[Characteristics and prognosis of patients with very long stay in an Intensive Care Unit]. / Características y pronóstico de los pacientes mayorescon estancia muy prolongadaen una Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the characteristics and prognostic factors of elderly patients hospitalized for > or = 30 days in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected simple data over 6 consecutive years. SETTING: Polyvalent ICU of the Insular University Hospital in the Canary Islands (Spain). PATIENTS: Adult patients > or = 70 years who were hospitalized in the ICU for a period of 30 or more days. PRIMARY VARIABLES OF INTEREST: Demographic data, clinical diagnosis on ICU admission, Apache II, days of renal replacement therapy (RRT), days of mechanical ventilation and the outcome of the survivors one year later were collected. Mortality at one year of the surviving patients was studied. RESULTS: During the study period, 3,786 patients were admitted to the ICU. Of these, 853 (22.5%) patients were > or = 70 years old and only 42 (4.92%) of these patients remained in the ICU for > or = 30 days. We compared the latter with the > or = 70 year old patients whose stay in the ICU stay was < 30 days. No statistically significant differences in ICU mortality, Apache II, age, gender and the need for RRT were found. As independent variables associated with the long stay, the multivariate analysis showed only the days of mechanical ventilation (p < 0.05). The surviving patients (> or = 70 years old and whose stay in the ICU was > or = 30 days) were older and 21 (65.62%) were still alive one year later. CONCLUSIONS: ICU mortality rates in elderly patients with a stay < or > or = 30 days in the ICU were comparable. Survival at one year of the > or = 70 year-old patients whose long-term intensive care unit stay was > or = 30 days was high. These results are sufficient in our unit to justify prolonged ICU care for elderly patients.

[Acute coronary syndrome without ST elevation during pregnancy. A case report]. / Síndrome coronario agudo sin elevación del ST durante el embarazo. A propósito de un caso.

Ischemic heart disease in the young woman is rare, and even more so in the pregnant woman, but it is reasonable to expect an increase with the increasing average age of children bearing. The etiology of acute coronary syndrome during pregnancy can be divided into two main groups: atherosclerotic mechanisms, more common in older mothers, and non-atherosclerotic mechanisms like dissection, coronary spasm and thrombosis. Management of these patients remains difficult; the treatment should follow the usual principles of care for acute coronary syndrome but taking in account that many standard treatments, such the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, are contraindicated. There is also little experience with many of the newer treatments such as clopidogrel and IIb/IIIa glycoprotein inhibitors or percutaneous coronary intervention. We describe a case of a 38-week pregnant woman who suffered an acute myocardial infarction without ST segment elevation and review the literature.