Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Jun 2023
Fluid Overload Precedes and Masks Cryptic Kidney Injury in Pediatric Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.
Given the complex interrelatedness of fluid overload (FO), creatinine, acute kidney injury (AKI), and clinical outcomes, the association of AKI with poor outcomes in critically ill children may be underestimated due to definitions used. We aimed to disentangle these temporal relationships in a large cohort of children with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ⋯ AKI was associated with higher mortality and fewer VFDs in pediatric ARDS, irrespective of timing. FO-adjusted creatinine captures a group of patients with Cryptic AKI with outcomes approaching those who meet AKI by traditional criteria. Increases in FO, FO-adjusted creatinine, and ANGPT2 occur prior to meeting conventional AKI criteria.
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Critical care medicine · Jun 2023
Association of an Emergency Critical Care Program With Survival and Early Downgrade Among Critically Ill Medical Patients in the Emergency Department.
To determine whether implementation of an Emergency Critical Care Program (ECCP) is associated with improved survival and early downgrade of critically ill medical patients in the emergency department (ED). ⋯ The implementation of a novel ECCP was associated with a significant decrease in inhospital mortality among critically ill medical ED patients, with the greatest decrease observed in patients with intermediate severity of illness. Early ED downgrades also increased, but the difference was statistically significant only in the intermediate illness severity group.
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Critical care medicine · Jun 2023
Observational StudyImmune Profiling Panel Gene Set Identifies Critically Ill Patients With Low Monocyte Human Leukocyte Antigen-DR Expression: Preliminary Results From the REAnimation Low Immune Status Marker (REALISM) Study.
There is a crucial unmet need for biomarker-guided diagnostic and prognostic enrichment in clinical trials evaluating immune modulating therapies in critically ill patients. Low monocyte expression of human leukocyte antigen-DR (mHLA-DR), considered as a reference surrogate to identify immunosuppressed patients, has been proposed for patient stratification in immunostimulation approaches. However, its widespread use in clinic has been somewhat hampered by technical constraints inherent to flow cytometry technology. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the ability of a prototype multiplex polymerase chain reaction tool (immune profiling panel [IPP]) to identify immunosuppressed ICU patients characterized by a low mHLA-DR expression. ⋯ This study reports on the potential of the IPP gene set to identify ICU patients presenting with mHLA-DR less than 8,000 AB/C. Upon further optimization and validation, this molecular tool may help in the stratification of patients that could benefit from immunostimulation in the context of personalized medicine.
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Critical care medicine · Jun 2023
Multicenter Study Pragmatic Clinical TrialImplementation of Lung-Protective Ventilation in Patients With Acute Respiratory Failure.
We implemented a computerized protocol for low tidal volume ventilation (LTVV) to improve management and outcomes of mechanically ventilated patients with, and without, the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ⋯ We observed improved adherence to optimal ventilator management with implementation of a computerized protocol and reduction in the number of patients receiving tidal volumes greater than 8 mL/kg. We did not observe improvement in clinical outcomes.
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Interindividual variability in the clinical progression of COVID-19 may be explained by host genetics. Emerging literature supports a potential inherited predisposition to severe forms of COVID-19. Demographic and inflammatory characteristics of COVID-19 suggest that acquired hematologic mutations leading to clonal hematopoiesis (CH) may further increase vulnerability to adverse sequelae. This review summarizes the available literature examining genetic predispositions to severe COVID-19 and describes how these findings could eventually be used to improve its clinical management. ⋯ The current literature supports the hypothesis that host genetic factors affect vulnerability to severe COVID-19. Further research is required to confirm the full scope of relevant variants and the causal mechanisms underlying these associations. Clinical approaches, which consider the genetic basis of interindividual variability in COVID-19 and potentially other causes of critical illness, could optimize hospital resource allocation, predict responsiveness to treatment, identify more efficacious drug targets, and ultimately improve outcomes.