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Development of organ dysfunction associated with sepsis is now accepted to be due at least in part to oxidative damage to mitochondria. Under normal circumstances, complex interacting antioxidant defense syste...
Purpura fulminans (PF) is a devastating complication of uncontrolled systemic inflammation, associated with high incidence of amputations, skin grafts and death. In this study, we aimed to clarify the clinical...
The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of the time interval from collapse to return of spontaneous circulation (CPA-ROSC) in cardiac arrest patients and the types of patients who will benef...
Measuring extravascular lung water may be useful for predicting outcome in adults with acute lung injury. The present commentary briefly reviews the potential role and limitations of extravascular lung water m...
In the past decade there has been a resurgence of interest in the clinical use of inert gases. In the present paper we review the use of inert gases as anesthetics and neuroprotectants, with particular attenti...
Intensive care unit mortality is strongly associated with organ failure rate and severity. The sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score is used to evaluate the impact of a successful tight glycemic con...
Intensive insulin treatment (IIT) has been shown to improve outcomes post-burn in severely burnt patients. However, it increases the incidence of hypoglycemia and is associated with risks and complications. We...
New challenges have arisen for the management of critically ill HIV/AIDS patients. Severe sepsis has emerged as a common cause of intensive care unit (ICU) admission for those living with HIV/AIDS. Contrasting...
Post-operative outcomes may be improved by the use of flow related end-points for intra-venous fluid and/or low dose inotropic therapy. The mechanisms underlying this benefit remain uncertain. The objective of...
Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) is characterized by an unregulated systemic proinflammatory response secondary to activation of trypsin within the pancreatic tissue, resulting in multiple organ failure. This d...
Sepsis is the systemic inflammatory response to infection and can result in multiple organ dysfunction syndrome with associated high mortality, morbidity and health costs. Erythropoietin is a well-established ...
The measurement of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is recommended for the diagnosis of decompensated heart failure, the prognosis of chronic heart failure is worse if BNP is increased and studies suggest that...
Following trauma, patients may suffer an overwhelming pro-inflammatory response and immune paralysis resulting in infection and multiple organ failure (MOF). Various potentially immunomodulative interventions ...
While animal studies indicate that controlled mechanical ventilation (MV) induces diaphragm weakness and myofiber atrophy, there are no data in humans that confirm MV per se produces diaphragm weakness. Whether o...
Central venous oxygen saturation and blood lactate are different indices of the adequacy of oxygen delivery to the oxygen needs. In pediatric cardiac surgery, lactate level and kinetics during and after cardio...
A pilot observational study by Weber-Carstens and colleagues contributes to a mechanistic explanation of the puzzling and complex phenomena of ICU-acquired weakness (ICU-AW). The authors suggest systemic, infl...
Antifibrinolytic agents are commonly used during cardiac surgery to minimize bleeding. Because of safety concerns, aprotinin was withdrawn from the market in 2007. Since then, tranexamic acid (TXA) has become ...
Currently no evidence-based guideline exists for the approach to hypophosphatemia in critically ill patients.
Predictive models, such as acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE-II), are widely used in intensive care units (ICUs) to estimate mortality. Although the presence of delirium is associated w...
Streptococcus (S.) pneumoniae is the most common cause of community-acquired pneumonia. The factor V Leiden (FVL) mutation results in resistance of activated FV to inactivation by activated protein C and thereby ...
The human fetus develops in a profoundly hypoxic environment. Thus, the foundations of our physiology are built in the most hypoxic conditions that we are ever likely to experience: the womb. This magnitude of...
A recent report from the PROGRESS registry highlighted that low dose corticosteroids are widely used in patients with sepsis around the world. In this report, corticosteroids may be associated with increased m...
Only limited data are available on consent and satisfaction of patients receiving specialized neurocritical care. In this study we (i) analyzed the extent of retrospective consent to neurocritical care--given ...
Mechanical ventilation (MV) is a life saving intervention in acute respiratory failure without alternative. However, particularly in pre-injured lungs, even protective ventilation strategies may evoke ventilat...
We sought to examine the cardiac consequences of early administration of norepinephrine in severely hypotensive sepsis patients hospitalized in a medical intensive care unit of a university hospital.
Dead-space fraction (Vd/Vt) has been shown to be a powerful predictor of mortality in acute lung injury (ALI) patients. The measurement of Vd/Vt is based on the analysis of expired CO2 which is not a part of stan...
The Erratum to this article has been published in Critical Care 2011 15:410
Pathophysiology of brain dysfunction due to sepsis remains poorly understood. Cerebral microcirculatory alterations may play a role; however, experimental data are scarce. This study sought to investigate whet...
Previous human studies have shown low activity of protein C (APC) in severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). This, together with the findings in animal models, suggests that activated protein C (APC) may protect agai...
The original article was published in Critical Care 2010 14:R105
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common in the intensive care unit (ICU) and is particularly frequent (46%) in septic shock patients. Inflammation favours AF in the general population, and there is a growing body o...
Several anhepatic pig models were developed in the past. Most models suffer from short anhepatic survival times due to insufficient postoperative intensive care unit (ICU) management. The aim of this study was...
To examine the effects of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) on intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) in patients with acute lung injury (ALI).
Combination therapy with two antimicrobial agents is superior to monotherapy in severe community-acquired pneumonia, and recent data suggest that addition of a macrolide as the second antibiotic might be super...
Endothelial injury has emerged as a crucial early event in the pathogenesis of microcirculatory dysfunction, capillary leakage and multiorgan dysfunction syndrome. The endothelial-specific angiopoietin (Ang)/T...
There are only limited data on the long-term outcome of patients receiving specialized neurocritical care. In this study we analyzed survival, long-term mortality and functional outcome after neurocritical car...
The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis response in sepsis remains to be elucidated. Apart from corticotropin-releasing hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and cortisol, many other neuroendocrine facto...
Fever is a common occurrence in the intensive care unit, and pharmacologic approaches are limited, particularly in patients unable to tolerate enteral medications. Although a study by Morris and colleagues in ...
Studies have demonstrated that optimising the circulating volume reduces morbidity after major surgery. This optimisation is usually achieved through maximisation of the stroke volume guided by oesophageal Dop...
Four ethical issues loom over the study by Lieberman and colleagues - the absence of informed consent, the study being non-interventional in situations that typically call for life-saving interventions, the bi...
Previous randomized trials failed to demonstrate a decrease in mortality of patients with acute lung injury treated by exogenous surfactant. The aim of this prospective randomized study was to evaluate the eff...
Use of selective decontamination of the digestive tract (SDD) and selective oropharyngeal decontamination (SOD) in intensive care patients has been controversial for years. Through regular questionnaires we de...
Critical Care