Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Aug 2019
Biphasic Release of the Alarmin High Mobility Group Box 1 Protein Early After Trauma Predicts Poor Clinical Outcome.
The causal role of the prototype alarmin high mobility group box 1 protein in systemic inflammation and remote organ injury after trauma and shock is established in animal models but not in humans. Our aim was therefore to determine high mobility group box 1 protein concentration kinetics with high time resolution during the first hours after trauma in individual patients and investigate the association with outcome. ⋯ High mobility group box 1 protein was released in two consecutive phases. Only the second high mobility group box 1 protein wave was a significant predictor of outcome. Patients with a high high mobility group box 1 protein concentration between 3 and 6 hours after trauma might hypothetically benefit from high mobility group box 1 protein-specific antagonist therapy.
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Critical care medicine · Aug 2019
Assessing Competence in Central Venous Catheter Placement by Pediatric Critical Care Fellows: A National Survey Study.
To describe the current approach to initial training, ongoing skill maintenance, and assessment of competence in central venous catheter placement by pediatric critical care medicine fellows, a subset of trainees in whom this skill is required. ⋯ Despite national mandates for skill competence by many accrediting bodies, no standardized system currently exists across programs for assessing central venous catheter placement. Most pediatric critical care medicine programs use a global assessment and decisions around the ability of a fellow to place a central venous catheter under indirect supervision are largely based upon subjective assessment of performance. Further investigation is needed to determine if this finding is consistent in other specialties/subspecialties, if utilization of standardized assessment methods can improve program directors' abilities to ensure trainee competence in central venous catheter insertion in the setting of variable training approaches, and if these findings are consistent with other procedures across critical care medicine training programs, adult and pediatric.
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Critical care medicine · Aug 2019
Comparative StudyMitochondrial DNA Haplogroups and Delirium During Sepsis.
Studies suggest that mitochondrial dysfunction underlies some forms of sepsis-induced organ failure. We sought to test the hypothesis that variations in mitochondrial DNA haplogroup affect susceptibility to sepsis-associated delirium, a common manifestation of acute brain dysfunction during sepsis. ⋯ Variations in mitochondrial DNA are associated with development of and protection from delirium in Caucasians and African Americans during sepsis. Future studies are now required to determine whether mitochondrial DNA and mitochondrial dysfunction contribute to the pathogenesis of delirium during sepsis so that targeted treatments can be developed.
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Critical care medicine · Aug 2019
Observational StudyAt-Risk Drinking Is Independently Associated With Acute Kidney Injury in Critically Ill Patients.
Unhealthy use of alcohol and acute kidney injury are major public health problems, but little is known about the impact of excessive alcohol consumption on kidney function in critically ill patients. We aimed to determine whether at-risk drinking is independently associated with acute kidney injury in the ICU and at ICU discharge. ⋯ Our results suggest that chronic and current alcohol misuse in critically ill patients is associated with kidney dysfunction. The systematic and accurate identification of patients with alcohol misuse may allow for the prevention of acute kidney injury.
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Cost-effectiveness analyses are increasingly used to aid decisions about resource allocation in healthcare; this practice is slow to translate into critical care. We sought to identify and summarize original cost-effectiveness studies presenting cost per quality-adjusted life year, incremental cost-effectiveness ratios, or cost per life-year ratios for treatments used in ICUs. ⋯ Despite critical care being a significant healthcare cost burden there remains a paucity of studies in the literature evaluating its cost effectiveness.