Continuous cardiac output measurement by un-calibrated pulse wave analysis and pulmonary artery catheter in patients with septic shock.

Septic shock is a serious medical condition. With increased concerns about invasive techniques, a number of non-invasive and semi-invasive devices measuring cardiac output (CO) have become commercially available. The aim of the present study was to determine the accuracy, precision and trending abilities of the FloTrac and the continuous pulmonary artery catheter thermodilution technique determining CO in septic shock patients. Consecutive septic shock patients were included in two centres and CO was measured every 4 h up to 48 h by FloTrac (APCO) and by pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) using the continuous (CCO) and intermittent (ICO) technique. Forty-seven septic shock patients with 326 matched sets of APCO, CCO and ICO data were available for analysis. Bland and Altman analysis revealed a mean bias ±2 SD of 0.0 ± 2.14 L min(-1) for APCO-ICO (%error = 34.5 %) and 0.23 ± 2.55 L min(-1) for CCO-ICO (%error = 40.4 %). Trend analysis showed a concordance of 85 and 81 % for APCO and CCO, respectively. In contrast to CCO, APCO was influenced by systemic vascular resistance and by mean arterial pressure. In septic shock patients, APCO measurements assessed by FloTrac but also the established CCO measurements using the PAC did not meet the currently accepted statistical criteria indicating acceptable clinical performance.

Clinical features and outcomes of critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A multicenter cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) manifested by a broad spectrum of symptoms, ranging from asymptomatic manifestations to severe illness and death. The purpose of the study was to extensively describe the clinical features and outcomes in critically ill patients with COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia. METHOD: This was a multicenter, non-interventional cohort study for all critically ill patients aged 18 years or older, admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) between March 1 to August 31, 2020, with an objectively confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. The diagnosis of COVID-19 was confirmed by Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) on nasopharyngeal and/or throat swabs. Multivariate logistic regression and generalized linear regression were used. We considered a P value of <0.05 statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 560 patients met the inclusion criteria. An extensive list of clinical features was associated with higher 30-day ICU mortality rates, such as requiring mechanical ventilation (MV) or developing acute kidney injury within 24 hours of ICU admission, higher body temperature, white blood cells, blood glucose level, serum creatinine, fibrinogen, procalcitonin, creatine phosphokinase, aspartate aminotransferase, and total iron-binding capacity. During ICU stay, the most common complication was respiratory failure that required MV (71.4%), followed by acute kidney injury (AKI) and thrombosis with a proportion of 46.8% and 11.4%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Among patients with COVID-19 who were admitted to the ICU, several variables were associated with an increased risk of ICU mortality at 30 days. Respiratory failure that required MV, AKI, and thrombosis were the most common complications during ICU stay.