Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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The pathogenesis of septic acute kidney injury (AKI) is not well understood. In the present issue of Critical Care, the combined clinical and experimental study from Mariano's group provides new insight into the disease. The study shows that plasma from septic burn patients with acute renal failure initiated pro-apoptotic effects and functional alterations in renal tubular cells and podocytes in vitro that correlated with the degree of proteinuria and renal dysfunction. ⋯ Sepsis and burn had additive effects. Apart from increasing our understanding of the pathogenesis of septic AKI, the study justifies further research on therapeutic interventions in several directions. These include the binding and elimination of the source of endotoxin by selective decontamination of the digestive tract, the blocking of apoptotic pathways, or the extracorporeal removal of circulating toxic mediators using high permeability hemofiltration or coupled plasma filtration and absorption.
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Kolar and colleagues contribute an additional and important incentive for rescuers to utilize end-tidal carbon dioxide tensions as a routine monitor to guide management and decision-making during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. They conclude that below-threshold levels of 14 mmHg (1.5 kPa) measured after 20 minutes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation reliably predict that spontaneous circulation cannot be restored.
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The current gold standard for the diagnosis of elevated intracranial pressure (ICP) remains invasive monitoring. Given that invasive monitoring is not always available or clinically feasible, there is growing interest in non-invasive methods of assessing ICP using diagnostic modalities such as ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). ⋯ They report a positive correlation between measurements of the ONSD on MRI and invasive ICP measurements. If the findings of this study can be replicated in larger populations, this technique may be a useful non-invasive screening test for elevated ICP in select populations.
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Editorial Comment
Maintenance of tracheal tube cuff pressure: where are the limits?
Continuous control of tracheal tube cuff inflation using a pneumatic device resulted in severe tracheal wall damage in ventilated piglets. This damage was similar in piglets managed with manual control of cuff inflation. The periodic hyperinflation of the tube cuff used in both groups of this study may explain these results. This manoeuvre should be avoided in clinical practice.
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Acute lung injury (ALI) can result from various insults to the pulmonary tissue. Experimental and clinical data suggest that spontaneous breathing (SB) during pressure-controlled ventilation (PCV) in ALI results in better lung aeration and improved oxygenation. Our objective was to evaluate whether the addition of SB has different effects in two different models of ALI. ⋯ SB improves oxygenation, reduces shunt fraction, and increases EELV in both models of ALI.