Predictive scoring systems in multiorgan failure: A cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: An evaluation is made of the hospital mortality predicting capacity of the main predictive scoring systems. DESIGN: A 2-year retrospective cohort study was carried out. SETTING: A third level ICU with surgical and medical patients. PATIENTS: All patients with multiorgan failure during the first day in the ICU. MAIN VARIABLES: APACHE II and IV, SAPS II and III, MPM II and hospital mortality. RESULTS: A total of 568 patients were included. Mortality rate: 39.8% (226 patients). Discrimination (area under the ROC curve; 95% CI): APACHE IV (0.805; 0.751-0.858), SAPS II (0.755; 0.697-0.814), MPM II (0.748; 0.688-0.809), SAPS III (0.737; 0.675-0.799) and APACHE II (0.699; 0.633-0.765). MPM II showed the best calibration, followed by SAPS III. APACHE II, SAPS II and APACHE IV showed very poor calibration. Standard mortality ratio (95% CI): APACHE IV 1.9 (1.78-2.02); APACHE II 1.1 (1.07-1.13); SAPS III 1.1 (1.06-1.14); SAPS II 1.03 (1.01-1.05); MPM 0.9 (0.86-0.94). CONCLUSIONS: APACHE IV showed the best discrimination, with poor calibration. MPM II showed good discrimination and the best calibration. SAPS II, in turn, showed the second best discrimination, with poor calibration. The APACHE II calibration and discrimination values currently disadvise its use. SAPS III showed good calibration with modest discrimination. Future studies at regional or national level and in certain critically ill populations are needed.

[<> (REgistro de TRAuma grave de la provincia de TOledo): general view and mortality]. / <> (REgistro de TRAuma grave de la provincia de TOledo): visión general y mortalidad.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the management and progression of the critical trauma patient. DESIGN: A retrospective, descriptive analysis. SETTING: The ICU in the province of Toledo. PATIENTS: All patients with traumatic injury admitted during the 2001-2007 period (7 years). MAIN VARIABLES OF INTEREST: These include the variables at the scene of the accident, pre-hospitalization, during transportation, variables on admission and during development until discharge or death. RESULTS: A total of 1090 trauma patients admitted were included. Of these, 79.5% were male, with an average age of 36.5 years (16% ≥ 65 years). There was a progressive decrease of patients from 2001 (142 patients) to 2007 (133 patients), with 46.9% admissions between May and September. A total of 29.4% did not belong to the health area. The causes were car accident (43.3%), fall from a height/fall (20.8%), motorcycle accident (13.8%), pedestrian being run over (6.6%). There were 2172 injuries; 30.1% had 3 injuries and 8.4% ≥ 4. The most frequently occurring injury was a head injury (33.7%), followed by thoracic trauma (20.2%) and orthopedic trauma (15.6%). 36.4% required surgery on the first day. Average length of stay in the ICU was 10.4+/-13.2 days. Time on mechanical ventilation was 7.3+/-12 days (median 1 day). Fifteen percent died in the ICU. This remains within the multivariable ICU mortality prediction model, including the pre-hospitalization variables: age (OR 1.05; 95% CI: 1.03-1.06), mydriasis (OR 2.6; 95% CI: 1.3-5.3), motor component of the Glascow Coma Score (GCS) (OR 0.7; 95% CI: 0.6-0.8), pre-hospitalization shock (OR 3.2; 95% CI: 1.8-5.5) and Injury Severity Score (ISS) (OR 1.1; 95% CI: 1.05-1.1). CONCLUSIONS: The use of multicenter trauma registers gives an overall view of trauma management and helps improve the care.

[Atrioventricular synchrony in patients with pacemaker with VDD mode pacing. A 14-year descriptive study]. / Sincronía auriculo-ventricular en pacientes portadores de marcapasos con estimulación VDD. Estudio descriptivo de un periodo de 14 años.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the performance of VDD mode pacing in patients with complete AV block with special attention on maintaining AV synchrony. DESIGN: This is a descriptive, retrospective and observational study of a case series. SETTING: Intensive Medicine Department of a tertiary hospital. PATIENTS: All patients with VDD pacemakers implanted between 1994 and 2008. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: The cause of the rhythm disorder, time of atrioventricular synchrony, cause of its loss, number of pacemaker replacement and reason, age when the first implant was performed, incidence of failure of atrial sensing and atrial fibrillation. We compared patients with atrial fibrillation with the rest who maintained normal atrial activity. RESULTS: A total of 95 patients, 49 (51.6%) males and 46 (48.4%) female with mean age of 77.08+/-8.37 years, were analyzed. The most common symptom was dizziness and presyncope in 43 cases (45.3%), the most common rhythm disorder was the III AV block with wide QRS with 68 cases (71.6%). Average time of AV synchrony was maintained 73.01+/-4.2 months with no significant differences between different causes of synchrony loss. At the end of the study, 56 cases remained in AV synchrony (73.3%). CONCLUSIONS: The preservation time of AV synchrony is high, the most important causes of loss being entry in atrial fibrillation and atrial infrasensing.

[Evaluation of eosinopenia as an infection marker in critical care patients]. / Evaluación de la eosinopenia como marcador de infección en pacientes ingresados en una Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos.

INTRODUCTION: To evaluate eosinopenia as an early marker of infection. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. PATIENTS: Medical-surgical ICU patients with high severity scores. MAIN VARIABLES: Data on days 1-5: Demographic data, diagnosis, clinical repercussion, mechanical ventilation, clinical development, length of stay, APACHE II, leukocytes, SOFA and lactate. Patients divided into two groups: with and without infection. ROCs (receiver operator characteristic) curves were plotted and best point for discriminative values determined. RESULTS: 244 patients were included: 22.5% with infection. 52.9% medical, 22.5% surgical and 24.6% polytrauma patients. APACHE II: 14.9+/-8.9. In a logistic regression model of infection (dependent variable infection), the independent variables were: APACHE II, SOFA, monocytes and eosinophils. The ROC curve for eosinophils on the first day: area of 0.72; the best cut off value is 10 eosinophils/microl, with sensitivity (S): 64.8% and specificity (Sp): 70.9%. In medical patients, the area under curve is 0.80, with ideal cut off value of 9 eosinophils/microl; in surgical patients is 0.53, with a cut off ideal value of 54. We combined eosinophils and monocytes: a cut-off value of 9 eosinophils/microl in medical patients with >400 monocytes/microl, has: S: 86.7%, Sp: 74.7%, a positive predictive value (PPV) of 40.6% and a negative predictive value (NPV) 96.6%; in postsurgical patients with <400 monocytes/microl and a cut-off value of 54 eosinophils: S: 100%, Sp: 20%, PPV: 52.9% and NPV: 100%. CONCLUSIONS: In a medical-surgical ICU, the capacity to discriminate infection through examining eosinopenia is not high. It could be useful to rule out infection if we combined eosinopenia with monocytes count.

[Ischemic optic neuropathy in the multiple trauma victim]. / Neuropatía óptica isquémica en el paciente politraumatizado.

Ischemic optic neuropathy is an uncommon of blindness in the critically ill patient that occurs especially in multiple trauma victims with no direct injury of the eyeball. We present the case of a young male patient with total bilateral blindness after profound hemorrhagic shock secondary to thoracoabdominal non-penetrating traumatism caused by crushing. A search of the literature was conducted, identifying prolonged arterial hypotension and sudden drop in hematocrit value as the most important risk factors.

[Implementation and evaluation of a protocol for continuous insulin perfusion in critical patients]. / Evaluación de un protocolo de perfusión continua de insulina en enfermos críticos.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the efficacy and safety of a protocol for the continuous infusion of insulin to maintain blood glucose levels between 100 and 140 mg/dl, evaluating the results by a method that takes all of the hours of treatment into consideration. DESIGN: Prospective observational study over a two-month period and follow up until the end of insulin perfusion. CONTEXT: Twenty three-bed polyvalent ICU. PATIENTS: Fifty consecutive patients >18 years of age with 2 episodes of glycemia >140 mg/dl separated by 4-6 hours. Patients on an oral diet were excluded. INTERVENTION: The perfusion rate and the frequency of glycemia monitoring were set according to the nursing staff's protocol. MAIN VARIABLES OF INTEREST: Days of insulin perfusion and number and value of the blood glucose measurements taken. Episodes of hypoglycemia, mean blood glucose level, the percentage of hyperglycemia episodes, and the number of hours that the patient's blood glucose was in each range. RESULTS: The mean duration of treatment was 15.6 days (SD 12). A total of 17,768 hours and 8,111 blood glucose measurements were collected. 55.5% of the blood glucose measurements were between 100-140 mg/dl, and this represents 63.9% of the hours. The mean blood glucose level was 133 mg/dl. Only 2 episodes of severe hypoglycemia (<45 mg/dl) occurred. CONCLUSION: The protocol was safe and enabled adequate control of blood glucose levels. The analysis of all of the hours of treatment might provide more data than a simple study of the percentages of blood glucose measurements within the normal range and the mean blood glucose level.