Risk Factors for ARDS in Mechanically Ventilated Adults Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is an inflammatory process that could lead to diffuse oedema and hypoxaemic respiratory failure. It is also characterised by increased pulmonary vascular permeability, increased lung weight, and loss of aerated lung. In low and middle-income countries, ARDS mortality ranges from 26 to 58%.  A large majority of patients require mechanical ventilation with positive press...

Editorial | December 30, 2019 Decreasing Staphylococcus aureus in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit by Decolonizing Parents Philip Zachariah, Lisa Saiman JAMA. Published online December 30, 2019. doi:https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.20784 Infants hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) continue to pose challenges for infection prevention and control.1 Immunologic immaturity in addition to iatrogenic risk factors, such as high rates of...

Hydrocortisone Versus Placebo in Patients with Septic Shock Septic shock is a serious illness that is associated with high morbidity and mortality. A significant number of patients who develop septic shock also have a number of comorbidities that further worsens the prognosis. Over the years, many studies have been published on the benefits of corticosteroids in patients with septic shock. Most of these studies have not shown any significant benefit. The few studies th...

SPOTLIGHT|ONLINE FIRST Organising international research in critical care medicine: current challenges and potential solutions Jan J De Waele, Dylan W de Lange Lancet Respir Med Published: December 17, 2019 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(19)30475-8 During the first years of intensive care medicine, many of its treatments were introduced because they were thought to be beneficial to patients, despite there being a lack of evidence from high-quality rese...

ICU Management & Practice, Volume 19 - Issue 3, 2019 The Metabolic Phenotype of Skeletal Muscle During Early Critical Illness The Muscle UK Critical Care program was set up 10 years ago and focused on the association between muscle and skeletal muscle wasting to weakness to clinical outcome. There are a total of five pivotal trials, including Bernhard Jonghe et al.1 and Herridge M.2 that looked at skeletal muscle weakness and its impact on patients. In the ...

ICU Management & Practice, Volume 19 - Issue 3, 2019 DIVINE Nutritional Management in ICU The following is an overview of the DIVINE trial (Dietary Management of Glucose Variabilty in the ICU) as well as a quick summary of the role of glucose control and outcomes in critically ill patients. The DIVINE study was funded by Nestlé. Clinical studies show that goal nutrition may not result in the best outcomes. Available data suggest that protein may be more ...

Passive immunity for the treatment of influenza: quality not quantity Sanjat Kanjilal, Michael J Mina Lancet 2019; 7: 922-923 The use of convalescent plasma to treat influenza infection was first described during the 1918 influenza pandemic.1 The concept is based on the assumption that patients who have recovered from an infection did so partly because they had effective antibody responses against the virus. However, studies into the clinical benefit of ...

CorrespondenceSepsis hysteria: excess hype and unrealistic expectations MervynSinger, Matt Inada-Kim, ManuShankar-Hari Lancet 2019; 394: 1513-1514 “Sepsis kills over 52 000 every year—each death a preventable tragedy”, tweeted Matt Hancock, UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in March, 2019.1 Many other non-contextualised or fictitious claims regularly fill media pages and airwaves, creating a distorted picture of sepsis epidemiology and unreal...

ICU Management & Practice, Volume 19 - Issue 3, 2019 Virtual Reality in the Intensive Care Unit: State of Play and Future Prospects An overview of the practical uses of virtual reality in the ICU and the benefits it can provide. One way of defining virtual reality (VR) is as the set of techniques and systems required for human beings to enter computer-generated synthetic worlds. VR techniques are based on real-time interaction with an artificial immersiv...

Comment & Response November 5, 2019 Spontaneous Breathing Trials and Successful Extubation—Reply Carles Subirà, Rafael Fernández JAMA. 2019;322(17):1717. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.14244 In Reply We agree with Drs Friedrich and Burns that prophylaxis against postextubation respiratory failure with NIV or HFNC was more common in the PSV group than in the T-piece group (24.7% vs 18.7%).1 However, the decision to apply prophyl...