Intra-abdominal hypertension, fluid balance, and adverse outcomes after orthotopic liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) is frequently encountered in critically ill surgical patients. We aimed to evaluate the incidence of IAH after orthotopic liver transplant (OLT) and its impact on organ function, hospital length-of-stay (LOS), and death. METHODS: This prospective, observational, cohort study evaluated consecutive adult patients admitted in the ICU after undergoing OLT. Intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) was measured every 4-6 h for 3 days. Worsening IAP was defined as a gradual increase in IAP over a period of time. Daily fluid balance was the daily sum of all intakes minus the output. RESULTS: IAH was observed in 48% of the patients within the first 3 days after ICU admission, while ACS was diagnosed in 15%. Patients with IAH had a higher positive fluid balance at day 1 (1764 mL [812-2733 mL] vs. 1301 mL [241-1904 mL], p = 0.025). Worsening IAH was associated with fewer days free of organ dysfunction. IAH within 72 h after ICU admission was independently associated with a composite outcome of death or a longer ICU LOS (odds ratio 2.9; CI 95% 1.02-8.25, p = 0.043). CONCLUSION: After OLT, nearly half of the patients presented IAH, that was associated with unfavorable outcomes.

Early determinants of death due to multiple organ failure after noncardiac surgery in high-risk patients.

BACKGROUND: Prediction of perioperative cardiac complications is important in the medical management of patients undergoing noncardiac surgery. However, these patients frequently die as a consequence of primary or secondary multiple organ failure (MOF), often as a result of sepsis. We investigated the early perioperative risk factors for in-hospital death due to MOF in surgical patients. METHODS: This was a prospective, multicenter, observational cohort study performed in 21 Brazilian intensive care units (ICUs). Adult patients undergoing noncardiac surgery who were admitted to the ICU within 24 hours after operation were evaluated. MOF was characterized by the presence of at least 2 organ failures. To determine the relative risk (RR) of in-hospital death due to MOF, we performed a logistic regression multivariate analysis. RESULTS: A total of 587 patients were included (mean age, 62.4 ± 17 years). ICU and hospital mortality rates were 15% and 20.6%, respectively. The main cause of death was MOF (53%). Peritonitis (RR 4.17, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.38-12.6), diabetes (RR 3.63, 95% CI 1.17-11.2), unplanned surgery (RR 3.62, 95% CI 1.18-11.0), age (RR 1.04, 95% CI 1 0.01-1.08), and elevated serum lactate concentrations (RR 1.52, 95% CI 1.14-2.02), a high central venous pressure (RR 1.12, 95% CI 1.04-1.22), a fast heart rate (RR 3.63, 95% CI 1.17-11.2) and pH (RR 0.04, 95% CI 0.0005-0.38) on the day of admission were independent predictors of death due to MOF. CONCLUSIONS: MOF is the main cause of death after surgery in high-risk patients. Awareness of the risk factors for death due to MOF may be important in risk stratification and can suggest routes for therapy.

Lipopolysaccharide binding protein in a surgical intensive care unit: a marker of sepsis?

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the time course of lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP) plasma concentrations in patients in the surgical intensive care unit (ICU), their value in discriminating sepsis from systemic inflammatory response syndrome, and their association with severity of sepsis and outcome in these patients compared with interleukin (IL)-6, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin. DESIGN: Prospective, observational, cohort study. SETTING: Academic ICU. PATIENTS: All 327 consecutively admitted patients. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Serum LBP concentrations were higher in patients who had severe sepsis/septic shock on ICU admission than in patients who never had sepsis (20.5 [8.1-38.8] vs. 14.2 [7.7-22.2] microg/mL, p < .05) but were similar in patients with sepsis without organ failure and those who never had sepsis. After 3 days, LBP levels were similar in all groups. In a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, LBP concentrations moderately discriminated sepsis from systemic inflammatory response syndrome (area under curve [AUC] = .66) and severe sepsis from sepsis without organ failure (AUC = .71). IL-6 had the highest AUC in discriminating sepsis from other conditions (AUC = .76) and procalcitonin had the highest AUC for discrimination of severe sepsis from sepsis (AUC = .86). LBP concentrations on admission and during the first week were similar in patients with gram-positive and those with gram-negative infections (15.9 [11-26.7] and 37.2 [25.1-62.4] vs. 16.3 [5.3-31.6] and 31.6 [13.4], microg/mL, p > .2). LBP concentrations on admission were similar in nonsurvivors and survivors and did not discriminate ICU mortality. However, the maximum LBP concentration during the first 3 days in the ICU discriminated moderately between survivors and nonsurvivors. CONCLUSIONS: In the surgical ICU, LBP moderately discriminated patients without infection from patients with severe sepsis but not from patients with sepsis without organ dysfunction. LBP concentrations did not distinguish between gram-positive and gram-negative infections. The correlation of LBP concentrations with disease severity and outcome is weak compared with other markers and its use as a biomarker is not warranted in this patient population.