Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Apr 2007
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative StudyComparison of silver-impregnated with standard multi-lumen central venous catheters in critically ill patients.
To evaluate a new silver-impregnated multi-lumen central venous catheter for reducing catheter-related colonization in intensive care patients. ⋯ The use of silver-impregnated multi-lumen catheters in adult intensive care patients is not associated with a lower rate of colonization than the use of standard multi-lumen catheters.
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Critical care medicine · Apr 2007
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyPatient-ventilator interaction and sleep in mechanically ventilated patients: pressure support versus proportional assist ventilation.
To understand the role of patient-ventilator asynchrony in the etiology of sleep disruption and determine whether optimizing patient-ventilator interactions by using proportional assist ventilation improves sleep. ⋯ Patient ventilator discordance causes sleep disruption. Proportional assist ventilation seems more efficacious than pressure support ventilation in matching ventilatory requirements with ventilator assistance, therefore resulting in fewer patient-ventilator asynchronies and better quality of sleep.
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Critical care medicine · Apr 2007
Randomized Controlled TrialInspiratory resistance maintains arterial pressure during central hypovolemia: implications for treatment of patients with severe hemorrhage.
To test the hypothesis that an impedance threshold device would increase systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and mean arterial blood pressure and delay the onset of symptoms and cardiovascular collapse associated with severe central hypovolemia. ⋯ Use of an impedance threshold device increased systemic blood pressure and delayed the onset of cardiovascular collapse during severe hypovolemic hypotension in spontaneously breathing human volunteers. This device may provide rapid noninvasive hemodynamic support in patients with hypovolemic hypotension once the blood loss has been controlled but before other definitive therapies are available.