Factors Associated with Mortality in Patients with a Solid Malignancy Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit - A Prospective Observational Study.

PURPOSE: Several studies show conflicting results regarding the prognosis and predictors of the outcome of critically ill patients with a solid malignancy. This study aims to determine the outcome of critically ill patients, admitted to a hospital, with a solid malignancy and the factors associated with the outcomes. METHODS AND MATERIALS: All patients with a solid malignancy admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) at a tertiary academic medical center were enrolled. Clinical data upon admission and during ICU stay were collected. Hospital, ICU, and six months outcomes were documented. RESULTS: There were 252 patients with a solid malignancy during the study period. Urogenital malignancies were the most common (26.3%) followed by lung cancer (23.5%). Acute respiratory failure was the most common ICU diagnosis (51.6%) followed by sepsis in 46%. ICU mortality and hospital mortality were 21.8% and 34.3%. Six months mortality was 38.4%. Using multivariate analysis, acute kidney injury, OR 2.82, 95% CI 1.50-5.32 and P=0.001, use of mechanical ventilation, OR 2.67 95% CI 1.37 - 5.19 and P=0.004 and performance status of ≥2 with OR of 3.05, 95% CI of 1.5-6.2 and P= 0.002 were associated with hospital mortality. There were no differences in outcome between African American patients (53% of all patients) and other races. CONCLUSION: This study reports encouraging survival rates in patients with a solid malignancy who are admitted to ICU. Patients with a poor baseline performance status require mechanical ventilation or develop acute renal failure have worse outcomes.

Predictors of outcome in patients with hematologic malignancies admitted to the intensive care unit.

PURPOSE: Several studies showed conflicting results about prognosis and predictors of outcome of critically ill patients with hematological malignancies (HM). The aim of this study is to determine the hospital outcome of critically ill patients with HM and the factors predicting the outcome. METHODS AND MATERIALS: All patients with HM admitted to MICU at a tertiary academic medical center were enrolled. Clinical data upon admission and during ICU stay were collected. Hospital, ICU, and 6 months outcomes were documented. RESULTS: There were 130 HM patients during the study period. Acute Leukemia was the most common malignancy (31.5%) followed by Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (28.5%). About 12.5% patients had autologous HSCT and 51.5% had allogeneic HSCT. Sepsis was the most common ICU diagnosis (25.9%). ICU mortality and hospital mortality were 24.8% and 45.3%, respectively. Six months mortality (available on 80% of patients) was 56.7%. Hospital mortality was higher among mechanically ventilated patients (75%). Using multivariate analysis, only mechanical ventilation (OR of 19.0, CI: 3.1-117.4, P: 0.001) and allogeneic HSCT (OR of 10.9, CI: 1.8-66.9, P: 0.01) predicted hospital mortality. CONCLUSION: Overall hospital outcome of critically ill patients with HM is improving. However those who require mechanical ventilation or underwent allogeneic HSCT continue to have poor outcome.

The outcome of cancer patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study is to determine the 28-day mortality of critically ill cancer patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). DESIGN: This is a retrospective cohort study of patients enrolled in the ARDS Network randomized controlled trials. RESULTS: A total of 2515 patients did not have cancer, and 116 patients had cancer. Patients with cancer were older (median, 61 vs 49 years; P < .0001), more critically ill (the median Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation III score without cancer comorbidity was 105 for the cancer group compared with 87 for those without cancer; P < 0.0001), and more likely to have pneumonia or sepsis as cause of acute lung injury (79.31% vs 62.70%; P = .0011). The overall mortality at day 28 was 25.7%. Patients with cancer had significantly higher mortality (55.2%) compared with those without cancer (24.3%) (P < .0001). The odds ratio for mortality from ARDS at 28 days for cancer patients was 2.54 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.570-4.120). Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation III score and age were found to be significant predictors of outcome in cancer patients with odds ratio of 1.034 (95% CI, 1.007-1.062; P = .0135) and 1.075 (95% CI, 1.024-1.129, P = .0036), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Cancer patients with ARDS have a significantly higher risk of death compared with those without cancer. The increased risk appeared to be mediated by increased severity of illness at presentation, as well as by age.