Elderly patients with cancer admitted to intensive care unit: A multicenter study in a middle-income country.

BACKGROUND: Very elderly critically ill patients (ie, those older than 75 or 80 years) are an increasing population in intensive care units. However, patients with cancer have encompassed only a minority in epidemiological studies of very old critically-ill patients. We aimed to describe clinical characteristics and identify factors associated with hospital mortality in a cohort of patients aged 80 or older with cancer admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study in 94 ICUs in Brazil. We included patients aged 80 years or older with active cancer who had an unplanned admission. We performed a mixed effect logistic regression model to identify variables independently associated with hospital mortality. RESULTS: Of 4604 included patients, 1807 (39.2%) died in hospital. Solid metastatic (OR = 2.46; CI 95%, 2.01-3.00), hematological cancer (OR = 2.32; CI 95%, 1.75-3.09), moderate/severe performance status impairment (OR = 1.59; CI 95%, 1.33-1.90) and use of vasopressors (OR = 4.74; CI 95%, 3.88-5.79), mechanical ventilation (OR = 1.54; CI 95%, 1.25-1.89) and renal replacement (OR = 1.81; CI 95%, 1.29-2.55) therapy were independently associated with increased hospital mortality. Emergency surgical admissions were associated with lower mortality compared to medical admissions (OR = 0.71; CI 95%, 0.52-0.96). CONCLUSIONS: Hospital mortality rate in very elderly critically ill patients with cancer with unplanned ICU admissions are lower than expected a priori. Cancer characteristics, performance status impairment and acute organ dysfunctions are associated with increased mortality.

External validation of SAPS 3 and MPM0-III scores in 48,816 patients from 72 Brazilian ICUs.

BACKGROUND: The performance of severity-of-illness scores varies in different scenarios and must be validated prior of being used in a specific settings and geographic regions. Moreover, models' calibration may deteriorate overtime and performance of such instruments should be reassessed regularly. Therefore, we aimed at to validate the SAPS 3 in a large contemporary cohort of patients admitted to Brazilian ICUs. In addition, we also compared the performance of the SAPS 3 with the MPM0-III. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study in which 48,816 (medical admissions = 67.9%) adult patients are admitted to 72 Brazilian ICUs during 2013. We evaluated models' discrimination using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). We applied the calibration belt to evaluate the agreement between observed and expected mortality rates (calibration). RESULTS: Mean SAPS 3 score was 44.3 ± 15.4 points. ICU and hospital mortality rates were 11.0 and 16.5%. We estimated predicted mortality using both standard (SE) and Central and South American (CSA) customized equations. Predicted mortality rates were 16.4 ± 19.3% (SAPS 3-SE), 21.7 ± 23.2% (SAPS 3-CSA) and 14.3 ± 14.0% (MPM0-III). Standardized mortality ratios (SMR) obtained for each model were: 1.00 (95% CI, 0.98-0.102) for the SAPS 3-SE, 0.75 (0.74-0.77) for the SAPS 3-CSA and 1.15 (1.13-1.18) for the MPM0-III. Discrimination was better for SAPS 3 models (AUROC = 0.85) than for MPM0-III (AUROC = 0.80) (p < 0.001). We applied the calibration belt to evaluate the agreement between observed and expected mortality rates (calibration): the SAPS 3-CSA overestimated mortality throughout all risk classes while the MPM0-III underestimated it uniformly. The SAPS 3-SE did not show relevant deviations from ideal calibration. CONCLUSIONS: In a large contemporary database, the SAPS 3-SE was accurate in predicting outcomes, supporting its use for performance evaluation and benchmarking in Brazilian ICUs.

Percutaneous retrieval of intracardiac foreign body with a novel technique.

We report on the case of a patient with a long term vascular catheter embolized into the right ventricle. This case had unique characteristics since both ends of the catheter were inaccessible for snare, which made it difficult to capture them using conventional techniques. We describe a new method to retrieve the foreign body through its mid-point portion, using a single catheter with two independent snare and hook systems.

Retirada percutânea de corpo estranho intracardíaco com técnica original / Percutaneous retrieval of intracardiac foreign body with a novel technique

Relatamos o caso de um paciente com cateter vascular de longa permanência embolizado para o ventrículo direito. Este caso ganha peculiaridade por estarem as duas extremidades do cateter indisponíveis para serem laçadas, dificultando a sua captura pelas técnicas convencionais. Descrevemos um novo método para resgatar o corpo estranho através de sua porção central, utilizando apenas um cateter com dois sistemas independentes de "laço" e de "gancho".

We report on the case of a patient with a long term vascular catheter embolized into the right ventricle. This case had unique characteristics since both ends of the catheter were inaccessible for snare, which made it difficult to capture them using conventional techniques. We describe a new method to retrieve the foreign body through its mid-point portion, using a single catheter with two independent snare and hook systems.