[Use of vasopressors and inotropics in cardiogenic shock]. / Einsatz von Vasopressoren und Inotropika im kardiogenen Schock.

Vasoactive drugs and inotropic agents are important for the hemodynamic management of cardiogenic shock. In this article the use of different vasoactive and ionotropic drugs in cardiogenic shock is presented. Hemodynamic management during cardiogenic shock occurs after initial moderate volume delivery by dobutamine to increase inotropism. If adequate perfusion pressures are not achieved norepinephrine is administered. If a sufficient increase in cardiac performance can still not be achieved by the treatment, administration of levosimendan or phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitors may be necessary. Levosimendan is superior to PDE inhibitors for patients in cardiogenic shock. The aim of hemodynamic management in cardiogenic shock is to allow the transient use of inotropics and vasopressors in the lowest necessary dose and only as long as necessary. The daily question is whether the dose can be reduced or in the case of deterioration whether the use of an extracorporeal circulatory support system should be considered. There are currently no available data on mortality that demonstrate the benefit of hemodynamic monitoring using target criteria. The advantage, however, results from the economic use of inotropics and vasopressors by certain target criteria.

[Modern drug therapy in cardiovascular intensive care medicine]. / Moderne Arzneitherapie in der kardiovaskulären Intensivmedizin.

Vasoactive drugs and inotropes are important in the hemodynamic management of patients with cardiogenic shock despite modest volume administration. Currently, the concept of cardiac relief is pursued in the treatment of acute heart failure. In this article we present the use of different drugs in the intensive care unit for acute heart failure and cardiogenic shock. In acute heart failure catecholamines are only used during the transition from heart failure to cardiogenic shock. Here, the therapeutic concept of ventricular unloading is more sought after. This can be achieved by the use of diuretics, nitrates, levosimendan (inodilatator), or in the future serelaxin. The hemodynamic management in cardiogenic shock occurs after moderate volume administration with dobutamine to increase inotropy. If no adequate perfusion pressures are achieved, norepinephrine can be administered as a vasopressor. If there is still no sufficient increase in cardiac output, the inodilatator levosimendan can be used. Levosimendan instead of phosphodiesterase inhibitors in this case is preferable. The maxim of hemodynamic management in cardiogenic shock is the transient use of inotropes and vasopressors in the lowest dose possible and only for as long as necessary. This means that one should continuously check whether the dose can be reduced. There are no mortality data demonstrating the utility of hemodynamic monitoring based on objective criteria­but it makes sense to use inotropes and vasopressors sparingly.

[Infective endocarditis : emergency treatment and long-term surveillance]. / Infektiöse Endokarditis : Notfallbehandlung und Langzeitbetreuung.

Infective endocarditis is a serious disease that is often diagnosed with a considerable delay in clinical practice and therefore has a high mortality rate; therefore, early diagnosis and antibiotic treatment are extremely important. Epidemiological shifts in the age profile, new risk factors and the increasing use of intravascular prosthetic materials have led to changes in the microbial spectrum and clinical symptoms, which must be taken into account in the diagnostic efforts and therapy. Nonspecific symptoms and the increase in nosocomial endocarditis, especially in critically ill and immunocompromised patients require a high level of diagnostic expertise. With diagnostic algorithms based on guideline recommendations antibiotic treatment has to be initiated as early as possible. For patients with severe infective endocarditis a cardiac surgeon has to be involved from an early stage of the disease as in about 50 % of cases conservative antibiotic therapy alone does not alleviate the infection. Also early surgical treatment should be sought with the onset of complications. After effective treatment and patient survival there will always be an increased risk of suffering from renewed endocarditis. This is taken into account in the new recommendations of the European Society of Cardiology for the prevention of infective endocarditis.

[Shock, hemoconcentration, and generalized edema in a 47-year-old man]. / Schock, Hämokonzentration und generalisierte Ödeme bei 47-jährigem Patienten.

We report the case of a 47-year-old man who was admitted because of syncope. Upon hospital admission, he rapidly developed circulatory shock with generalized edema and a severe hemoconcentration with a hematocrit of 70%. The condition was stabilized with infusion of 17 l of cristalloid fluids over a period of 24 h. After ruling out possible secondary causes, the diagnosis of a systemic capillary leak syndrome--a severe transient endothelial barrier dysfunction of unknown origin--was made. A triad of hypotension, hemoconcentration (hematocrit >60%) and macromolecular extravasation is the typical finding; furthermore, a strong association with monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance (MGUS) is described.

Pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of infarction-related cardiogenic shock.

Cardiogenic shock is characterized by inadequate tissue perfusion due to cardiac dysfunction, and it is often caused by acute myocardial infarction. The mortality rate in patients with cardiogenic shock is still very high (i.e., 50-60%). The pathophysiology of cardiogenic shock involves a vicious spiral circle: ischemia causes myocardial dysfunction, which in turn aggravates myocardial ischemia. Myocardial stunning and/or hibernating myocardium can enhance myocardial dysfunction, thus, worsening the cardiogenic shock. Low perfusion pressures with global ischemia leads to multiorgan dysfunction. Ischemia and reperfusion can result in systemic inflammation or within the first few days sepsis due to the translocation of bacteria or bacterial toxins from the intestines, which can result in increased mortality. The key to an optimal treatment of cardiogenic shock patients is a structured approach: (1) rapid diagnosis and prompt initiation of therapy to increase blood pressure and augment cardiac output with subsequently improved perfusion. (2) Rapid coronary revascularization is of critical importance. Using this approach, mortality can be reduced. In many hospitals, initial stabilization is achieved by intraaortic balloon counterpulsation (IABP). However, evidence for improved survival from randomized studies on the use of IABP in combination with PCI is lacking. (3) In order to achieve adequate perfusion, dobutamine and sometimes in combination with norepinephrine might be necessary. Recent studies have shown that the calcium sensitizer levosimendan in cardiogenic shock can be a useful addition to medical therapy. In this overview, epidemiology, pathophysiology, and guideline-oriented treatment strategies for cardiogenic shock are presented.

Levosimendan in the treatment of cardiogenic shock.

Patients with cardiogenic shock (CS) are currently treated with acute coronary revascularization, mechanical support (i.e., IABP), and in addition with vasopressor and inotropic support. Among medical treatment dobutamine and norepinephrine are drugs of first choice. Nowadays, intravenous levosimendan, a new calcium sensitizer and K-ATP channel opener, has emerged as an alternative option of pharmacologic inotropic support in patients with cardiogenic shock. Recent reports on levosimendan's use in cardiogenic shock demonstrated more favorable effects when compared with conventional inotropic agents. Clearly, levosimendan is able to archieve profound increase of cardiac index and cardiac power index in combination with reduced systemic and pulmonary resistance reduction compared to conventional therapy. Further, levosimendan is able to improve hemodynamic parameters more rapidly compared to intraaortic ballon counter pulsation. Similar, in patients with low cardiac output syndrome upon cardiovascular surgery, levosimendan is able to improve cardiac performance when administered prior or after cardiac surgery. In the light of cardiogenic shock, the myocardial protective effects of levosimendan might be important to reduce reperfusion injury and myocardial stunning following ischemia and reperfusion. This review summarizes the evidence from current scientific literature including our recent trials regarding the mechanism of action, efficiency and the use of levosimendan in CS patients.

[Therapeutic strategies in acute decompensated heart failure and cardiogenic shock]. / Diagnostik und Therapie bei akut dekompensierter Herzinsuffizienz und kardiogenem Schock.

As the population of elderly people is increasing, the number of patients requiring hospitalization for acute exacerbations is rising. Traditionally, these episodes of hemodynamic instability were viewed as a transient event characterized by systolic dysfunction, low cardiac output, and fluid overload. Diuretics, along with vasodilator and inotropic therapy, eventually became elements of standard care. In a multicenter observational registry (ADHERE--Acute Decompensated Heart Failure National Registry) of more than 275 hospitals, patients with acute decompensated heart failure were analyzed for their characteristics and treatments options. These data have shown that this population consists of multiple types of heart failure, various forms of acute decompensation, combinations of comorbidities, and varying degrees of disease severity. The challenges in the treatment require multidisciplinary approaches since patients typically are elderly and have complex combinations of comorbidities. So far only a limited number of drugs is currently available to treat the different groups. Over the past years it was shown that even "standard drugs" might be deleterious by induction of myocardial injury, worsening of renal function or increasing mortality upon treatment. Therefore, based on pathophysiology, different types of acute decompensated heart failure require specialized treatment strategies.

[Palliative care : Challenges in the intensive care unit]. / Palliativbehandlung : Herausforderungen auf der Intensivstation.

Intensive care unit (ICU) stays often result due to an acute, potentially life-threatening illness or aggravation of a chronic life-threatening illness. In many cases, ICU patients die after life-sustaining treatments are withdrawn or withheld. When patients are asked, they prefer to die at home, although logistic and medical problems often prevent this. Therefore, attention focuses on care at the end of life in the ICU. Despite many efforts to improve the quality of care, evidence suggests that the quality in hospitals varies significantly and that palliative care in the ICU has not significantly improved over time. In this review, aspects of palliative care that are specific to ICU patients are discussed.

[Ten key messages regarding embolic stroke of undetermined source and cryptogenic stroke]. / 10 Kernaussagen zum Embolic Stroke of Undetermined Source und kryptogenen Schlaganfall.

Cryptogenic stroke is a cerebral infarction where no source of cardioembolic events, no microangiopathy with lacunar infarcts, and no macroangiopathy with high-grade stenosis of the cerebral arteries can be detected. However, cryptogenic stroke is not operationally defined. The new concept of the embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS) is defined as a nonlacunar stroke in cerebral imaging and exclusion of significant stenosis of the cerebral arteries by angiographic or ultrasound techniques. Cardiac embolic sources must be excluded by ECG monitoring and echocardiography. At the moment, secondary prevention in patients with ESUS is performed with acetylsalicylic acid. The question of whether non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOAK) are effective in these patients for secondary prevention is currently being investigated in randomized trials. The acute treatment of cryptogenic stroke/ESUS does not differ from other stroke subtypes because the stroke etiology is often not known initially, but can be identified during the course of treatment in the stroke unit.

[Infarct-related cardiogenic shock : Prognosis and treatment]. / Infarktbedingter kardiogener Schock : Prognose und Behandlung.

Patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) experience cardiogenic shock in about 6-10% of cases during the hospital treatment. In recent years, the incidence seems to be decreasing due to invasive diagnostics and therapy after myocardial infarction. Early diagnosis is important to initiate immediate revascularization using percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with stent implantation as part of cardiogenic shock treatment. Thus, a significant improvement in survival can be achieved. Pharmacological and mechanical support is needed to maintain perfusion of the myocardium and organs. Drug therapy for infarct cardiogenic shock relies on dobutamine for inotropic agent and norepinephrine as a vasopressor. For further inotropic support, data on additional levosimendan treatment are available. The pharmacological therapy is supplemented by mechanical support systems such as Impella (ABIOMED, Danvers, MA, USA) or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). The intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) is hardly used anymore. The majority of cardiogenic shock survivors have little functional cardiac impairment in the long term. This shows the transient damage component (stunning, inflammation), which underlines the need for a fast and effective cardiovascular supportive therapy.

[Special aspects of analgosedation in cardiogenic shock patients]. / Spezielle Aspekte der Analgosedierung bei Patienten mit kardiogenem Schock.

Patients with cardiogenic shock pose a challenge to physicians due to cardiorespiratory instability in addition to the underlying medical condition. If analgosedation and ventilation are indicated, commonly administered drugs themselves often influence hemodynamics and oxygenation. The present article provides an overview of the available substances with consideration of the patients' condition, then monitoring and optimization of analgosedation.

[Infective endocarditis : Update on prophylaxis, diagnosis, and treatment]. / Infektiöse Endokarditis : Update zur Prophylaxe, Diagnostik und Therapie.

The diagnosis of infective endocarditis is often delayed in clinical practice. Timely diagnosis and rapid antibiotic treatment is important. Higher age of patients, new risk factors, and increasing use of intravascular prosthetic materials resulted in changes in microbial spectrum. Nowadays, nonspecific symptoms, critically ill patients, and immunocompromised patients require a high level of diagnostic expertise.The new guidelines from the European Society of Cardiology provide various diagnostic algorithms and recommendations for antibiotic treatment. The new guidelines also recommend the formation of an endocarditis team with various medical disciplines, including a cardiac surgeon, to improve treatment because in half of all endocarditis patients, antibiotic therapy alone does not result in successful management of the infection. If complications occur, early surgical treatment should be performed.In this overview, diagnostic strategies and therapeutic approaches for the treatment of infectious endocarditis according to the current guidelines and aspects of surgical treatment are provided.

[Patients with dyspnea in emergency admission]. / Patienten mit Dyspnoe in der Notaufnahme.

Dyspnea is a common symptom in emergency medicine and represents a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. A multitude of differential diagnoses must be considered and checked but where there are indications of a life-threatening situation and also by rapidly reversible causes an (initial) treatment must be initiated without delay. Initially implemented should be those aspects relevant for an initial assessment and risk stratification which result from anamnestic details, clinical symptoms and immediately available screening tests. This article describes in detail the clinical and diagnostic instrumental armamentarium including implementation and interpretation. Also discussed are the relevance of individual methods in the respective clinical context and possible sources of error and limitations. A possible algorithm for the management of dyspnea in a clinical setting, from initial contact to admission or release, is presented graphically and textually.

[Chest pains in emergency admission. Diagnostics and treatment]. / Brustschmerzen in der Notaufnahme. Diagnostik und Behandlung.

Thoracic pain is a common symptom in the emergency medicine setting and represents a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. A multitude of differential diagnoses must be considered many of which are associated with a high mortality. Management of this situation is complicated by the fact that rapid and unexpectedly occurring and rapidly progressing deterioration are not uncommon in patients who initially did not appear to be seriously ill. Also for some underlying pathologies the physical examination can have an inconspicuous or"false negative" result and atypical presentations can give rise to false interpretations. The clinical and technical diagnostic methods, the implementation and interpretation including possible sources of error and limitations will be described in detail.

Predictive value of outcome scores in patients suffering from cardiogenic shock complicating AMI: APACHE II, APACHE III, Elebute-Stoner, SOFA, and SAPS II.

BACKGROUND: Scoring systems in critical care patients are essential for prediction of outcome and for evaluation of therapy. In this study we determined the value of the APACHE II, APACHE III, Elebute-Stoner, SOFA, and SAPS II scoring systems in the prediction of mortality in patients with cardiogenic shock (CS) complicating acute myocardial infarction (AMI). MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this prospective, observational study, patients who were admitted to the ICU with CS complicating AMI were consecutively included. Data for the APACHE II, APACHE III, Elebute-Stoner, SOFA, and SAPS II scores were recorded on admission and during the following 96 h. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses and the area under the curve (AUC) were used to estimate the predictive ability (mortality) of the scoring systems on admission and the maximum value. RESULTS: Mortality among the 41 patients included in this study was 44 %. On admission, the mean APACHE II (p = 0.035), APACHE III (p = 0.003), SAPS II (p = 0.001), and SOFA (p = 0.042) scores were significantly higher in nonsurvivors than in survivors. At maximum score, APACHE II (p = 0.009), APACHE III (p < 0.001), and SAPS II (p < 0.001) appeared to have higher significance. On admission, the discrimination for APACHE III was 0.786, for SAPS II 0.790, and for APACHE II 0.691. The maximum-score AUC for APACHE II was 0.726, for APACHE III 0.827, and for SAPS II 0.832. Elebute-Stoner and SOFA did not yield valuable results at maximum score or, in the case of Elebute-Stoner, on admission. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that at the time of diagnosis and at maximum value, the SAPS II, APACHE III, and APACHE II scores may be useful in predicting a high probability of survival of patients with CS complicating AMI.

[Infectious endocarditis in intensive care patients]. / Die infektiöse Endokarditis bei Intensivpatienten.

Infectious endocarditis is a rare disease with high mortality. Epidemiological changes in recent years, the emergence of new risk factors, and the increasing use of intravasal prosthetic materials has led to changes in not only the clinical appearance of this disease but also in its diagnosis and treatment. Early diagnosis of infectious endocarditis is crucial. However, the often unspecific symptoms and the changes in its epidemiologic profile pose a challenge for the treating physician. This is especially true since the incidence of hospital-acquired, "nosocomial" cases of infectious endocarditis is increasing and often affects severely ill patients in intensive care units (ICU). There are diagnostic and therapeutic algorithms to guide the physician from an early diagnosis to an adequate treatment of the disease. In some critically ill patients, only surgery in combination with antimicrobial treatment may lead to complete eradication of the infectious disease. This review aims to subsume the guidelines, paying special attention to aspects that are important for intensive care and emergency doctors.

Acute myocardial infarction and cardiogenic shock: prognostic impact of cytokines: INF-γ, TNF-α, MIP-1ß, G-CSF, and MCP-1ß.

BACKGROUND: The IABP SHOCK trial was designed as a morbidity-based randomized controlled trial to determine the effect of intraaortic balloon pulsation (IABP) in patients with infarct-related cardiogenic shock (CS). The primary endpoint was the change in the APACHE II score over a 4-day period. The prospective hypothesis was that adding IABP therapy to "standard care" would reduce CS-triggered multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (MODS). The primary endpoint showed no difference between conventionally managed cardiogenic shock patients and those with additional IABP support. In an inflammatory marker substudy, we analyzed the prognostic value of the cytokines interferon-γ (INF-γ), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), macrophage inflammatory protein-1ß (MIP-1ß), granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1ß (MCP-1ß). We also investigated the influence of IABP support, age, and gender on cytokine levels. DESIGN: The inflammatory marker substudy of the prospective, randomized, controlled, open label IABP SHOCK Trial (ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT00469248). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective, randomized, single-center study in a 12-bed intensive care unit at a university hospital was performed. A total of 40 consecutive patients were enrolled. The observational period was 96 h. RESULTS: The investigated cytokines showed a significant contribution in the prediction of mortality. Initial (on admission) and maximal cytokine levels during the observational period showed a similar predictive power. Patients with elevated levels of pro- and antiinflammatory cytokines had a higher risk of dying. The maximal level measured over the observation period in the hospital was also suited to identify the survivors. Close correlations between maximal cytokine levels resulted in the choice of only one independent marker (MIP-1ß) into the multivariate model (OR 1.024, 95% CI 1.005-1.043). Initial cytokine levels were also suitable to predict the survivors; the risk of death significantly increases with increasing IFN-γ level (OR 1.119, 95% CI 1.005-1.246). Cytokine levels were not affected by the presence of IABP support. Age (< 75 or > 75 years) and gender did not have a clinically relevant effect on INF-γ, TNF-α, MIP-1ß, G-CSF, and MCP-1 in CS patients. CONCLUSION: The inflammatory response in patients with myocardial infarction complicated by CS, as reflected by the inflammatory markers INF-γ, TNF-α, MIP-1ß, G-CSF, and MCP-1ß, have been shown to be of prognostic value in estimating clinical outcome.