Articles: mechanical-ventilation.
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Annals of intensive care · Jan 2012
Dexmedetomidine as adjunct treatment for severe alcohol withdrawal in the ICU.
Patients undergoing alcohol withdrawal in the intensive care unit (ICU) often require escalating doses of benzodiazepines and not uncommonly require intubation and mechanical ventilation for airway protection. This may lead to complications and prolonged ICU stays. Experimental studies and single case reports suggest the α2-agonist dexmedetomidine is effective in managing the autonomic symptoms seen with alcohol withdrawal. We report a retrospective analysis of 20 ICU patients treated with dexmedetomidine for benzodiazepine-refractory alcohol withdrawal. ⋯ This observational study suggests that dexmedetomidine therapy for severe alcohol withdrawal is associated with substantially reduced benzodiazepine dosing, a decrease in alcohol withdrawal scoring and blunted hyperadrenergic cardiovascular response to ethanol abstinence. In this series, there was a low rate of mechanical ventilation associated with the above strategy. One of 20 patients suffered two 9-second asystolic pauses, which did not recur after dexmedetomidine discontinuation. Prospective trials are warranted to compare adjunct treatment with dexmedetomidine versus standard benzodiazepine therapy.
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Annals of intensive care · Jan 2012
Neuromuscular blocking agents in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome: a summary of the current evidence from three randomized controlled trials.
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a potentially fatal disease with high mortality. Our aim was to summarize the current evidence for use of neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBA) in the early phase of ARDS. ⋯ The use of NMBA in the early phase of ARDS improves outcome.
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Annals of intensive care · Jan 2012
Relative cost and outcomes in the intensive care unit of acute lung injury (ALI) due to pandemic influenza compared with other etiologies: a single-center study.
⋯ ALI/ARDS secondary to pandemic influenza infection is associated with more severe respiratory compromise but has lower overall acuity and better survival rates than ALI/ARDS due to other causes. Higher absolute charges in the noninfluenza group are likely due to underlying comorbid medical conditions.
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Early withdrawal of invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) followed by noninvasive MV (NIMV) is a new strategy for changing modes of treatment in patients with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) with acute respiratory failure (ARF). Using pulmonary infection control window (PIC window) as the switch point for transferring from invasive to noninvasive MV, the time for early extubation can be more accurately judged, and therapy efficacy can be improved. This study aimed to prospectively investigate the clinical effectiveness of fiberoptic bronchscopy (FOB) in patients with AECOPD during sequential weaning of invasive-noninvasive MV. ⋯ The application of FOB in patients with AECOPD during sequential weaning of invasive-noninvasive MV is effective in ICU. It can decrease the duration of MV and the length of ICU stay, increase the success rate from weaning MV for the first time, reduce the rate of reventilation and the occurrence rate of VAP. In addition, such a method is convenient and safe in patients of this kind.
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Annals of intensive care · Jan 2012
Non-invasive assessment of fluid responsiveness by changes in partial end-tidal CO2 pressure during a passive leg-raising maneuver.
The passive leg-raising (PLR) maneuver provides a dynamic assessment of fluid responsiveness inducing a reversible increase in cardiac preload. Since its effects are sudden and transitory, a continuous cardiac output (CO) monitoring is required to appropriately assess the hemodynamic response of PLR. On the other hand, changes in partial end-tidal CO2 pressure (PETCO2) have been demonstrated to be tightly correlated with changes in CO during constant ventilation and stable tissue CO2 production (VCO2). In this study we tested the hypothesis that, assuming a constant VCO2 and under fixed ventilation, PETCO2 can track changes in CO induced by PLR and can be used to predict fluid responsiveness. ⋯ Induced changes in PETCO2 during a PLR maneuver could be used to track changes in CO for prediction of fluid responsiveness in mechanically ventilated patients with acute circulatory failure, under fixed minute ventilation and assuming a constant tissue CO2 production.