ESICM/NACCS Recommendations: Targeted Temperature Control Following TBI
2024 22 May
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a highly prevalent global health issue, causing significant mortality and disability. It results from external forces affecting brain function or structure. TBI involves primary damage from the initial impact, followed by secondary injury processes such as ischaemia, swelling, and metabolic changes, which worsen...Read more
COVID-19 Vaccines Prevented 20 Million Deaths Worldwide
2022 28 Jun
Findings from the first modelling study to quantify the impact of COVID-19 vaccines show that nearly 19.9 million out of a potential 31.4 million deaths were prevented in the first year (December 2020-December 2021) after the introduction of the vaccine. The findings are based on data from 185 countries using COVID-19 death records and total excess...Read more
CDC Interim Guidelines for Fully Vaccinated People
2021 16 Mar
Efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic finally became possible when, in December 2020, the FDA authorised the use of the first COVID-19 vaccine, manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech. Soon after, two additional vaccines from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson also received emergency authorisation for use. As of 8 March 2021, over 31 million people in the U.S. have...Read more
Better Planning of COVID-19 Vaccine Trials
2020 02 Oct
The world is desperate for a reliable vaccine against COVID-19. However, the pressure for such rapid introduction could lead to deployment of a vaccine that may be weakly effective. In order to avoid this from happening, three issues must be considered when planning COVID-19 vaccine trials. These include proof of vaccine efficacy and worthwhile...Read more
Inequities in access to ICU care
2018 07 Nov
ICU care is an expensive healthcare resource as it offers specialised physical space, advanced equipment and the expertise of well-trained healthcare professionals. Due to the type of services offered by an ICU, the department has to operate on limited resources only dedicated for patients who require life-sustaining interventions. Over the...Read more
Machine learning algorithm 'more accurate' in predicting ICU readmission
2018 06 Jun
New research shows that a machine learning approach to predicting ICU readmission was significantly more accurate than previously published algorithms or prediction tools. Implementation of this approach could target patients who may benefit from additional time in the ICU or more frequent monitoring after transfer to the hospital ward, according...Read more
Study: Kidney Damage Diagnosis May Be Inaccurate for Many
2017 28 Feb
Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have found that, for many patients, an initial diagnosis of “acute kidney injury” may have been inaccurate. Their finding, published in Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, suggests that the current method of assessing kidney function may be misleading during the initial evaluation...Read more
Accidental Hypothermia - How to Manage
2016 27 Sep
Managing patients with accidental hypothermia with and without cardiac arrest is covered in a recently published state-of-the-art review, endorsed by the International Commission for Mountain Emergency Medicine. Extracorporeal life support is the “treatment of choice” in patients with unstable circulation or cardiac arrest. Peter Paal and colleagues...Read more
Intra-Osseous Access in Adults: An Indispensable Tool
2016 19 Apr
Intra-osseous (IO) infusion is an indispensable tool in life-threatening situations that can be learned quickly and easily, according to a systematic review published in Critical Care . The review, by Franck Petipas, MD, of the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care and the Laboratory of Anatomy, Biomechanics and Simulation, University...Read more
Intraosseous Access Training with Tea and Cake
2015 22 Dec
A hospital in the UK has adopted a novel technique for technical skill training — used initially for difficult airway training — to train anaesthetic and intensive care unit (ICU) staff for intraosseous (IO) access, according to an article published in the journal Resuscitation . The authors say the training approach can be applied to many resuscitation...Read more
Accurately Setting PEEP with Transpulmonary Pressure
2015 29 Oct
Choose an optimal PEEP setting with the help of the transpulmonary pressure measurement on our high-end ventilators, HAMILTON-G5 and HAMILTON-S1 . Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is characterized by a decrease in respiratory system compliance due to a collapsed lung and/or a decrease in chest wall compliance. When mechanical ventilation...Read more
Philips to Give Researchers Access to Critical Care Data
2015 21 Jan
Royal Philips has announced a new initiative with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to give medical researchers access to one of the largest data sources available for research into critical care. The data from more than 100,000 patients have been collected and anonymised through the Philips Hospital to Home eICU telehealth programme. These...Read more
ESICM 2014: Access to Acute Care - Planning Needed Now for Cities
2014 18 Oct
More than half of the world’s population already live in cities, and the the proportion is predicted to grow to 70% by 2050. Infrastructure planning is essential for cities to manage this growth. However, access to information that can assist cities to plan healthcare is not uniformly available across high-, middle- and low-income countries. In a...Read more
DNA Vaccine For C. Difficile
2014 05 Aug
A recent research published in Infection and Immunity talks about an experimental vaccine that was able to protect 100% of animal models against Clostridium difficile, a highly infectious and virulent bacterium. This bacterium causes an intestinal disease that kills nearly 30,000 Americans annually. C-difficile associated disease (CDAD) is caused...Read more
Study Demonstrates GlySure System's Ability to Accurately Measure Blood Glucose Levels in the ICU
2013 25 Sep
GlySure Limited, developer of in-hospital continuous blood glucose monitoring (CBGM) systems, announced that a study demonstrating the effectiveness of its technology in continuously measuring blood glucose levels in post-surgical cardiac surgery patients was presented on August 28, 2013, at the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical...Read more
Critical Diagnostics' Biomarker ST2 Included in 2013 ACC/AHA Guidelines for Heart Failure Management
2013 11 Jun
Critical Diagnostics announced today that the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force jointly released its expanded clinical practice guideline for the management of patients with heart failure and has identified ST2 “not only predictive of hospitalization and death in patients with HF [heart failure] but also...Read more
Covidien’s Technology Platform to Diagnose Early Lung Cancer Part of New Guidelines of ACCP
2013 04 Jun
Covidien, a leading global provider of healthcare products, announced on May 21, 2013 that its superDimension Electromagnetic Navigation Bronchoscopy (ENB™) system, the first technology of its kind, is included in the new American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) guidelines to aid in diagnosing and managing lung cancer. The evidence-based clinical...Read more
OrSense Non Invasive Hemoglobin Monitor Is Safe & Accurate for Pre-Donation Screening in Blood Banks
2013 29 May
OrSense Ltd., developer of monitors for non-invasive measurements of various blood parameters, announced on May 28, 2013 that its non-invasive Hemoglobin (Hb) NBM-200 monitor was the topic of multiple recent studies highlighting the clinical value of the device. Four studies, from various countries around the world, were accepted for poster presentations...Read more
Many Emergency Department Providers in the U.S. Don't Ask Suicidal Patients about Gun Access
2013 02 Apr
Although guns are used in over half of all American suicides, a new study shows that many emergency room doctors and nurses do not routinely ask suicidal patients about their access to firearms. "In our study, less than half of emergency room medical providers believe most or all suicides are preventable and many rarely ask about the availability of...Read more
Tablet Computers Acceptable for Reading EEG Results, Mayo Clinic Study Says
2013 30 Mar
Mayo Clinic physicians in Arizona have shown that tablet computers can be used to analyze electroencephalogram or EEG results outside of the clinic or hospital. Their study findings were recently presented at the American Academy of Neurology conference in San Diego. "The fact that this gives doctors the ability to read EEG results from anywhere can...Read more
New Vaccine-Design Approach Targets HIV and Other Fast-Mutating Viruses
2013 29 Mar
The researchers demonstrated their new technique by engineering a compound that has promise to initiate an otherwise rare immune response against many types of HIV. Here, the germline-targeting immunogen eOD-GT6 (red) is shown bound to its target, the germline VRC01 antibody (magenta and yellow). (Image: Credit TSRI) A team led...Read more
First European Lab Obtains Accreditation for New Tissue Typing Method for Stem Cell Transplants
2013 11 Mar
Tests based on next-generation sequencing with Roche’s GS Junior System. The Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service of Upper Austria has become the first laboratory in Europe to receive accreditation from the European Federation for Immunogenetics (EFI) for the use of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) tests based on next-generation sequencing with Roche’s...Read more
Disparities in Hospice Enrollment Are Not Likely Related to Access, New Research Shows
2010 04 Nov
Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that 98 percent of the U.S. population lives in communities within 60 minutes of a hospice provider, suggesting that disparities in use of hospice are not likely due to a lack of access to a hospice provider. The results are published in the current issue of the Journal of Palliative Medicine."Despite...Read more
Fast, Accurate Urine Test for Pneumonia Possible, Study Finds
2009 14 Dec
Pneumonia is a lung infection that annually sickens millions of people in the United States, resulting in approximately 500,000 hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. A rapid, accurate diagnostic test for pneumonia could save lives by enabling doctors to begin appropriate treatment earlier. Using technology known as nuclear magnetic resonance...Read more
Open-heart Surgery Should Remain Viable Treatment Option For People In Their 80s, According To Experts
2008 03 Nov
"Age should not be a reason for doctors to rule out the possibility of heart surgery for their octogenarian patients," explained Dr. Lachapelle. "If patients with heart problems are otherwise in good health, this surgery can significantly improve their quality of life." This study conclusion is based on the follow-up of 185 patients who underwent...Read more
MDCT Just As Accurate As MRI In Assessing Myocardial Infarction In Emergency Setting
2008 12 Aug
"The size of the infarct is one of the most important predictors of long-term left ventricular function in patients with an acute myocardial infarction," said Loic Boussel, MD, lead author of the study. "Imaging of myocardial infarct size is difficult in the emergency setting as the current 'gold standard' methods of delayed enhanced MRI and nuclear...Read more
Neonatal Care: Better Access To Cool Caps Improves Outcomes, Lowers Cost Of Treating Asphyxia In Newborns
2008 08 Jan
The findings demonstrate through a computer-based modeling technique, that better availability and placement of "CoolCaps" within a regional healthcare system could lead to a 23 percent reduction in the number of newborns likely to develop permanent damage from hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), a form of asphyxia that damages the central nervous...Read more
