Current opinion in critical care
-
The purpose of the review is to alert clinicians to the prevalent and frequently underrecognized problem of asynchrony in mechanically ventilated patients. To provide a mechanistic model of patient-ventilator asynchrony to help personnel understand how different asynchronies develop. To provide practical advice on how to recognize and solve different asynchronies in different contexts. ⋯ The review provides insights into the causes of patient-ventilator asynchrony and mechanisms involved in the development of specific types of asynchrony. It explores the effects of sedation on the development of asynchrony and the impact of new ventilator modes. It also discusses the prevalence of asynchrony and its effects on outcome.
-
Curr Opin Crit Care · Feb 2016
ReviewAcute respiratory distress syndrome: shifting the emphasis from treatment to prevention.
Although results from clinical trials have advanced the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), mortality remains high. More recently, focus has shifted from treatment of ARDS to early identification and prevention in at-risk populations. ⋯ With this change in paradigm, come additional challenges and consideration in study design that depends not only on the intervention but also whether the intervention aims for a primary, secondary, or tertiary prevention of ARDS that targets a patient population for universal, selective, or indicated prevention. These epidemiologic concepts of prevention in public health also apply to ARDS and are relevant to the study population to target, the timing of the intervention relative to critical illness, the study design and outcomes to measure in an ARDS prevention study. This shift in focus is reflected by the new National Heart Lung Blood Institute Prevention and Early Treatment of Acute Lung Injury network, and signifies an overall movement away from reacting to and supporting acute organ failure after it is established to early detection and prevention in acute critical illness wherever and whenever it may occur.
-
Curr Opin Crit Care · Feb 2016
ReviewVentilator-induced diaphragmatic dysfunction: what have we learned?
The purpose of the review is to summarize and discuss recent research regarding the role of mechanical ventilation in producing weakness and atrophy of the diaphragm in critically ill patients, an entity termed ventilator-induced diaphragmatic dysfunction (VIDD). ⋯ Recent research is pointing the way to novel pharmacologic therapies as well as nonpharmacologic methods for preventing VIDD. The next major challenge in the field will be to move these findings from the bench to the bedside in critically ill patients.
-
The objective of this article is to review the most recent literature regarding the management of acute hypercapnic respiratory failure (AHRF). ⋯ NIV is an effective strategy in specific settings and in selected population with AHRF. To date, evidence on ECCO2R is based only on case reports and case-control trials. Although the preliminary results using ECCO2R to decrease the rate of NIV failure and to wean hypercapnic patients from invasive ventilation are remarkable; further randomized studies are needed to assess the effects of this technique on both short-term and long-term clinical outcomes.
-
Curr Opin Crit Care · Feb 2016
ReviewCurrent incidence and outcome of the acute respiratory distress syndrome.
This article discusses recently published articles reporting the incidence and outcome of patients with the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This is a difficult task since there is a marked variability regarding the methodology of the few, large epidemiological, and observational studies on ARDS. ⋯ On the basis of current evidence, it seems that the incidence and overall hospital mortality of ARDS has not changed substantially in the last decade. Independent of the definition used for identification of ARDS patients, reported population-based incidence of ARDS is an order of magnitude lower in Europe than in the USA. Current hospital mortality of combined moderate and severe ARDS reported in observational studies is greater than 40%.