Characteristics, Outcomes, and Predictability of Critically Ill Obstetric Patients: A Multicenter Prospective Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate pregnant/postpartum patients requiring ICUs admission in Argentina, describe characteristics of mothers and outcomes for mothers/babies, evaluate risk factors for maternal-fetal-neonatal mortality; and compare outcomes between patients admitted to public and private health sectors. DESIGN: Multicenter, prospective, national cohort study. SETTING: Twenty ICUs in Argentina (public, 8 and private, 12). PATIENTS: Pregnant/postpartum (< 42 d) patients admitted to ICU. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Three hundred sixty-two patients were recruited, 51% from the public health sector and 49% from the private. Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II was 8 (4-12); predicted/observed mortality, 7.6%/3.6%; hospital length of stay, 7 days (5-13 d); and fetal-neonatal losses, 17%. Public versus private health sector patients: years of education, 9 ± 3 versus 15 ± 3; transferred from another hospital, 43% versus 12%; Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II, 9 (5-13.75) versus 7 (4-9); hospital length of stay, 10 days (6-17 d) versus 6 days (4-9 d); prenatal care, 75% versus 99.4%; fetal-neonatal losses, 25% versus 9% (p = 0.000 for all); and mortality, 5.4% versus 1.7% (p = 0.09). Complications in ICU were multiple-organ dysfunction syndrome (34%), shock (28%), renal dysfunction (25%), and acute respiratory distress syndrome (20%); all predominated in the public sector. Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (during first 24 hr of admission) score of at least 6.5 presented the best discriminative power for maternal mortality. Independent predictors of maternal-fetal-neonatal mortality were Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II, education level, prenatal care, and admission to tertiary hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: Patients spent a median of 7 days in hospital; 3.6% died. Maternal-fetal-neonatal mortality was determined not only by acuteness of illness but to social and healthcare aspects like education, prenatal control, and being cared in specialized hospitals. Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (during first 24 hr of admission), easier to calculate than Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II, was a better predictor of maternal outcome. Evident health disparities existed between patients admitted to public versus private hospitals: the former received less prenatal care, were less educated, were more frequently transferred from other hospitals, were sicker at admission, and developed more complications; maternal and fetal-neonatal mortality were higher. These findings point to the need of redesigning healthcare services to account for these inequities.

Predictability of adverse outcomes in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy: a multicenter prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: To explore variables associated with adverse maternal/fetal/neonatal outcomes among pregnant/postpartum patients admitted to ICU for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP). METHODS: Multicenter, prospective, national cohort study. RESULTS: Variables independently associated with maternal/fetal/neonatal mortality among 172 patients were as follows: Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation-II (APACHE-II)(OR1.20[1.06-1.35]), gestational age (OR0.698[0.59-0.82]) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST)(OR1.004[1.001-1.006]). Positive likelihood ratio for headache, epigastric pain, and visual disturbances to predict composite adverse outcomes were 1.23(1.16-1.30), 0.76(0.59-1.02), and 1.1(0.98-1.2), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal/fetal mortality due to HDP was independently associated with severity of illness on admission, gestational age, and elevated AST. Accuracy of clinical symptoms to predict composite adverse outcomes was low.

Pancreatitis Induced by Cocaine.

Pancreatitis is one of the commonest diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, characterized by epigastric pain of moderate to severe intensity, which radiates to the back, elevation of pancreatic lipase and amylase enzymes, and changes in pancreatic parenchyma in imaging methods. The most common etiologies vary, generally the most frequent being biliary lithiasis and alcohol, followed by hypertriglyceridemia. Among the less frequent causes is drug-induced pancreatitis. We report a case of acute pancreatitis caused by cocaine, rarely described in literature.

Neumotórax comunicante: tórax de búfalo / Communicating Pneumothorax: buffalo thorax

El neumotórax comunicante bilateral constituye una enfermedad infrecuente, debido al compromiso y conexión de ambas pleuras. Ha sido denominado por la literatura médica inglesa como tórax de búfalo dado la presencia en ese animal de una cavidad pleural única. Se asocia a cirugía torácica, cardíaca y/o a colocación de accesos venosos

Síndrome de obesidad e hipoventilación en terapia intensiva: Reporte de serie de casos de un Hospital de Comunidad / Obesity and Hypoventilation Syndrome in an Intensive Care Unit

El Síndrome de Obesidad e Hipoventilación (SOH) incluye hipercapnia, trastornos del sueño y obesidad. Se describen características clínicas y evolución de una serie retrospectiva de pacientes con SOH internados en una Unidad de Terapia Intensiva (UTI) polivalente. Durante 24 meses se identificaron 13 pacientes, 9 hombres (69.23%), media de edad de 58.6 años (SD ± 12.4), IMC medio; 48.5 kg/m2 (SD ± 9.1). Los motivos de internación fueron: fallo respiratorio con hipercapnia en 8 (61.53%), titulación de la VNI en 3 (23.07%) y evento coronario en 2 (15.38%). El tiempo medio de internación en UTI fue de 8.9 días. En 11 casos (84.6%) se realizó una poligrafía respiratoria (PR). Todos tuvieron IAH > 5/hora y en el 90.9% este fue > 30/h. Se utilizó ventilación no invasiva (VNI) en modalidad bilevel (modo S/T) con presiones; IPAP de 23 (SD ± 4.17), EPAP de 12 (SD ± 4.25), frecuencia respiratoria de 18 por minuto (SD ± 1.7). Se realizaron 13 titulaciones con VNI. Cuatro casos (30.77%) requirieron modalidad con volumen asegurado. Con VNI existieron cambios significativos para pH arterial (p = 0.0019), PaO2 (p = 0.0001), PaCO2 (p = 0.0001) y HCO3 (p = 0.008) y la ESS al alta (6.23 ± 2.20) p = 0.0001. Ningún paciente requirió intubación traqueal (IOT) ni se registraron fallecimientos. Todos egresaron con interfases nasobucales e indicación de uso nocturno. En nuestra experiencia la mayoría de las admisiones se debieron a falla respiratoria con hipercapnia y recibieron modalidad bilevel. La PR al lado de la cama del paciente permitió el acceso al diagnóstico y monitoreo de la VNI.

Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome (OHS) includes hypercapnia, sleep disturbances and obesity after other causes of hypoventilation have been excluded. We describe clinical features and evolution of a retrospective series of patients with OHS admitted to a polyvalent ICU. During 24 months, 13 patients, 9 males (69.23%) with an average age of 58.6 years old (SD ± 12.4) and a BMI mean of 48.5 kg/m2 (SD ± 9.1) were identified. The reasons for hospitalizations were: respiratory failure with hypercapnia in 8 patients (61.53%), titration of non invasive ventilation (NIV) in 3 (23.07%) and acute coronary event in 2 cases (15.38%). The mean hospitalization time was 8.9 days. We performed a respiratory polygraphy (RP) in 11 cases (84.6%). All patients had AHI >5/hour; in 90.9% the AHI was severely elevated (> 30/h). We used non invasive ventilation in bilevel modality (S/T mode) in all patients. The pressures used in H2O cm were; IPAP of 23 (SD ± 4.17), EPAP of 12 (SD ± 4.25), respiratory frequency of 18 per minute (SD ± 1.7). We performed 13 titration tests with NIV prior to discharge. Four cases (30.77%) needed presometric modality with insured volume. After NIV, we observed significant changes in arterial pH (p = 0.0019), PaO2 (p = 0.0001), PaCO2 (p = 0.0001), HCO3 (p = 0.008) and the mean of ESS at discharge (6.23 ± 2.20; p = 0.0001). No patient required tracheal intubation and no deaths were observed. All were discharged with NIV devices with oronasal interfaces and night use recommendations. Our findings showed that most hospitalizations were due to respiratory failure with hyipercapnia receiving bilevel modality. The respiratory polygraphy allowed a quickly diagnosis and the NIV monitoring.