Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Editorial Comment
Candida and severe acute pancreatitis: We won't be fooled again.
Several studies have suggested a role of candida in infected cases of severe acute pancreatitis. This commentary reports high incidence and mortality rates of candida infection in this setting and demonstrates the value of the colonization index to detect patients at risk for fungal infection. These findings indicate the need to review the place of antifungal therapy and prophylaxis.
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Observational Study
Etiologies, diagnostic strategies and outcomes of diffuse pulmonary infiltrates causing acute respiratory failure in cancer patients: a retrospective observational study.
Although previous studies have reported etiologies, diagnostic strategies, and outcomes of acute respiratory failure (ARF) in cancer patients, few studies investigated ARF in cancer patients presenting with diffuse pulmonary infiltrates. ⋯ Invasive diagnostic tests, including lung biopsy, increased diagnostic yield and caused therapeutic modification that was significantly associated with better outcomes for diffuse pulmonary infiltrates causing ARF in cancer patients.
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Antiplatelet therapy for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases is common in the ageing population. Whether this therapy exacerbates brain injury after head trauma is an important, but unsettled, topic. In this issue of Critical Care, Fabbri and colleagues address the question of whether pre-injury intake of antiplatelet medication increases the risk profile of patients with posttraumatic intracranial lesions after head trauma. ⋯ Since its introduction as an analgesic in 1897, aspirin has surprised the medical community more than once due to its versatile properties. Prevention of secondary brain damage through aspirin has been reported for ischaemic stroke and subarachnoid haemorrhage. In cases of acute traumatic haemorrhage after head injury, antiplatelet therapy's neuroprotective effects may be outweighed by the increased bleeding tendency.