Search Tag: mechanical ventilation
2024 19 Mar
New findings were presented at ISICEM 2024 evaluating a machine learning model to predict individualised treatment effects using two temporally and geographically distinct clincial trials of lower vs higher oxygen targets in critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation. Mechanical ventilation involves titrating the fraction...Read more
2023 04 Jul
Invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) is a crucial component of intensive care in modern healthcare. However, it remains uncertain whether the rates of IMV usage differ between countries. A recent study analysed data from 2018, focusing on patients aged 20 years and above who underwent IMV in England, Canada, and the United States. The study...Read more
2023 06 Feb
The international critical care nutrition guidelines recommend a wide range of protein doses that are based on low-quality evidence. The impact of high-dose protein in critically ill patients is unknown. A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that a higher dose of protein improves clinical outcomes in critically ill patients. This was an...Read more
2022 20 Jun
Sedation management is a critical component when managing mechanically ventilated patients. It is important to use a protocol-driven approach, which favours paired spontaneous awakening (SAT) and breathing (SBT) trials, along with light levels of sedation. The initial period of respiratory failure in the emergency department and the first 48 hours...Read more
2022 14 Jun
Approximately one-third of patients admitted to the ICU are in circulatory shock, which increases the risk of mortality. Death from circulatory shock is preceded by multiple organ dysfunction syndrome with a high mortality rate of over 80%. Loss of gut epithelial barrier function contributes to gut-derived proinflammatory immune responses that contribute...Read more
2022 07 Jun
New research presented at Euroanaesthesia 2022 finds that long-term exposure to air pollution is linked to a greater risk of severe COVID-19. Findings from the study show that people living in counties with higher levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) were more likely to need ICU care and mechanical ventilation if they had COVID-19. Long-term exposure...Read more
2021 20 Jul
ARDS is a heterogeneous syndrome rather than a distinct disease. It is this heterogeneity that often makes it difficult to study treatments for patients with ARDS. Literature on ARDS is rife with clinical trials that do not show any mortality benefit. Recent evidence suggests different sub-phenotypes within the heterogeneous patient population....Read more
2021 24 Jun
S upplemental oxygen is an essential component of intensive care and is a commonly used therapy worldwide. The primary goal of oxygen therapy is to prevent hypoxaemia. Since oxygen is usually widely available (except in special circumstances such as during the COVID-19 pandemic) and is relatively inexpensive, it is frequently used in patients with...Read more
2021 20 Mar
New research compares the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients against those of influenza patients to find if hospitalis ations, morbidity and mortality differ for two diseases. You might also like: WHO has launched a free online course dedicated to the rehabilitation of COVID-19 patients. Learn more...Read more
2021 16 Mar
Surgically opening the windpipe, or trachea, within the first seven days of the start of mechanical ventilation decreases the time patients spend on ventilators, shortens their ICU stay and lowers their risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia, according to a new systematic review. "We analysed the existing medical literature to unravel a question...Read more
2021 20 Jan
The coronavirus has a high incidence of patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Many patients infected with COVID-19 need to be admitted to the ICU for invasive ventilation. They are also at a high risk of developing secondary, ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). This is because of breach of natural defences by invasive devices,...Read more
2020 11 Oct
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a global health issue, accounting for approximately two million deaths per year as well as presenting a heavy economic burden on healthcare systems. Hospital-acquired AKI is associated with increased risk of death and prolonged length of hospital stay. There are no effective treatments beyond supportive care for patients...Read more
2019 16 Dec
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is an inflammatory process that could lead to diffuse oedema and hypoxaemic respiratory failure. It is also characterised by increased pulmonary vascular permeability, increased lung weight, and loss of aerated lung. In low and middle-income countries, ARDS mortality ranges from 26 to 58%. A large majority...Read more
2019 26 Sep
An overview of the practical uses of virtual reality in the ICU and the benefits it can provide. One way of defining virtual reality (VR) is as the set of techniques and systems required for human beings to enter computer-generated synthetic worlds. VR techniques are based on real-time interaction with an artificial immersive world using behavioural...Read more
2018 07 Nov
Ventilator-induced lung injury is a multifaceted problem that has progressively become a preoccupation for intensivists and anaesthesiologists. Interestingly, it has taken many years to realise that mechanical ventilation, a life-saving technique, could also induce harm, according to an Editorial article published online in the journal Anesthesiology....Read more
2018 13 Sep
In the ICU setting, nearly 25 percent of patients who receive mechanical ventilation develop muscular weakness severe enough to impair their quality of life. New research shows that mechanically ventilated patients treated with vasopressor medications had a more than three-fold increase in the odds of developing ICU-associated weakness. Notably,...Read more
2018 24 Jul
Inspiratory muscle weakness is a known consequence of prolonged mechanical ventilation, and there is emerging evidence that specific inspiratory muscle training (IMT) can ameliorate this weakness. Australian researchers recommend a multidisciplinary approach to IMT for patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). "Effective IMT requires a...Read more
2018 08 Jan
The acute respiratory distress (ARDS) lung is usually characterised by a high degree of inhomogeneity. Indeed, the same lung may show a wide spectrum of aeration alterations, ranging from completely gasless regions, up to hyperinflated areas, explain Luciano Gattinoni, Tommaso Tonetti and Michael Quintel in an article published in the journal Critical...Read more
2017 15 Sep
We review recent findings on outcomes in adults after mechanical ventilation for one week or more in the intensive care unit, exploring both patients and their family perspectives. Critical illness survivorship carries a burden of physical and neuropsychological disabilities (Griffiths and Jones 1999; Herridge and Cameron 2013). These determine...Read more
2017 15 Sep
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is now a tool used worldwide, integrating clinical assessment of the critically ill. In this review, we focus on lung, diaphragm and cardiac ultrasound in the management of the mechanically ventilated patient. Ultrasound provides useful information to assess and monitor lung aeration, to set mechanical ventilation...Read more
2017 28 May
Cardiac arrest (CA) causes ischaemic brain injury and persistent cerebral hypoperfusion and cerebral hypoxia during the early post-resuscitation period. PaCO2 is the major physiological regulator of cerebral blood flow, is a modifiable component of care and mild hypercapnia may lead to improved neurological outcomes for resuscitated CA survivors....Read more