Category Archives: Critical Care (Open Access)

Mechanical circulatory assist devices: a primer for critical care and emergency physicians. (Colman)

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Sen A, Larson JS, et al. Mechanical circulatory assist devices: a primer for critical care and emergency physicians. Crit Care. 2016 Jun 25;20(1):153.

Mechanical circulatory assist devices are now commonly used in the treatment of severe heart failure as bridges to cardiac transplant, as destination therapy for patients who are not transplant candidates, and as bridges to recovery and “decision-making”. These devices, which can be used to support the left or right ventricles or both, restore circulation to the tissues, thereby improving organ function. Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are the most common support devices. To care for patients with these devices, health care providers in emergency departments (EDs) and intensive care units (ICUs) need to understand the physiology of the devices, the vocabulary of mechanical support, the types of complications patients may have, diagnostic techniques, and decision-making regarding treatment. Patients with LVADs who come to the ED or are admitted to the ICU usually have nonspecific clinical symptoms, most commonly shortness of breath, hypotension, anemia, chest pain, syncope, hemoptysis, gastrointestinal bleeding, jaundice, fever, oliguria and hematuria, altered mental status, headache, seizure, and back pain. Other patients are seen for cardiac arrest, psychiatric issues, sequelae of noncardiac surgery, and trauma. Although most patients have LVADs, some may have biventricular support devices or total artificial hearts. Involving a team of cardiac surgeons, perfusion experts, and heart-failure physicians, as well as ED and ICU physicians and nurses, is critical for managing treatment for these patients and for successful outcomes. This review is designed for critical care providers who may be the first to see these patients in the ED or ICU.

Diagnostic and prognostic utility of soluble CD 14 subtype (presepsin) for severe sepsis and septic shock during the first week of intensive care treatment. (Stockwell)

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Behnes M, Bertsch T, Lepiorz D, Lang S, Trinkmann F, Brueckmann M, Borggrefe M, Hoffmann U. Diagnostic and prognostic utility of soluble CD 14 subtype (presepsin) for severe sepsis and septic shock during the first week of intensive care treatment. Crit Care. 2014 Sep 5;18(5):507.

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INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of presepsin in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock during the first week of ICU treatment.

METHODS: In total, 116 patients with suspected severe sepsis or septic shock were included during the first 24 hours of ICU treatment. Blood samples for biomarker measurements of presepsin, procalcitonin (PCT), interleukin 6 (IL-6), C reactive protein (CRP) and white blood cells (WBC) were drawn at days 1, 3 and 8. All patients were followed up for six months. Biomarkers were tested for diagnosis of severe sepsis, septic shock and sepsis at days 1, 3 and 8, and for all-cause mortality prognosis at 30 days and 6 months. Diagnostic and prognostic capacities were tested by determining diagnostic cutoff levels, goodness criteria, C-statistics and multivariable Cox regression models.

RESULTS: Presepsin increased significantly from the lowest to most severe sepsis groups at days 1, 3 and 8 (test for linear trend P <0.03). Presepsin levels revealed valuable diagnostic capacity to diagnose severe sepsis and septic shock at days 1, 3 and 8 (range of diagnostic area under the curves (AUC) 0.72 to 0.84, P = 0.0001) compared to IL-6, PCT, CRP and WBC. Goodness criteria for diagnosis of sepsis severity were analyzed (¿sepsis, cutoff = 530 pg/ml; ¿severe sepsis, cutoff = 600 pg/ml; ¿septic shock, cutoff = 700 pg/ml; P <0.03). Presepsin levels revealed significant prognostic value for 30 days and 6 months all-cause mortality (presepsin: range of AUC 0.64 to 0.71, P <0.02). Patients with presepsin levels of the 4th quartile were 5 to 7 times more likely to die after six months than patients with lower levels. The prognostic value for all-cause mortality of presepsin was comparable to that of IL-6 and better than that of PCT, CRP or WBC.

CONCLUSIONS: Presepsin reveals valuable diagnostic capacity to differentiate sepsis severity compared to PCT, IL-6, CRP, WBC. Additionally, presepsin and IL-6 reveal prognostic value with respect to 30 days and 6 months all-cause mortality in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock throughout the first week of ICU treatment.Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01535534. Registered 14 February 2012.

Determining delayed admission to intensive care unit for mechanically ventilated patients in the emergency department. (Stockwell)

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Hung SC, Kung CT, Hung CW, Liu BM, Liu JW, Chew G, Chuang HY, Lee WH, Lee TC.
Determining delayed admission to intensive care unit for mechanically ventilated patients in the emergency department. Crit Care. 2014 Aug 23;18(4):485.

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INTRODUCTION: The adverse effects of delayed admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) have been recognized in previous studies. However, the definitions of delayed admission varies across studies. This study proposed a model to define “delayed admission”, and explored the effect of ICU-waiting time on patients’ outcome.

METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included non-traumatic adult patients on mechanical ventilation in the emergency department (ED), from July 2009 to June 2010. The primary outcomes measures were 21-ventilator-day mortality and prolonged hospital stays (over 30 days). Models of Cox regression and logistic regression were used for multivariate analysis. The non-delayed ICU-waiting was defined as a period in which the time effect on mortality was not statistically significant in a Cox regression model. To identify a suitable cut-off point between “delayed” and “non-delayed”, subsets from the overall data were made based on ICU-waiting time and the hazard ratio of ICU-waiting hour in each subset was iteratively calculated. The cut-off time was then used to evaluate the impact of delayed ICU admission on mortality and prolonged length of hospital stay.

RESULTS: The final analysis included 1,242 patients. The time effect on mortality emerged after 4 hours, thus we deduced ICU-waiting time in ED > 4 hours as delayed. By logistic regression analysis, delayed ICU admission affected the outcomes of 21 ventilator-days mortality and prolonged hospital stay, with odds ratio of 1.41 (95% confidence interval, 1.05 to 1.89) and 1.56 (95% confidence interval, 1.07 to 2.27) respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: For patients on mechanical ventilation at the ED, delayed ICU admission is associated with higher probability of mortality and additional resource expenditure. A benchmark waiting time of no more than 4 hours for ICU admission is recommended.

The microbiological and clinical outcome of guide wire exchanged versus newly inserted antimicrobial surface treated central venous catheters. (Kamat)

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Parbat N, Sherry N, Bellomo R, Schneider AG, Glassford NJ, Johnson PD, Bailey M. The microbiological and clinical outcome of guide wire exchanged versus newly inserted antimicrobial surface treated central venous catheters. Crit Care. 2013 Sep 3;17(5):R184.

INTRODUCTION: The management of suspected central venous catheter (CVC)-related sepsis by guide wire exchange (GWX) is not recommended. However, GWX for new antimicrobial surface treated (AST) triple lumen CVC’s has never been studied. We aimed to compare the microbiological outcome of triple lumen AST CVC’s inserted by GWX (GWX-CVC’s) with newly inserted triple lumen AST CVC’s (NI-CVC’s).

METHODS: We studied a cohort of 145 consecutive patients with GWX-CVC’s and contemporaneous site-matched control cohort of 163 patients with a NI-CVC’s in a tertiary intensive care unit (ICU).

RESULTS: GWX-CVC and NI-CVC patients were similar for mean age (58.7 vs. 62.2 years), gender (88 (60.7%) vs. 98 (60.5%) male) and illness severity on admission (mean APACHE III: 71.3 vs. 72.2). However, GWX patients had longer median ICU length of stay (12.2 vs. 4.4 days; P<0.001) and median hospital length of stay (30.7 vs. 18.0 days; P <0.001). There was no significant difference with regard to the number of CVC tips with bacterial or fungal pathogen colonization among GWX-CVC’s vs. NI-CVC’s [5 (2.5%) vs. 6 (7.4%); P = 0.90]. Catheter-associated blood stream infection (CA-BSI) occurred in 2 (1.4%) GWX patients compared with 3 (1.8%) NI-CVC patients (p=0.75). There was no significant difference in hospital mortality [35 (24.1%) vs. 48 (29.4%); P= 0.29].

CONCLUSIONS: GWX-CVC’s and NI-CVC’s had similar rates of tip colonization at removal, CA-BSI and mortality. If the CVC removed by GWX is colonized, a new CVC must then be inserted at another site. In selected ICU patients at higher central vein puncture risk receiving AST CVC’s GWX may be an acceptable initial approach to line insertion.

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