Current opinion in critical care
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Jun 2022
ReviewSurviving cardiac arrest - what do we know about recovery & survivorship?
There has been increasing interest in examining how cardiac arrest survivors and their families experience life after sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). Understanding their experiences provides a basis to study tools and interventions to improve short- and long-term recovery and rehabilitation. ⋯ In line with increased recognition of the importance for recovery and rehabilitation after SCA, there has been a commensurate increase in investigations documenting the needs of survivors and families surviving SCA. Pediatric and underserved populations continue to be understudied with regards to recovery after SCA.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Jun 2022
ReviewNew developments in the understanding of right ventricular function in acute care.
Right ventricular dysfunction has an important impact on the perioperative course of cardiac surgery patients. Recent advances in the detection and monitoring of perioperative right ventricular dysfunction will be reviewed here. ⋯ Perioperative right ventricular function monitoring is based on echocardiographic and extra-cardiac flow evaluation. In addition to imaging modalities, hemodynamic evaluation using various types of pulmonary artery catheters can be achieved to track changes rapidly and quantitatively in right ventricular function perioperatively. These monitoring techniques can be applied during and after surgery to increase the detection rate of right ventricular dysfunction. All this to improve the treatment of patients presenting early signs of right ventricular dysfunction before systemic organ dysfunction ensue.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Apr 2022
ReviewIndividualized cerebral perfusion pressure in acute neurological injury: are we ready for clinical use?
Individualizing cerebral perfusion pressure based on cerebrovascular autoregulation assessment is a promising concept for neurological injuries where autoregulation is typically impaired. The purpose of this review is to describe the status quo of autoregulation-guided protocols and discuss steps towards clinical use. ⋯ The effect of autoregulation-guided management on patient outcomes must still be demonstrated in prospective, randomized, controlled trials. Selection of disease-specific protocols and endpoints may serve to evaluate the overall benefit from such approaches.
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To discuss recent advances in the critical care management of acute ischaemic stroke patients and highlight controversies and consensus. ⋯ A bundle of medical, endovascular and surgical strategies implemented by a multidisciplinary team working to locally agreed protocols can improve long-term stroke outcomes.
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The aim of this study was to provide an overview on advances in intracranial pressure (ICP) protocols for care, moving from traditional to more recent concepts. ⋯ ICP management is a complex task, moving far than numeric thresholds for activation of interventions. The interactions of intracranial elements requires new interpretations moving beyond classical theories. Most of the traditional clinical studies supporting ICP management are not generating high class evidence. Recommendations for ICP management requires better designed clinical studies using new concepts to generate interventions according to the new era of personalized medicine.