Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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While non-invasive ventilation aimed at avoiding intubation has become the modality of choice to treat mild to moderate acute respiratory acidosis, many severely acidotic patients (pH <7.20) still need intubation. Extracorporeal veno-venous CO2 removal (ECCO2R) could prove to be an alternative. The present animal study tested in a systematic fashion technical requirements for successful ECCO2R in terms of cannula size, blood and sweep gas flow. ⋯ Veno-venous ECCO2R may serve as a treatment option for severe respiratory acidosis. In this porcine model, ECCO2R was most effective when using blood flow rates ranging between 750 and 1000 mL/minute, while an increase in sweep gas flow from 8 to 16 L/minute had less impact on ECCO2R in this setting.
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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common complication of an ICU admission. Rarely is there a continuation of care, which is aimed at screening for and treating this debilitating disease. Current treatment options for PTSD are held back by inconsistent efficacy, poor evidence, and a lack of understanding of its psychopathology. ⋯ The rapid uptake of new techniques, aimed at reducing PTSD after ICU admission, is necessary to maximize the quality of care given to patients. Increasingly, the realization that the role of intensive care specialists may extend beyond the ICU is changing clinical practice. As this field advances, intensivists and psychiatrists alike must collaborate by using the latest psychopharmacology to treat their patients and combat the psychological consequences of experiencing the extremes of physiological existence.
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Irrespective of initiating factors, the peripheral circulation shows two general phases during the development and treatment of shock. Most published reports support earlier knowledge that the peripheral circulation is among the first to deteriorate and the last to be restored. With the advent of new and old techniques that allow us to continuously monitor peripheral perfusion, we may further shift our focus from pressure-based to flow-based resuscitation. The persisting challenge is the validation (effect on outcome parameters) of peripheral perfusion monitoring tools that can be simple and readily available worldwide.
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Zampieri and colleagues used sophisticated statistical methods to create a picture of acid-base pattern and inflammation relationship in a clinical context. The observed independent relationship between acidosis and albumin concentration and inflammatory pattern opens up a new area for research. It has become clear that, in addition to the characterization of mediators, receptors, and cellular phenotypes, the inflammatory response has to be interpreted in light of acid-base status, albumin concentration, and probably also carbon dioxide level.