Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Comparative Study
Psychometric comparison of three behavioural scales for the assessment of pain in critically ill patients unable to self-report.
Pain assessment is associated with important outcomes in ICU patients but remains challenging, particularly in non-communicative patients. Use of a reliable tool is paramount to allow any implementation of sedation/analgesia protocols in a multidisciplinary team. This study compared psychometric properties (inter-rater agreement primarily; validity, responsiveness and feasibility secondarily) of three pain scales: Behavioural Pain Scale (BPS/BPS-NI, that is BPS for Non-Intubated patients), Critical Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT) and Non-verbal Pain Scale (NVPS), the pain tool routinely used in this 16-bed medical ICU. ⋯ BPS and CPOT demonstrate similar psychometric properties in non-communicative intubated and non-intubated ICU patients.
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Invasive aspergillosis has been mainly reported among immunocompromised patients during prolonged periods of neutropenia. Recently, however, non-neutropenic patients in the ICU population have shown an increasing risk profile for aspergillosis. ⋯ Since high mortality rates are typical of invasive aspergillosis in critically ill patients, a high level of suspicion and prompt initiation of adequate antifungal treatment are mandatory. Epidemiology, risk factors, diagnostic algorithms, and different approaches in antifungal therapy for invasive aspergillosis in non-neutropenic patients are reviewed.
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Clinical Trial
Use of 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance to screen a set of biomarkers for monitoring metabolic disturbances in severe burn patients.
To establish a plasma metabolomics fingerprint spectrum for severe burn patients and to use it to identify a set of biomarkers that could be used for clinical monitoring. ⋯ Metabolomics techniques based on NMR can be used to monitor metabolism in severe burn patients. Our study demonstrates that integrated 1H-NMR metabolome and global metabolic network analysis is useful for visualizing complex metabolic disturbances after severe burn injury and may provide a new quantitative injury severity evaluation for future clinical use.
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Stress-induced hyperglycemia has been considered an adaptive mechanism to stress up to the first intensive insulin therapy trial, which showed a 34% reduction in relative risk of in-hospital mortality when normalizing blood glucose levels. Further trials had conflicting results and, at present, stress-induced hyperglycemia management remains non-consensual. These findings could be explained by discrepancies in trials, notably regarding the approach to treat hyperglycemia: high versus restrictive caloric intake. ⋯ It results from an imbalance between insulin and counter-regulatory hormones, increased neoglucogenesis, and the cytokine-induced insulin-resistant state of tissues. In this review, we summarize detrimental effects of hyperglycemia on organs in the critically ill (peripheric and central nervous, liver, immune system, kidney, and cardiovascular system). Finally, we show clinical and experimental evidence of potential benefits from glucose and insulin administration, notably on metabolism, immunity, and the cardiovascular system.