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BACKGROUND: Delirium is a common complication in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. It can lead to various adverse events. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of combining the use of the PREdiction of DELIRium (PRE-DELIRIC) model for delirium risk assessment and the use of a multicomponent care bundle for delirium assessment, prevention, and care in terms of reductions in the incidence of delirium among surgical ICU patients. METHODS: This retrospective study included surgical ICU patients who had received PRE-DELIRIC-guided SMART/SmART care (SMART care: SmART bundle plus multidisciplinary team; SmART care: Sleep/sweet sense of home (creating a comforting and restful environment for patients), Assessment (regular and thorough evaluation of patient needs and conditions), Release (revised endotracheal tube care/removal, restraint device care, and immobility reduction for patient comfort), and Time (reorientation of time to optimize patient care schedules) in our hospital between May 2022 and March 2023 (intervention group) and individuals who had received usual care between January 2021 and April 2022 (historical control group). The SmART intervention involves providing care in the following domains: sleep/sweet sense of home, assessment, release, and time. Patients with a PRE-DELIRIC score of >30% received SMART care, which includes multidisciplinary (physicians, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, and physiotherapists) care in addition to SmART care. For the control group, usual care was provided following the guidelines for the prevention and management of pain, agitation, delirium, immobility, and sleep disruption. The primary outcome was delirium incidence during ICU stay, which was assessed using the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist. The secondary outcomes were the duration of ICU stay, rate of unplanned self-extubation, and status of ICU discharge. RESULTS: The intervention and control groups comprised 184 and 197 patients, respectively; their mean ages were 63.7 ± 18.4 years and 62.4 ± 19.5 years, respectively. The incidence of delirium was significantly lower (p = 0.001) in the intervention group (22.3%) than in the control group (47.7%). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the PRE-DELIRIC-guided SMART/SmART care intervention is effective in preventing and managing delirium among surgical ICU patients.
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BACKGROUND: Recent studies have shown that dexmedetomidine may improve microcirculation and prevent organ failure. However, most evidence was obtained from experimental animals and patients receiving cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. This study aimed to investigate the effect of dexmedetomidine on microcirculation and organ injuries in critically ill general surgical patients. METHODS: In this prospective randomized trial, patients admitted to the surgical intensive care unit after general surgery were enrolled and randomly allocated to the dexmedetomidine or propofol groups. Patients received continuous dexmedetomidine or propofol infusions to meet their requirement of sedation according to their grouping. At each time point, sublingual microcirculation images were obtained using the incident dark field video microscope. RESULTS: Overall, 60 patients finished the trial and were analyzed. Microcirculation parameters did not differ significantly between two groups. Heart rate at 4âh after ICU admission and mean arterial pressures at 12âh and 24âh after ICU admission were lower in the dexmedetomidine group than in the propofol group. At 24âh, serum aspartate aminotransferase (41 (25-118) vs 86 (34-129) U/L, pâ=â0.035) and alanine aminotransferase (50 (26-160) vs 68 (35-172) U/L, pâ=â0.019) levels were significantly lower in the dexmedetomidine group than in the propofol group. CONCLUSION: Microcirculation parameters did not differ significantly between the dexmedetomidine and propofol groups. At 24âh after ICU admission, serum liver enzyme levels were lower in patients receiving dexmedetomidine as compared to propofol.
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BACKGROUND: Vitamin D deficiency is associated with mortality and morbidity in critically ill patients. This study investigated the safety and effectiveness of enteral high-dose vitamin D supplementation in intensive care unit (ICU) patients in Asia. METHODS: This was a multicenter, prospective, randomized-controlled study. Eligible participants with vitamin D deficiency were randomly assigned to the control or vitamin D supplementation group. In the vitamin D supplementation group, the patients received 569,600 IU vitamin D. The primary outcome was the serum 25(OH)D level on day 7. RESULTS: 41 and 20 patients were included in the vitamin D supplementation and control groups, respectively. On day 7, the serum 25(OH)D level was significantly higher in the vitamin D supplementation group compared to the control group (28.5 [IQR: 20.2-52.6] ng/mL and 13.9 [IQR: 11.6-18.8] ng/mL, p < 0.001). Only 41.5% of the patients achieved serum 25(OH)D levels higher than 30 ng/mL in the supplementation group. This increased level was sustained in the supplementation group on both day 14 and day 28. There were no significant adverse effects noted in the supplementation group. Patients who reached a serum 25(OH)D level of >30 ng/mL on day 7 had a significantly lower 30-day mortality rate than did those who did not (5.9% vs 37.5%, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In our study, less than half of the patients reached adequate vitamin D levels after the enteral administration of high-dose vitamin D. A reduction in 30-day mortality was noted in the patients who achieved adequate vitamin D levels. TRIAL REGISTRATION CLINICALTRIALS. GOV ID: NCT04292873, Registered, March 1, 2020.
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Immunosuppression increases the risk of nosocomial infection in patients with chronic critical illness. This exploratory study aimed to determine the immunometabolic signature associated with nosocomial infection during chronic critical illness. We prospectively recruited patients who were admitted to the respiratory care center and who had received mechanical ventilator support for more than 10 days in the intensive care unit. The study subjects were followed for the occurrence of nosocomial infection until 6 weeks after admission, hospital discharge, or death. The cytokine levels in the plasma samples were measured. Single-cell immunometabolic regulome profiling by mass cytometry, which analyzed 16 metabolic regulators in 21 immune subsets, was performed to identify immunometabolic features associated with the risk of nosocomial infection. During the study period, 37 patients were enrolled, and 16 patients (43.2%) developed nosocomial infection. Unsupervised immunologic clustering using multidimensional scaling and logistic regression analyses revealed that expression of nuclear respiratory factor 1 (NRF1) and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1a (CPT1a), key regulators of mitochondrial biogenesis and fatty acid transport, respectively, in natural killer (NK) cells was significantly associated with nosocomial infection. Downregulated NRF1 and upregulated CPT1a were found in all subsets of NK cells from patients who developed a nosocomial infection. The risk of nosocomial infection is significantly correlated with the predictive score developed by selecting NK cell-specific features using an elastic net algorithm. Findings were further examined in an independent cohort of COVID-19-infected patients, and the results confirm that COVID-19-related mortality is significantly associated with mitochondria biogenesis and fatty acid oxidation pathways in NK cells. In conclusion, this study uncovers that NK cell-specific immunometabolic features are significantly associated with the occurrence and fatal outcomes of infection in critically ill population, and provides mechanistic insights into NK cell-specific immunity against microbial invasion in critical illness.
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COVID-19 , Infecção Hospitalar , Humanos , Estado Terminal , Infecção Hospitalar/epidemiologia , Células Matadoras Naturais , Ácidos GraxosRESUMO
This study applied machine learning for the early prediction of 30-day mortality at sepsis diagnosis time in critically ill patients. Retrospective study using data collected from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV database. The data of the patient cohort was divided on the basis of the year of hospitalization, into training (2008-2013), validation (2014-2016), and testing (2017-2019) datasets. 24,377 patients with the sepsis diagnosis time < 24 h after intensive care unit (ICU) admission were included. A gradient boosting tree-based algorithm (XGBoost) was used for training the machine learning model to predict 30-day mortality at sepsis diagnosis time in critically ill patients. Model performance was measured in both discrimination and calibration aspects. The model was interpreted using the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) module. The 30-day mortality rate of the testing dataset was 17.9%, and 39 features were selected for the machine learning model. Model performance on the testing dataset achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.853 (95% CI 0.837-0.868) and an area under the precision-recall curves of 0.581 (95% CI 0.541-0.619). The calibration plot for the model revealed a slope of 1.03 (95% CI 0.94-1.12) and intercept of 0.14 (95% CI 0.04-0.25). The SHAP revealed the top three most significant features, namely age, increased red blood cell distribution width, and respiratory rate. Our study demonstrated the feasibility of using the interpretable machine learning model to predict mortality at sepsis diagnosis time.
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Estado Terminal , Sepse , Humanos , Estudos Retrospectivos , Sepse/diagnóstico , Algoritmos , Aprendizado de MáquinaRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: This study measured normal ranges of microcirculatory parameters in healthy individuals and investigated differences in parameters by age and sex. METHODS: Participants were enrolled into three groups with equal numbers of male and female: young (20-39 years), middle-aged (40-59 years), and elderly (60-79 years). Sublingual microcirculation images were obtained using the incident dark field (IDF). RESULTS: A total of 75 female and 75 male healthy individuals were enrolled. The elderly group had a higher TVD (26.5 [2] vs. 25.2 [1.8]; pâ=â0.019) and a lower PPV (97 [2] vs. 98 [3]; pâ=â0.03) than did the young group. In the elderly group, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were moderately and positively correlated with MFI score (râ=â0.407, pâ< â0.05, and râ=â0.403, pâ< â0.05, respectively). The female participants had a lower MFI score than did the male participants (2.9 [2.8-3] vs. 3.0 [2.9-3]; pâ=â0.015). CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed the range of microcirculatory parameters between different ages and sexes in healthy individuals. We found that blood pressure levels were correlated with microcirculatory parameters, especially in elders and female.
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BACKGROUND: The application of palliative care is limited and challenging in intensive care units (ICUs) because of complex factors such as time constraints and unpredictable disease progression. Although research results and international consensus stress the early use of palliative care, utilization remains low, resulting in increased risks of ineffective medical care and poor quality of death. Improving this situation requires a comprehensive understanding of the palliative condition in ICUs. PURPOSE: This study was designed to investigate the utilization of hospice resources in adult ICUs and to compare this utilization between users and non-users. METHODS: This retrospective correlation study recruited cases from the adult ICU database of a medical center in northern Taiwan between June and July 2022. Descriptive statistics, independent t-test and chi-square were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: A total of 1,181 records were analyzed, including 458 (38.8%) females and 723 (61.2%) males. Two hundred and seventeen cases (18.4%) used hospice resources. Although 124 (10.4%) of the 1181 cases were identified as "in urgent need of hospice resources" (i.e., died within 30 days of ICU admission), 25 (20.2%) did not use these resources. Significant differences between the urgent-need cases who did and did not use hospice resources were found in terms of age, disease type, degree of frailty, cardiac arrest, infection, state of consciousness, intubation and tracheostomy status, inotropic and vasopressor medication, renal replacement, ECMO placement, delirium, and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation III and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Scores. CONCLUSIONS / IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The roughly 20% of ICU patients in urgent needs of palliative care who did not utilize palliative care resources highlight the needs for continued discussion to better assist patients on palliative care decision-making. The findings show multifaceted differences between those who did and did not access palliative care. Future studies should design and test strategies to facilitate the identification of palliative care needs and ensure the effective allocation of palliative care resources in ICUs.
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Enfermagem de Cuidados Paliativos na Terminalidade da Vida , Hospitais para Doentes Terminais , Feminino , Masculino , Humanos , Adulto , Estudos Retrospectivos , Cuidados Paliativos , Unidades de Terapia IntensivaRESUMO
PURPOSE: This study assessed the association between changes in sublingual microcirculation after a spontaneous breathing trial (SBT) and successful extubation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sublingual microcirculation was assessed using an incident dark-field video microscope before and after each SBT and before extubation. Microcirculatory parameters before the SBT, at the end of the SBT, and before extubation were compared between the successful and failed extubation groups. RESULTS: Forty-seven patients were enrolled and analysed in this study (34 patients in the successful extubation group and 13 patients in the failed extubation group). At the end of the SBT, the weaning parameters did not differ between the two groups. However, the total small vessel density (21.2 [20.4-23.7] versus 24.9 [22.6-26.5] mm/mm2), perfused small vessel density (20.6 [18.5-21.8] versus 23.1 [20.9-25] mm/mm2), proportion of perfused small vessels (91 [87-96] versus 95 [93-98] %), and microvascular flow index (2.8 [2.7-2.9] versus 2.9 [2.9-3]) were significantly lower in the failed extubation group than in the successful extubation group. The weaning and microcirculatory parameters did not differ significantly between the two groups before the SBT. CONCLUSIONS: More patients are required to investigate the difference between baseline microcirculation before a successful SBT and the change in microcirculation at the end of the SBT between the successful and failed extubation groups. Better sublingual microcirculatory parameters at the end of SBT and before extubation are associated with successful extubation.
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Extubação , Desmame do Respirador , Humanos , MicrocirculaçãoRESUMO
STUDY OBJECTIVE: To develop, validate, and deploy models for predicting delirium in critically ill adult patients as early as upon intensive care unit (ICU) admission. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Single university teaching hospital in Taipei, Taiwan. PATIENTS: 6238 critically ill patients from August 2020 to August 2021. MEASUREMENTS: Data were extracted, pre-processed, and split into training and testing datasets based on the time period. Eligible variables included demographic characteristics, Glasgow Coma Scale, vital signs parameters, treatments, and laboratory data. The predicted outcome was delirium, defined as any positive result (a score ≥ 4) of the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist that was assessed by primary care nurses in each 8-h shift within 48 h after ICU admission. We trained models to predict delirium upon ICU admission (ADM) and at 24 h (24H) after ICU admission by using logistic regression (LR), gradient boosted trees (GBT), and deep learning (DL) algorithms and compared the models' performance. MAIN RESULTS: Eight features were extracted from the eligible features to train the ADM models, including age, body mass index, medical history of dementia, postoperative intensive monitoring, elective surgery, pre-ICU hospital stays, and GCS score and initial respiratory rate upon ICU admission. In the ADM testing dataset, the incidence of ICU delirium occurred within 24 h and 48 h was 32.9% and 36.2%, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) (0.858, 95% CI 0.835-0.879) and area under the precision-recall curve (AUPRC) (0.814, 95% CI 0.780-0.844) for the ADM GBT model were the highest. The Brier scores of the ADM LR, GBT, and DL models were 0.149, 0.140, and 0.145, respectively. The AUROC (0.931, 95% CI 0.911-0.949) was the highest for the 24H DL model and the AUPRC (0.842, 95% CI 0.792-0.886) was the highest for the 24H LR model. CONCLUSION: Our early prediction models based on data obtained upon ICU admission could achieve good performance in predicting delirium occurred within 48 h after ICU admission. Our 24-h models can improve delirium prediction for patients discharged >1 day after ICU admission.
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Delírio , Adulto , Humanos , Estudos Retrospectivos , Estudos Prospectivos , Delírio/diagnóstico , Delírio/epidemiologia , Delírio/etiologia , Estado Terminal , Unidades de Terapia IntensivaRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: The study explored the clinical efficacy of microcirculation-assisted blood flow adjustment in patients receiving venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO). METHODS: This prospective, pilot, randomized controlled trial was conducted from 2018 to 2021; enrolled patients were randomly assigned to the microcirculation or control group at a 1:1 ratio. Microcirculatory and clinical data were collected within 24 h (T1) and at 24-48 h (T2), 48-72 h (T3), and 72-96 h (T4) after ECMO initiation and were compared between the groups following the intention-to-treat (ITT) principle. The primary outcome was the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score at T2. In addition to ITT analysis, analysis based on the as-treated (AT) principle was performed. RESULTS: A total of 35 patients were enrolled in this study. At T2, the SOFA score did not significantly differ between the microcirculation and control groups (16 [14.8-17] vs. 16 [12.5-18], P = 0.782). Generalized estimating equation analysis demonstrated a significantly greater reduction in the SOFA score over time in the microcirculation-AT group than in the control-AT group (estimated difference: -0.767, standard error: 0.327, P = 0.019). The lactate level at T2 was significantly lower in the microcirculation-AT group (2.7 [2.0-3.6] vs. 4.1 [3.0-6.6] mmol/L, P = 0.029). No significant difference in the 30-day survival rate was noted between the groups. CONCLUSION: This prospective pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of microcirculation-assisted VA-ECMO blood flow adjustment despite no significant clinical benefit for critically ill patients. More efforts in personnel training and newer technologies may help achieve microcirculation optimization.
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Oxigenação por Membrana Extracorpórea , Humanos , Prognóstico , Microcirculação/fisiologia , Estudos Prospectivos , Projetos PilotoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Severe vitamin D deficiency (SVDD) dramatically increases the risks of mortality, infections, and many other diseases. Studies have reported higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in patients with critical illness than general population. This multicenter retrospective cohort study develops and validates a score-based model for predicting SVDD in patients with critical illness. METHODS: A total of 662 patients with critical illness were enrolled between October 2017 and July 2020. SVDD was defined as a serum 25(OH)D level of < 12 ng/mL (or 30 nmol/L). The data were divided into a derivation cohort and a validation cohort on the basis of date of enrollment. Multivariable logistic regression (MLR) was performed on the derivation cohort to generate a predictive model for SVDD. Additionally, a score-based calculator (the SVDD score) was designed on the basis of the MLR model. The model's performance and calibration were tested using the validation cohort. RESULTS: The prevalence of SVDD was 16.3% and 21.7% in the derivation and validation cohorts, respectively. The MLR model consisted of eight predictors that were then included in the SVDD score. The SVDD score had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.848 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.781-0.914] and an area under the precision recall curve of 0.619 (95% CI 0.577-0.669) in the validation cohort. CONCLUSIONS: This study developed a simple score-based model for predicting SVDD in patients with critical illness. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov protocol registration ID: NCT03639584. Date of registration: May 12, 2022.
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Estado Terminal , Deficiência de Vitamina D , Humanos , Estudos Retrospectivos , Estado Terminal/epidemiologia , Deficiência de Vitamina D/complicações , Deficiência de Vitamina D/epidemiologia , Curva ROCRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Ischemia-reperfusion injury affects postoperative transplanted kidney function in kidney transplant recipients. Dexmedetomidine was reported to attenuate ischemia-reperfusion injury and improve microcirculation, but its propensity to cause bradycardia and hypotension may adversely affect microcirculation. This study investigated the effect of dexmedetomidine on postoperative renal function and sublingual microcirculation in kidney recipients. METHODS: The enrolled kidney transplant recipients were randomly allocated to the control group or dexmedetomidine group. After anaesthesia induction, patients in the dexmedetomidine group received dexmedetomidine infusion until 2 h after surgery. Sublingual microcirculation was recorded using an incident dark-field video microscope and analysed. The primary outcomes were the creatinine level on a postoperative day 2 and total vessel density at 2 h after surgery. RESULTS: A total of 60 kidney recipients were analysed, and the creatinine levels on postoperative day 2 were significantly lower in the dexmedetomidine group than in the control group (1.5 (1.1-2.4) vs. 2.2 (1.7-3.0) mg/dL, median difference -0.6 (95% CI, -0.7 to -0.5) mg/dL, p = .018). On a postoperative day 7, the creatinine levels did not differ significantly between the two groups. Total vessel density at 2 h after surgery did not differ significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSION: We found that early postoperative renal function was better in kidney transplant recipients receiving dexmedetomidine infusion, but total vessel density was not significantly different between the intervention and control groups. Key messagesIschemia-reperfusion injury affects postoperative transplanted kidney function, and dexmedetomidine was reported to attenuate ischemia-reperfusion injury and improve microcirculation in other clinical conditions.This study showed that early postoperative renal function was better in kidney transplant recipients receiving dexmedetomidine.Dexmedetomidine's side effect of bradycardia and hypotension may affect microcirculation, our results revealed that the perioperative sublingual microcirculation did not differ significantly in kidney transplant recipients receiving dexmedetomidine.
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Dexmedetomidina , Hipotensão , Transplante de Rim , Traumatismo por Reperfusão , Bradicardia , Creatinina , Dexmedetomidina/efeitos adversos , Humanos , Rim , Transplante de Rim/efeitos adversos , Microcirculação , Traumatismo por Reperfusão/prevenção & controleRESUMO
OBJECTIVES: Sepsis is a major cause of death around the world. Complicated scoring systems require time to have data to predict short-term survival. Intensivists need a tool to predict survival in sepsis patients easily and quickly. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study reviewed the medical records of adult patients admitted to the surgical intensive care units between January 2009 and December 2011 in National Taiwan University Hospital. For this study, 739 patients were enrolled. We recorded the demographic and clinical variables of patients diagnosed with sepsis. A Cox proportional hazard model was used to analyze the survival data and determine significant risk factors to develop a prediction model. This model was used to create a nomogram for predicting the survival rate of sepsis patients up to 3 months. RESULTS: The observed 28-day, 60-day, and 90-day survival rates were 71.43%, 52.53%, and 46.88%, respectively. The principal risk factors for survival prediction included age; history of dementia; Glasgow Coma Scale score; and lactate, creatinine, and platelet levels. Our model showed more favorable prediction than did Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment at sepsis onset (concordance index: 0.65 vs. 0.54 and 0.59). This model was used to create the nomogram for predicting the mortality at the onset of sepsis. CONCLUSION: We suggest that developing a nomogram with several principal risk factors can provide a quick and easy tool to early predict the survival rate at different intervals in sepsis patients.
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BACKGROUND: We report a case of lorazepam-induced agitated delirium treated with haloperidol, which in turn triggered the onset of neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS). The latter condition, a medical emergency, was effectively treated with medical treatment and dexmedetomidine, a versatile and highly selective short-acting alpha-2 adrenergic agonist with sedative-hypnotic and anxiolytic effects. CASE SUMMARY: A 65-year-old man with a history of bipolar disorder presented to the emergency department with severe abdominal discomfort after binge eating. During his hospital stay, he received intravenous lorazepam for insomnia. On the next day, he became delirious and was thus treated with seven doses (5 mg each) of haloperidol over a 48 h period. Signs of NMS (hyperthermia, rigidity, myoclonus of upper limbs, impaired consciousness, tachypnea, and dark urine) became apparent and haloperidol was immediately suspended and brisk diuresis was initiated. On intensive care unit admission, he was confused, disoriented, and markedly agitated. Dexmedetomidine infusion was started with the goal of achieving a Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale score of -1 or 0. NMS was resolved gradually and the patient stabilized, permitting discontinuation of dexmedetomidine after 3 d. CONCLUSION: Dexmedetomidine may be clinically helpful for the management of NMS, most likely because of its sympatholytic activity.
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Background: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) life support has become an integral part of intensive care. The endotoxin activity assay (EAA) is a useful test to measure endotoxemia severity in whole blood. To date, no information is available regarding the EAA levels and their effect on clinical outcomes in critically ill patients with ECMO support. Methods: This prospective observational pilot study enrolled adult critically ill patients with ECMO support from August 2019 to December 2020. The EAA levels were measured within 24 h (T1), and at 25-48 (T2), 49-72 (T3), and 73-96 h (T4) after ECMO initiation. This study primarily aimed to investigate the incidence of high EAA levels (≥0.6) at each time point. Subsequent exploratory analyses were conducted to compare the EAA levels of venoarterial ECMO (VA-ECMO) patients between 30-day survivors and non-survivors. Post-hoc analysis was performed to compare the clinical outcomes of VA-ECMO patients with elevated EAA levels at T3 (vs. T1) and those without elevated EAA levels. Results: A total of 39 VA-ECMO patients and 15 venovenous ECMO (VV-ECMO) patients were enrolled. At T1, the incidence of high EAA level (≥0.6) was 42% in VV-ECMO patients and 9% in VA-ECMO patients (P = 0.02). At T2, the incidence of high EAA level was 40% in VV-ECMO patients and 5% in VA-ECMO patients (P = 0.005). In VA-ECMO patients, EAA levels at T3 were significantly higher in 30-day non-survivors than in survivors (median [interquartile range]: 0.49 [0.37-0.93] vs. 0.31 [0.19-0.51], median difference 0.16 [95% confidence interval [CI], 0.02-0.31]; P = 0.024). Moreover, VA-ECMO patients with elevated EAA levels at T3 (vs. T1) had lower 30-day survival than patients without elevated EAA levels (39 vs. 83%, P = 0.026) and fewer ECMO free days by day 30 (median: 3 vs. 23 days, median difference 12 days [95% CI, 0-22]; P = 0.028). Conclusions: A certain proportion of patients experienced high EAA levels (≥0.6) after VV-ECMO or VA-ECMO initiation. VA-ECMO patients with an elevated EAA level at 49-72 h were associated with poor clinical outcomes.
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Background: Vitamin D deficiency is common in the general population worldwide, and the prevalence and severity of vitamin D deficiency increase in critically ill patients. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in a community-based cohort in Northern Taiwan was 22.4%. This multicenter cohort study investigated the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and associated factors in critically ill patients in Northern Taiwan. Methods: Critically ill patients were enrolled and divided into five groups according to their length of stay at intensive care units (ICUs) during enrolment as follows: group 1, <2 days with expected short ICU stay; group 2, <2 days with expected long ICU stay; group 3, 3-7 days; group 4, 8-14 days; and group 5, 15-28 days. Vitamin D deficiency was defined as a serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) level < 20 ng/ml, and severe vitamin D deficiency was defined as a 25(OH)D level < 12 ng/ml. The primary analysis was the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency. The exploratory analyses were serial follow-up vitamin D levels in group 2, associated factors for vitamin D deficiency, and the effect of vitamin D deficiency on clinical outcomes in critically ill patients. Results: The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was 59% [95% confidence interval (CI) 55-62%], and the prevalence of severe vitamin D deficiency was 18% (95% CI 15-21%). The median vitamin D level for all enrolled critically ill patients was 18.3 (13.7-23.9) ng/ml. In group 2, the median vitamin D levels were <20 ng/ml during the serial follow-up. According to the multivariable analysis, young age, female gender, low albumin level, high parathyroid hormone (PTH) level, and high sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score were significantly associated risk factors for vitamin D deficiency. Patients with vitamin D deficiency had longer ventilator use duration and length of ICU stay. However, the 28- and 90-day mortality rate were not associated with vitamin D deficiency. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is high in critically ill patients. Age, gender, albumin level, PTH level, and SOFA score were significantly associated with vitamin D deficiency in these patients.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has caused multiple deaths worldwide. Since no specific therapies are currently available, treatment for critically ill patients with COVID-19 is supportive. The most severe patients need sustained life support for recovery. We herein describe the course of a critically ill COVID-19 patient with multi-organ failure, including acute respiratory failure, acute kidney injury, and fulminant cytokine release syndrome (CRS), who required mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support. This patient with a predicted high mortality risk was successfully managed with a careful strategy of oxygenation, uremic toxin removal, hemodynamic support, and most importantly, cytokine-targeted intervention for CRS, including cytokine/endotoxin removal, anti-cytokine therapy, and immune modulation. Comprehensive cytokine data, CRS parameters, and biochemical data of extracorporeal removal were provided to strengthen the rationale of this strategy. In this report, we demonstrate that timely combined hemoperfusion with cytokine adsorptive capacity and anti-cytokine therapy can successfully treat COVID-19 patients with fulminant CRS. It also highlights the importance of implementing cytokine-targeted therapy for severe COVID-19 guided by the precise measurement of disease activity.
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BACKGROUND: By inhibiting neuroinflammation dexmedetomidine may be neuroprotective in patients undergoing cranial surgery, but it reduces cardiac output and cerebral blood flow. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether intra-operative dexmedetomidine combined with goal-directed haemodynamic therapy (GDHT) has neuroprotective effects in cranial surgery. DESIGN: A double-blind, single-institution, randomised controlled trial. SETTING: A single university hospital, from April 2017 to April 2020. PATIENTS: A total of 160 adults undergoing elective cranial surgery. INTERVENTION: Infusion of dexmedetomidine (0.5âµgâkg-1 h-1) or saline combined with GDHT to optimise stroke volume during surgery. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The proportion who developed postoperative neurological complications was compared. Postoperative disability was assessed using the Barthel Index at time points between admission and discharge, and also the 30-day modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Postoperative delirium was assessed. The concentration of a peri-operative serum neuroinflammatory mediator, high-mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1), was compared. RESULTS: Fewer patients in the dexmedetomidine group developed new postoperative neurological complications (26.3% vs. 43.8%; Pâ=â0.031), but the number of patients developing severe neurological complications was comparable between the two groups (11.3% vs. 20.0%; Pâ=â0.191). In the dexmedetomidine group the Barthel Index reduction [0 (-10 to 0)] was less than that in the control group [-5 (-15 to 0)]; Pâ=â0.023, and there was a more favourable 30-day mRS (Pâ=â0.013) with more patients without postoperative delirium (84.6% vs. 64.2%; Pâ=â0.012). Furthermore, dexmedetomidine induced a significant reduction in peri-operative serum HMGB1 level from the baseline (222.5â±â408.3âpgâml-1) to the first postoperative day (152.2â±â280.0âpgâml-1) Pâ=â0.0033. There was no significant change in the control group. The dexmedetomidine group had a lower cardiac index than did the control group (3.0â±â0.8 vs. 3.4â±â1.8 l min-1 m-2; Pâ=â0.0482) without lactate accumulation. CONCLUSIONS: Dexmedetomidine infusion combined with GDHT may mitigate neuroinflammation without undesirable haemodynamic effects during cranial surgery and therefore be neuroprotective. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02878707.
Assuntos
Delírio , Dexmedetomidina , Fármacos Neuroprotetores , Adulto , Método Duplo-Cego , Objetivos , Hemodinâmica , HumanosRESUMO
Background: Venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) pump flow is crucial for maintaining organ perfusion in patients with cardiogenic shock, but VA-ECMO pump flow optimization remains as a clinical challenge. This study aimed to investigate the response of sublingual microcirculation to changes in VA-ECMO pump flow. Methods: Sublingual microcirculation was measured before and after changing VA-ECMO pump flow according to the treatment plan of ECMO team within 24 h and at 24-48 h after VA-ECMO placement. In clinical events of increasing VA-ECMO pump flow, those events with increased perfused vessel density (PVD) were grouped into group A, and the others were grouped into group B. In clinical events of decreasing VA-ECMO pump flow, those events with increased PVD were grouped into group C, and the others were grouped into group D. Results: Increased PVD was observed in 60% (95% CI, 38.5-81.5%) of the events with increasing VA-ECMO pump flow. The probability of increasing PVD after increasing VA-ECMO pump flow were higher in the events with a PVD < 15 mm/mm2 at baseline than those with a PVD ≥ 15 mm/mm2 [100% (95% CI, 54.1-100%) vs. 42.9% (95% CI, 17.7-71.1%), P = 0.042]. Other microcirculatory and hemodynamic parameters at baseline did not differ significantly between group A and B or between group C and D. Conclusion: This study revealed contradictory and non-contradictory responses of sublingual microcirculation to changes in VA-ECMO pump flow. Tandem measurements of microcirculation before and after changing VA-ECMO pump flow may help to ensure a good microcirculation.