ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Lung protective strategies using low tidal volumes and moderate positive end expiratory pressures (PEEP) are considered best practice in critical care, but interventional trials have never been conducted in acutely brain-injured patients due to concerns about carbon dioxide control and effect of PEEP on cerebral hemodynamic. METHODS: In this multicenter, open-label, controlled clinical trial 190 adult acute brain injured patients were assigned to receive either a lung-protective or a conventional ventilatory strategy. The primary outcome was a composite endpoint of death, ventilator dependency and ARDS at day 28. Neurological outcome was assessed at intensive care unit discharge by Oxford Handicap Scale and at six months by Glasgow Outcome Scale. FINDINGS: The two study arms had similar characteristics at baseline. In the lung-protective and conventional strategy groups, using an intention-to-treat approach, the composite outcome at 28 days was 61.5% and 45.3% (RR 1.35; 95%CI 1.03-1.79; p=0.025). Mortality was 28.9% and 15.1% (RR 1.91; 95%CI 1.06-3.42; p=0.02), ventilator dependency was 42.3% and 27.9% (RR 1.52; 95%CI 1.01-2.28; p=0.039), and incidence of ARDS was 30.8% and 22.1% (RR 1.39; 95%CI 0.85-2.27; p=0.179) respectively. The trial was stopped after enrolling 190 subjects because of termination of funding. INTERPRETATION: In acutely brain-injured patients without ARDS a lung-protective ventilatory strategy as compared to a conventional strategy did not reduce mortality, percentage of patients weaned from mechanical ventilation, incidence of ARDS and was not beneficial in terms of neurological outcomes. Due to the early termination, these preliminary results require confirmation in larger trials. Clinical trial registration available at www. CLINICALTRIALS: gov, ID: NCT01690819.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Abrupt increase of multidrug-resistant, extensively drug-resistant, and pandrug-resistant bacteria may complicate the course, management, and costs of neurocritical patients and is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. No data exists regarding risk factors for colonization by gram-negative pathogens in neurocritical patients. The aim of the study was to identify risk factors associated with colonization by multidrug-resistant, extensively drug-resistant, and pandrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria in neurocritical patients. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study in a neurointensive care unit over a period of 3 years. We included adult neurocritical patients admitted for more than 48 h. We analyzed several factors including both anamnestic factors and admission diagnosis. RESULTS: Four hundred twenty neurocritical patients were retrospectively enrolled. Seventy-three patients developed colonization by multidrug-resistant and 53 by extensively drug-resistant gram negative pathogens. Logistic regression identified intensive care unit length of stay (LOS) as the strongest predictor for both multidrug-resistant (AUC 0.877; 95% CI 0.841-0.913) and extensively drug-resistant (AUC 0.839 0.787-0.892) gram negative pathogens. In addition, external ventricular drainage and intracerebral pressure monitoring catheter were risk factors for XDR. Survival analysis revealed that MDR bacteria colonization happens earlier (log-rank test p = 0.017). CONCLUSIONS: Optimization of healthcare strategies is required in order to reduce patients' length of stay to prevent multi- and extensively-drug gram-negative colonizations. Indeed, an early external ventricular drainage and intracerebral pressure monitoring catheter removal is deemed necessary as soon as clinically appropriate.
Subject(s)
Anti-Bacterial Agents , Intensive Care Units , Adult , Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use , Bacteria , Gram-Negative Bacteria , Humans , Length of Stay , Retrospective Studies , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The relationship between ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and mortality varies from study to study, and its entity is uncertain due a considerable variation in the attributable mortality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between VAP frequency and mortality in a cohort of mechanically ventilated patients. METHODS: A multicenter prospective observational study was conducted in 21 Intensive Care Units (ICUs). The patients were recruited from 2008 to 2010 within randomly selected periods. 842 patients of 2595 admitted, met the eligibility criteria and were enrolled in the study. The study's primary outcome was death by any cause in one of the ICUs. We modelled VAP occurrence as a time-dependent covariate and fitted a competing risk analysis model. We estimated the attributable mortality of VAP as the population-attributable fraction of ICU mortality. RESULTS: A total of 121 patients developed VAP (14.4%), for an incidence rate of 15.7 cases per 1000 ventilator days; of the 175 patients (20.8%) who died during the study period, 31 (25.6%) had VAP. The ICU mortality rate in the patients who developed VAP was 22.6 per 1000 ventilator days (95% CI: 15.9-32.1). We estimated an attributable mortality of 8.4%. CONCLUSIONS: In 8.4% of cases, VAP was the leading cause of death in our study. This indicates that the patients died more frequently with VAP rather than because of it.