Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Editorial Comment
Regional citrate anticoagulation in patients with liver failure - time for a rethink?
Regional citrate anticoagulation (RCA) for continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) has become increasingly attractive in recent years due to its favourable low bleeding risk profile. Its use in liver failure, however, has been limited due to the risk of citrate accumulation and toxicity. ⋯ This study raises interesting prospects with regard to RCA use in liver failure, and we postulate that citrate may have a role as a prognostic marker of metabolic capacity much as in the way of lactate and methacetin. However, further studies are warranted, in particular examining its application in subgroups of liver failure (chronic, acute, hyperacute and subacute), before its use becomes commonplace.
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Measurement of cardiac output (CO) using minimally invasive devices has gained popularity. In 11 patients we compared CO values obtained using the bioreactance technique--a new continuous, totally non-invasive CO monitor--with those obtained by semi-continuous thermodilution using a pulmonary artery catheter. ⋯ There was a poor correlation between the two techniques (r = 0.145). These data suggest that caution should be applied when using bioreactance devices in critically ill patients.
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Comment
Stenting versus aggressive medical therapy for intracranial arterial stenosis: more harm than good.
Atherosclerotic intracranial arterial stenosis is an important cause of stroke that is increasingly being treated with percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and stenting (PTAS) to prevent recurrent stroke. However, PTAS has not been compared with medical management in a randomized trial. ⋯ In patients with intracranial arterial stenosis, aggressive medical management was superior to PTAS with the use of the Wingspan stent system, both because the risk of early stroke after PTAS was high and because the risk of stroke with aggressive medical therapy alone was lower than expected.
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Assessment of cardiac function is key in the management of intensive care unit (ICU) patients and frequently relies on the use of standard transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). A commercially available new generation ultrasound system with two-dimensional imaging capability, which has roughly the size of a mobile phone, is adequately suited to extend the physical examination. The primary endpoint of this study was to evaluate the additional value of this new miniaturized device used as an ultrasonic stethoscope (US) for the determination of left ventricular (LV) systolic function, when compared to conventional clinical assessment by experienced intensivists. The secondary endpoint was to validate the US against TTE for the semi-quantitative assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in ICU patients. ⋯ In ICU patients, the extension of physical examination using an US improves the ability of trained intensivists to determine LVEF at bedside. With trained operators, the semi-quantitative assessment of LVEF using the US is accurate when compared to standard TTE.
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Critical illness leads to increased endogenous production of carbon monoxide (CO) due to the induction of the stress-response enzyme, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1). There is evidence for the cytoprotective and anti-inflammatory effects of CO based on animal studies. In critically ill patients after cardiothoracic surgery, low minimum and high maximum carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) levels were shown to be associated with increased mortality, which suggests that there is an 'optimal range' for HO-1 activity. Our study aimed to test whether this relationship between COHb and outcome exists in non-surgical ICU patients. ⋯ Critically ill patients surviving the admission to a medical ICU had slightly higher minimum and marginally higher average COHb levels when compared to non-survivors. Even though the observed differences are statistically significant, the minute margins would not qualify COHb as a predictive marker for ICU mortality.