Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Apr 2003
Surgeons, intensivists, and the covenant of care: administrative models and values affecting care at the end of life.
End-of-life care remains a challenging and complex activity in critical care units. There is little information concerning the influence of administrative models of care delivery on end-of-life care. ⋯ End-of-life care varies according to the administrative model. When surgeons have primary responsibility for the patient, the most important goal is defeating death. When intensivists have sole patient responsibility, scarce resources are considered and quality of life is a significant variable. Discussions about improving the way end-of-life decisions are carried out in intensive care units rarely consider the administrative models and personal, professional, and national values affecting such decisions. To improve care at the end of life, we must critically examine these features.
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Critical care medicine · Apr 2003
Meta AnalysisExtended somatic support for pregnant women after brain death.
To review case reports of pregnant women who have been supported after brain death until successful delivery of their infants. From these reports and other literature about brain death, normal physiologic changes of pregnancy, and specific needs for fetal development, recommendations were made to assist in supporting pregnant women after brain death until delivery of a mature fetus who is likely to survive. ⋯ Preservation of uterine/placental blood flow is the most important priority during somatic support. Imprecise autoregulation of the uterine vasculature during maternal hypoxemia or hypotension makes this goal a significant challenge. Special considerations for nutrition; medication use; cardiovascular, respiratory, or endocrine therapy; fetal monitoring; hormone replacement; and ethical concerns are discussed.
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Critical care medicine · Apr 2003
ReviewHigh-frequency oscillatory ventilation for acute respiratory distress syndrome in adult patients.
High-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) using an open-lung strategy has been demonstrated to improve oxygenation in neonatal and pediatric respiratory failure, without increasing barotrauma. Animal studies using small (<4 mm) endotracheal tubes have shown reduced histopathologic evidence of lung injury and inflammatory mediator release, suggesting reduced ventilator-induced lung injury. ⋯ Future studies should compare different algorithms of applying HFOV to determine the optimal techniques for achieving oxygenation and ventilation, while minimizing ventilator-associated lung injury. The potential role of adjunctive therapies used with HFOV (e.g., prone ventilation, inhaled nitric oxide, aerosolized vasodilators, liquid ventilation) will require further research.
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Critical care medicine · Apr 2003
ReviewCoagulation, fibrinolysis, and fibrin deposition in acute lung injury.
To review: a) the role of extravascular fibrin deposition in the pathogenesis of acute lung injury; b) the abnormalities in the coagulation and fibrinolysis pathways that promote fibrin deposition in the acutely injured lung; and c) the pathways that contribute to the regulation of the fibrinolytic system via the lung epithelium, including newly recognized posttranscriptional and urokinase-dependent pathways. Another objective was to determine how novel anticoagulant or fibrinolytic strategies may be used to protect against acute inflammation or accelerated fibrosis in acute lung injury. ⋯ Disordered coagulation and fibrinolysis promote extravascular fibrin deposition in acute lung injury. It is this deposition that characterizes acute lung injury and repair. Expression of uPA, uPAR, and PAI-1 by the lung epithelium, as well as the ability of uPA to induce other components of the fibrinolytic system, involves posttranscriptional regulation. These pathways may contribute to disordered fibrin turnover in the injured lung. The success of anticoagulant or fibrinolytic strategies designed to reverse the abnormalities of local fibrin turnover in acute lung injury supports the inference that abnormalities of coagulation, fibrinolysis, and fibrin deposition have a critical role in the pathogenesis of acute lung injury.
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To review the complex interactions of markers of genetic susceptibility for critical illness and acute lung injury. These may affect the responses of critically ill patients to acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome and may affect outcome. ⋯ The search for an association between functional variants of a gene and clinical phenotype may help to identify key pathophysiological processes of disease. In the future, we will know much about which therapy is best for each individual patient in the intensive care unit.