Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Acetazolamide is commonly given to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients with metabolic alkalosis. Little is known of the pharmacodynamics of acetazolamide in the critically ill. We undertook the pharmacodynamic modeling of bicarbonate response to acetazolamide in COPD patients under mechanical ventilation. ⋯ This study identified several covariates that influenced acetazolamide pharmacodynamics and could allow a better individualization of acetazolamide dosing when treating COPD patients with metabolic alkalosis.
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Comment
Transpulmonary thermodilution assessments: precise measurements require a precise procedure.
When incorporating the values of a hemodynamic parameter into the care of patients, the precision of the measurement method should always be considered. A prospective analysis in the previous issue of Critical Care showed that the precision of transpulmonary thermodilution (TPTD) allows for reliable mean values if a standardised procedure is used. ⋯ Moreover, this result suggests that the current accepted threshold value of a 15% increase in cardiac output to identify a positive response to a fluid challenge could be reduced in the future. Indeed, this value is mainly related to the precision of the pulmonary artery catheter.
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Editorial Comment
Urine sTREM-1 assessment in diagnosing sepsis and sepsis-related acute kidney injury.
The triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (TREM-1) is an immunoreceptor whose role is to amplify the inflammatory response mediated by the engagement of Toll-like and NOD-like receptors. As the expression of TREM-1 is believed to be upregulated during infection, this protein has been studied as a sepsis biomarker. ⋯ Importantly, the authors describe, for the first time, that urinary soluble TREM-1 measurement is able to predict the development of sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (AKI). If these results were to be confirmed by larger studies, urinary soluble TREM-1 would possibly become a new biomarker for sepsis-associated AKI.
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Malabsorption, which is frequently underdiagnosed in critically ill patients, is clinically relevant with regard to nutritional balance and nutritional management. We aimed to validate the diagnostic accuracy of fecal weight as a biomarker for fecal loss and additionally to assess fecal macronutrient contents and intestinal absorption capacity in ICU patients. ⋯ A fecal weight > 350 g/day in ICU patients is a biomarker applicable in daily practice, which can act as a surrogate for fecal energy loss and intestinal energy absorption. Daily measurement of fecal weight is a feasible means of monitoring the nutritional status of critically ill patients and, in those identified as having malabsorption, can monitor responses to changes in dietary management.
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Cell death is a central event in the pathogenesis of sepsis and is reflected by circulating nucleosomes. Circulating nucleosomes were suggested to play an important role in inflammation and were demonstrated to correlate with severity and outcome in sepsis patients. We recently showed that plasma can release nucleosomes from late apoptotic cells. Factor VII-activating protease (FSAP) was identified to be the plasma serine protease responsible for nucleosome release. The aim of this study was to investigate FSAP activation in patients suffering from various inflammatory diseases of increasing severity. ⋯ These results suggest FSAP activation to be a sensor for cell death in the circulation and that FSAP activation in sepsis might be involved in nucleosome release, thereby contributing to lethality.