Performance of renal Doppler to predict the occurrence of acute kidney injury in patients without acute kidney injury at admission.

PURPOSE: This study aimed at evaluating the performance of Doppler-based resistive index (RI) and semi-quantitative evaluation of renal perfusion using color-Doppler (SQP) to predict de novo AKI in the subgroup of critically ill patients without AKI at admission. METHODS: This study is an ancillary analysis of a prospective multicenter cohort study. Consecutive ICU patients requiring mechanical ventilation were included. Renal Doppler was performed at ICU admission. The diagnostic performance of RI and SQP to predict de novo AKI at day 3 was evaluated. RESULTS: Among the 371 patients of the prospective cohort, 118 without AKI at study inclusion were included. Thirty-four patients (29%) developed an AKI. Neither RI (0.64 UI [0.57-0.70] vs 0.67 [0.62-0.70] in no AKI and de novo AKI group respectively, p = 0.177) nor SQP (2 [2, 3] vs 2 [1-3] in no AKI and de novo AKI group respectively, p = 0.061) were associated with AKI occurrence. Overall performance in predicting de novo AKI was null to poor with area under ROC curve of respectively 0.60 (95% CI 0.49-0.65) and 0.58 (95% CI 0.47-0.60) for RI and SQP. Similar results were obtained after adjustment for confounders. CONCLUSIONS: These results confirm the poor performance of Doppler-based indices in predicting renal prognosis of ICU patients.

Performance of Doppler-based resistive index and semi-quantitative renal perfusion in predicting persistent AKI: results of a prospective multicenter study.

PURPOSE: The Doppler-based resistive index (RI) and semi-quantitative evaluation of renal perfusion using color Doppler (SQP) have shown promising results for predicting persistent acute kidney injury (AKI) in preliminary studies. This study aimed at evaluating the performance of RI and SQP to predict short-term renal prognosis in critically ill patients. METHODS: Prospective multicenter cohort study including unselected critically ill patients. Renal Doppler was performed at admission to the intensive care unit. The diagnostic performance of RI and SQP to predict persistent AKI at day 3 was evaluated. RESULTS: Overall, 371 patients were included, of whom 351 could be assessed for short-term renal recovery. Two thirds of the included patients had AKI (n = 233; 66.3%), of whom 136 had persistent AKI (58.4%). Doppler-based RI was higher and SQP lower in AKI patients and according to AKI recovery. Overall performance in predicting persistent AKI was however poor with area under ROC curve of respectively 0.58 (95% CI 0.52-0.64) and 0.59 (95% CI 0.54-0.65) for RI and SQP. Optimal cutoff was respectively 0.71 and 2 for RI and SQP. At optimal cutoff, sensitivity and specificity were 50% (95% CI 41-58%) and 68% (62-74%) for RI and 39% (32-45%) and 75% (66-82%) for SQP. CONCLUSION: Although statistically associated with AKI occurrence, RI and SQP perform poorly in predicting persistent AKI at day 3. Further studies are needed to adequately describe factors influencing Doppler-based assessment of renal perfusion and to delineate whether these indicators may be useful at the bedside. CLINICALTRIAL.GOV: NCT02355314.

Critically ill elderly patients (≥ 90 years): Clinical characteristics, outcome and financial implications.

BACKGROUND: Patients aged over 90 are being admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) with increasing frequency. The appropriateness of such decisions still remains controversial due to questionable outcome, limited resources and costs. Our objective was to determine the clinical characteristics and outcome in elderly patients (≥ 90 years) admitted in a medical ICU, with an additional focus on medico-economic implications. METHODS: We reviewed the charts of all patients (≥ 90 years) admitted to our ICU. We compared them with all other ICU patients (< 90 years), sought to identify ICU mortality predictors and also performed a long-term survival follow-up. RESULTS: In the study group of 317 stays: median age was 92 years (IQR: 91-94 years); most patients were female (71.3%.). Acute respiratory failure (52.4%) was the main admission diagnosis; mean SAPS II was 55.6±21.3; half the stays (49.2%) required mechanical ventilation (duration: 7.2±8.8 days); withholding and withdrawing decisions were made for 33.4% of all stays. ICU and hospital mortality rates were 35.7% and 42.6% respectively. Mechanical ventilation (OR = 4.83, CI95%: 1.59-15.82) was an independent predictor of ICU mortality whereas age was not (OR = 0.88, CI95%: 0.72-1.08). Social security reimbursement was significantly lower in the study group compared with all other ICU stays, both per stay (13,160 vs 22,092 Euros, p< 0.01) and per day of stay (p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: Among critically ill elderly patients (≥ 90 years), chronological age was not an independent factor of ICU mortality. ICU care-related costs in this population should not be considered as a limiting factor for ICU admission.

Docosahexaenoic acid, but not eicosapentaenoic acid, improves septic shock-induced arterial dysfunction in rats.

INTRODUCTION: Long chain n-3 fatty acid supplementation may modulate septic shock-induced host response to pathogen-induced sepsis. The composition of lipid emulsions for parenteral nutrition however remains a real challenge in intensive care, depending on their fatty acid content. Because they have not been assessed yet, we aimed at determining the respective effects of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) during septic shock-induced vascular dysfunction. METHODS: In a peritonitis-induced septic shock model, rats were infused with EPA, DHA, an EPA/DHA mixture or 5% dextrose (D5) during 22 hours. From H18, rats were resuscitated and monitored during 4 hours. At H22, plasma, aorta and mesenteric resistance arteries were collected to perform ex vivo experiments. RESULTS: We have shown that septic rats needed an active resuscitation with fluid challenge and norepinephrine treatment, while SHAM rats did not. In septic rats, norepinephrine requirements were significantly decreased in DHA and EPA/DHA groups (10.6±12.0 and 3.7±8.0 µg/kg/min respectively versus 17.4±19.3 µg/kg/min in D5 group, p<0.05) and DHA infusion significantly improved contractile response to phenylephrine through nitric oxide pathway inhibition. DHA moreover significantly reduced vascular oxidative stress and nitric oxide production, phosphorylated IκB expression and vasodilative prostaglandin production. DHA also significantly decreased polyunsaturated fatty acid pro-inflammatory mediators and significantly increased several anti-inflammatory metabolites. CONCLUSIONS: DHA infusion in septic rats improved hemodynamic dysfunction through decreased vascular oxidative stress and inflammation, while EPA infusion did not have beneficial effects.