Search Tag: critical illness
Selenide-protects-heart-muscle-following-cardiac-arrest
2015 14 Apr
According to a new preclinical study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, damage to heart muscle from insufficient blood supply during cardiac arrest and reperfusion injury after blood flow is restored can be reduced by 90 percent if selenide is administered intravenously in the wake of an attack. The findings have been published...Read more
Ptsd-common-in-icu-survivors
2015 22 Apr
Post-traumatic stress disorder — often thought of as a symptom of warfare, major catastrophes and assault — can also affect patients who survive a critical illness and stay in the intensive care unit (ICU). A Johns Hopkins study has found that nearly one-quarter of ICU survivors suffer from PTSD. Researchers also identified possible causes of PTSD and...Read more
Apgar-score-may-relate-to-mother-s-risk-of-critical-illness
2015 06 Nov
While the Apgar score assesses a baby's condition at birth, this metric may also be a useful tool for predicting whether a mother will become critically ill. Based on a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics , mothers whose babies had a low Apgar score had a nine-time higher risk of ICU admission than those whose baby had a normal Apgar. In addition,...Read more
Multimodality-neuromonitoring-in-critically-ill-patients
2015 31 Dec
Without Primary Acute Brain Injury This review focuses on the current experience with clinically available neuromonitoring techniques in critically ill patients at risk for neurological compromise, but without overt acute brain injury (ABI). The field of neuromonitoring has grown rapidly over the past 30 years, which has helped improve pathophysiological...Read more
Risk-of-ptsd-after-icu
2016 15 Jan
According to a new, multicentre study, 1 in 10 patients is at risk of having new post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to their ICU experience up to a year post-discharge. The research, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, is the first to investigate ICU-related PTSD in a mixed veteran and civilian cohort....Read more
Quality-care-for-critically-ill-should-be-goal-for-all
2016 21 Mar
A viewpoint article in JAMA suggests that while more beds and a focus on quality will improve critical care in developing countries disease-specific and setting-specific factors need to be factored in. Problems in the care for critically ill patients in developing countries go beyond the ICU. Because of a lack of appropriate ambulance and out-of-hospital...Read more
19th-asia-pacific-conference-on-critical-care-medicine-2016-apcccm-2016
2016 12 Oct
Welcome to 19th APCCCM 2016. The APCCCM will combine with the 2nd Joint Meeting of JSICM & TSCCM together with the 7th Critical Care Conference in Thailand and the TSCCM Annual Meeting 2016, together and stronger. With our experiences in organizing the Critical Care Conferences in Thailand in the past years, we chose Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld...Read more
Nicis-neurosciences-in-intensive-care-international-symposium-2017
2017 08 Jun
The vision of “Neurosciences in Intensive Care International Symposium” (NICIS) is to accelerate transformative advances in the care and science of patients with critical illness and neurological injury. NICIS brings together clinicians and scientists who have a common aspiration to translate discoveries in the neurosciences into better patient-centered...Read more
Critical-illness-events-impact-on-patient-outcomes-1
2017 03 Jan
University of Chicago researchers have found that one patient’s critical illness may play a role in medical setbacks for other patients in the hospital, according to a research letter published in JAMA. The results also show that “critical-illness events” such as cardiac arrests in a hospital unit were also associated with delayed discharge from...Read more
Neuromuscular-blockade-in-management-of-critical-illness
2017 14 Mar
Changes in the delivery of critical care – including protocolised care pathways, increased monitoring techniques and improvements in reducing immobility – have created a modern ICU environment whereby neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs) may be administered safely, according to a review published in the journal CHEST. See Also : Evidence on Monitoring...Read more
Ptsd-phenomena-after-critical-illness
2017 02 May
Experiencing critical illness and intensive care can be extremely stressful. Roughly 1 in 5 critical illness survivors have clinically significant post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in the year after intensive care, according to an article in press in the journal Critical Care Clinics. With advances in critical care medicine, more patients...Read more
Evaluating-physical-functioning-in-icu-patients
2017 10 Oct
Measuring physical functioning is important in the intensive care unit (ICU) to help inform patient recovery after critical illness, to identify patients who may require rehabilitation interventions, and to monitor responsiveness to such interventions, according to a viewpoint article in the journal Critical Care. "Impairment in physical functioning...Read more
Alleviating-icu-survivors-burden-a-consensus-of-29
2017 13 Dec
In a review paper, a team of international researchers highlights how critical illness and critical care affect longer-term outcomes. According to the authors, the severity of acute illness determines the degree of impairment (with age and length of ICU stay) and the chronic disease status determines the trajectory of recovery. Over the past 25 years...Read more
Time-to-focus-on-geriatric-critical-care
2018 16 Jan
The growing number of older adults is placing critical care medicine in a precarious position. The ageing demographic is already evident in the ICU, where the "oldest old" (85 years or older) account for more than 20% of admissions. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of evidence to guide the management of critical illness in older adults, according to...Read more
The-critical-care-resuscitation-unit
2018 16 Mar
A new paradigm for optimising inter-hospital transfer of patients with non-trauma time sensitive critical conditions The number of clinical conditions which have improved outcomes associated with shorter time to specialised resuscitation and definitive intervention continues to increase. Many of these time-sensitive conditions have improved outcomes...Read more
New-way-to-fight-sepsis-rev-up-patients-immune-systems
2018 13 Mar
People especially those with critical illness develop sepsis when an infection triggers an overwhelming immune response, ultimately wreaking havoc on the immune system. Traditional approaches to sepsis therapy do not address the critical problem of patients' severely compromised immune systems. Now, a clinical trial demonstrates that a drug that revs...Read more
Practice-variation-in-managing-af-during-critical-illness
2018 24 Apr
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia encountered in the intensive care unit. Pre-existing AF is highly prevalent among older patients with chronic conditions who are at risk for critical illness, while new-onset AF can be triggered by accelerated atrial remodelling and arrhythmogenic triggers encountered during critical illness. However,...Read more
Improving-the-long-term-outcomes-after-critical-illness
2018 22 Aug
Heterogeneity in studies of survivors of critical illness limits knowledge of outcomes in this patient population. Conceptual models of outcomes developed in other fields can be used to better understand outcomes after critical illness, says Nathan E. Brummel, MD, MSCI, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Center for Quality...Read more
Quality-of-life-after-discharge-from-an-icu
2018 10 Oct
Quality of life (QoL) after critical illness is becoming increasingly important as survival improves. A systematic review, conducted by University of Oxford researchers, reveals that patients surviving critical illness had worse health‐related QoL when compared with population norms. "Quality of life incompletely recovered after hospital discharge....Read more
Vitamin-d-and-critical-illness
2018 30 Oct
Vitamin D deficiency – usually defined as 25(OH)D levels below 20ng/ml – is common in critical illness with prevalence between 40-70%. Many observational studies have shown a link between low vitamin D levels and poor clinical outcomes in critically ill adults and children, including excess mortality and morbidity such as acute kidney injury, acute...Read more
Facilitating-patient-centred-decisions-about-serious-illness-care
2019 06 Feb
Patient autonomy is the overriding ethical principle guiding medical decision making in the United States. This autonomy-driven model assumes an informed patient who fully understands the implications of available treatment choices and can identify those most aligned with their values and goals. However, there is increasing recognition that this...Read more
Assessing-cognitive-function-in-icu-survivors
2019 16 Apr
New research from Canada demonstrates that a web-based patient-administered neurocognitive test battery can identify domain-specific cognitive impairment in critical illness survivors. Results show that web-based cognitive testing – i.e., Cambridge Brain Sciences (CBS) – is both feasible and able to detect subtle changes in cognitive domains similar...Read more
Perfect-protocol-volume-based-feeding-in-ventilated-adults
2019 16 Apr
Underfeeding in critical illness is common and associated with poor outcomes. Researchers in the UK designed a before-and-after study to evaluate the safety, efficacy and clinical outcomes associated with volume-based feeding (VBF) compared to rate-based feeding (RBF) in a single intensive care unit (ICU). The prospective before-and-after study...Read more
Patient-support-needs-following-critical-illness
2019 29 May
The number of patients who are admitted into the ICU and those who survive their stay continues to increase. However, patients who survive the ICU often suffer from chronic and life-changing physical, psychosocial and cognitive changes, often referred to as the “Post Intensive Care Syndrome.” This can have a significant impact on patient-reported...Read more
New-espen-guidelines-for-nutrition-in-the-critically-ill-help-what-happened
2019 26 Sep
ESPEN guidelines for nutrition in critical illness have shifted from optimistic anticipative nutritional pharmacotherapy towards cautious and balanced metabolic support. This important new orientation in ICU nutrition management is a consequence of recent strong RCT-based evidence. Introduction Recently, the new ESPEN guidelines for critically...Read more
A-ct-scanner-in-your-pocket
2020 12 Feb
Lung ultrasound (LUS) is still a young diagnostic tool. However, its use is growing quite rapidly. LUS is an important component of ultrasound courses around the world. It is also incorporated into many shock and hypoxia assessment protocols. LUS is now included as a part of the examination by the National Board of Echocardiography Examination of Special...Read more
Ageing-and-critical-illness-what-does-quality-care-look-like
2020 14 Sep
This article explores a system for assessing quality of care in critically ill elderly patients. D ecision-making processes around the admission of critically ill elderly patients have been put into sharp focus in 2020. The urgent need to meet the demands associated with large numbers of acutely ill patients during the COVID-19 pandemic...Read more