Long-term outcome of patients hospitalized in intensive care units with central or extrapontine myelinolysis*.

OBJECTIVE: Very few data are available for critically ill patients with central or extrapontine myelinolysis and according to available evidence, the prognosis seems to be poor. We aimed to describe the baseline characteristics, the management, the long-term prognosis, and the prognostic factors in central or extrapontine myelinolysis. DESIGN: Retrospective observational study considering modified Rankin Scale score >3 or death as an unfavorable outcome. SETTING: Forty-six French intensive care units. PATIENTS: Thirty-six patients with central or extrapontine myelinolysis treated in 2000-2010. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: At baseline, 31 (86%) patients were alcoholics and 33 (92%) presented with hyponatremia. Mechanical ventilation was required in 32 (89%) patients. At 1-yr follow-up, 11 (31%) patients have died, whereas 14 (56%) survivors have returned to a Rankin score ≤ 1. Life-supporting therapies were withheld in 11 (31%) patients. Severe cerebral motor disability was the most frequently cited reason. However, five of them were still alive at 1 yr with Rankin score ≤ 1 for four of them. We found no statistical difference between the 18 (50%) patients with a favorable outcome and the 18 (50%) patients with an unfavorable outcome with regard to severity of illness, suggesting that recovery is possible and unpredictable on the basis of clinical presentation. Chronic alcoholism was less frequent in patients with a favorable outcome as compared with patient with an unfavorable outcome (13 [72%] vs. 18 [100%], p = .04). CONCLUSIONS: The prognosis of critically ill patients with central or extrapontine myelinolysis is better than thus far thought despite initial severe clinical manifestations. Regarding the high rate of decisions to withhold life-supporting therapies, the probability of a favorable outcome might be underestimated by intensivists.

Written information that relatives of adult intensive care unit patients would like to receive--a comparison to published recommendations and opinion of staff members.

OBJECTIVE: Information booklets have not been assessed by the families of intensive care unit (ICU) patients. This study explored the information that the relatives of adult ICU patients wanted to find in the information booklets. DESIGN: Multicenter survey. SETTING: Twenty-three French ICUs. SUBJECTS: One close relative of each of 250 consecutive adult patients. METHODS: Relatives were asked about the desirability of finding information on each of the 24 topics identified by ICU physicians and listed in guidelines as deserving inclusion in information booklets. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The 250 patients (61% men) had a mean age of 60 +/- 18 years and a mean Simplified Acute Physiology Score II of 48 +/- 19; 57% had chronic comorbidities and 41% were surgical patients. At least 72% of the relatives felt that booklets should discuss nosocomial infections, treatment-limitation decisions, access to medical information on the patient, access to medical records, and the meaning of medical terms. Overall, relatives wanted more information than that anticipated by ICU physicians, suggested in guidelines, or found in booklets. However, for at least one of the 24 topics, 38% of relatives indicated that fear or poor comprehension made them unwilling to receive written information. These relatives were younger and had fewer years of formal education than did the other relatives, and they were more likely to be visiting conscious unrestrained patients. CONCLUSIONS: Opinions of relatives should be taken into account when designing ICU information booklets. Relatives want more information than that anticipated by physicians or suggested in guidelines, but the youngest or the less-educated ones may respond less favorably to written information.

Safety and diagnostic yield of renal biopsy in the intensive care unit.

PURPOSE: Renal biopsy (RB) is occasionally performed in critically ill patients. The safety and impact of RB in this setting have not been reported. METHODS: A 10-year (2000-2009) retrospective multicentre study was conducted in ten French intensive care units (ICU) on patients who underwent RB during their management. Medical files were retrieved for data analysis. RESULTS: Seventy-seven patients underwent an RB of which 68 (88 %) were on a native kidney and 9 (12 %) on a transplanted kidney. Percutaneous ultrasound-guided RB was used in most cases (87 %). Fifty-seven per cent of the patients were on mechanical ventilation at the time of RB. RB-related complications occurred in 17 (22 %) patients, two were graded as severe (requirement for kidney embolization, eventually successful). In 35 (51 %) non-transplanted patients, RB established a specific diagnosis other than acute tubular necrosis (ATN), which was diagnosed in only 18 % of patients. In the remaining patients, only non-specific lesions were observed. Therapeutic modifications followed RB in 14 (21 %) non-transplanted patients. Presence of signs of systemic disease involving the renal tract, occurrence of renal failure before hospital admission, and absence of any factor usually associated with ATN significantly predicted the presence of a specific diagnosis at RB other than ATN. CONCLUSIONS: In this cohort, the contribution of RB to diagnosis and treatment was undeniable, but at the expense of frequent adverse events although most of them were not considered severe.