dec 1996
Initial postoperative serum lactate levels predict survival in children after open heart surgery.
To evaluate the relationship between postoperative serum lactate levels and outcome in children undergoing open heart surgery. ⋯ Initial postoperative serum lactate levels after pediatric open heart surgery may be predictive of outcome. Lactate levels are also higher in patients who go on to develop multiple organ system failure. Elevated postoperative lactate levels may reflect intraoperative tissue hypoperfusion, and measures aimed at increasing oxygen delivery, with normalization of lactate, may improve patient outcome.
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Intensive care medicine · Dec 1996
Intensive care management of paediatric organ donors and its effect on post-transplant organ function.
1. To document the clinical course of paediatric beating heart organ donors. 2. To evaluate the effect of the ICU management of pediatric donors on the immediate function of transplanted organs. 3. To examine the validity of current donor selection criteria. ⋯ Aggressive fluid resuscitation and management of diabetes insipidus may promote stability in paediatric organ donors. Donor cardiac arrest does not alter the ICU course or compromise post-transplant organ function. The current criteria used for donor selection failed to predict post-transplant organ function and their use may increase organ wastage.
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Intensive care medicine · Dec 1996
Editorial Comment ReviewAspergillosis in the ICU: the glass half-empty?