Annals of intensive care
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Annals of intensive care · Dec 2016
Long-term changes in dysnatremia incidence in the ICU: a shift from hyponatremia to hypernatremia.
Dysnatremia is associated with adverse outcome in critically ill patients. Changes in patients or treatment strategies may have affected the incidence of dysnatremia over time. We investigated long-term changes in the incidence of dysnatremia and analyzed its association with mortality. ⋯ In two large Dutch cohorts, we observed a marked shift in the incidence of dysnatremia from hyponatremia to hypernatremia over two decades. As hypernatremia was mostly ICU acquired, this strongly suggests changes in treatment as underlying causes. This shift may be related to the increased use of sodium-containing infusions, diuretics, and hydrocortisone. As ICU-acquired hypernatremia is largely iatrogenic, it should be-to an important extent-preventable, and its incidence may be considered as an indicator of quality of care. Strategies to prevent hypernatremia deserve more emphasis; therefore, we recommend that further study should be focused on interventions to prevent the occurrence of dysnatremias during ICU stay.
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Annals of intensive care · Dec 2016
Patterns of diaphragm function in critically ill patients receiving prolonged mechanical ventilation: a prospective longitudinal study.
In intensive care unit (ICU) patients, diaphragmatic dysfunction (DD) can occur on admission or during the subsequent stay. The respective incidence of these two phenomena has not been previously studied in humans. The study was designed to describe temporal trends in diaphragm function in mechanically ventilated (MV) patients. ⋯ DD is observed in a large majority of MV patients ≥5 days at some point of their ICU stay. Various patterns of DD are observed, including DD on initiation of mechanical ventilation and ICU-acquired DD. Trial registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier # NCT00786526.
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Annals of intensive care · Dec 2016
Changes in cardiac arrest patients' temperature management after the 2013 "TTM" trial: results from an international survey.
Therapeutic hypothermia (TH between 32 and 34 °C) was recommended until recently in unconscious successfully resuscitated cardiac arrest (CA) patients, especially after initial shockable rhythm. A randomized controlled trial published in 2013 observed similar outcome between a 36 °C-targeted temperature management (TTM) and a 33 °C-TTM. The main aim of our study was to assess the impact of this publication on physicians regarding their TTM practical changes. ⋯ The TTM trial publication has induced a modification of current practices in one-third of respondents, whereas the 32-34 °C target temperature remained unchanged for 56 %. Educational actions are needed to promote knowledge translations of trial results into clinical practice. New international guidelines may contribute to this effort.
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Annals of intensive care · Dec 2016
Toe-to-room temperature gradient correlates with tissue perfusion and predicts outcome in selected critically ill patients with severe infections.
Microcirculatory disorders leading to tissue hypoperfusion play a central role in the pathophysiology of organ failure in severe sepsis and septic shock. As microcirculatory disorders have been identified as strong predictive factors of unfavourable outcome, there is a need to develop accurate parameters at the bedside to evaluate tissue perfusion. We evaluated whether different body temperature gradients could relate to sepsis severity and could predict outcome in critically ill patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. ⋯ Toe-to-room temperature gradient reflects tissue perfusion at the bedside and is a strong prognosis factor in critically ill patients with severe infections.
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Annals of intensive care · Dec 2016
Revised CT angiography venous score with consideration of infratentorial circulation value for diagnosing brain death.
Computed tomography angiography (CTA) is largely performed in European countries as an ancillary test for diagnosing brain death. However, CTA suffers from a lack of sensitivity, especially in patients who have previously undergone decompressive craniectomy. The aim of this study was to assess the performance of a revised four-point venous CTA score, including non-opacification of the infratentorial venous circulation, for diagnosing brain death. ⋯ Compared with the reference CTA score, the revised four-point venous CTA score based on ICV and SPV non-opacification showed superior diagnostic performance for confirming brain death, including for patients with decompressive craniectomy.