#LIVES2021 Begins: Intensive Care is All About the Team ESICM President Maurizio Cecconi, President-Elect Elie Azoulay and Congress Chair Armand Girbes officially opened the LIVES Digital 2021 Congress with a welcome address, an update on ESICM’s activities and initiatives and an overview of the Congress programme.  The COVID-19 crisis has put intensive care medicine at the heart of all concerns within the medical community on a governmental and state level...

Original Investigation Caring for the Critically Ill PatientOctober 21, 2021 Effect of 12 mg vs 6 mg of Dexamethasone on the Number of Days Alive Without Life Support in Adults With COVID-19 and Severe Hypoxemia: The COVID STEROID 2 Randomized Trial The COVID STEROID 2 Trial Group JAMA. Published online October 21, 2021. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.18295 Abstract Importance  A daily dose with 6 mg of dexamethasone is recommended for up to...

Research Procalcitonin and lung ultrasonography point-of-care testing to determine antibiotic prescription in patients with lower respiratory tract infection in primary care: pragmatic cluster randomised trial Loïc Lhopitallier, Andreas Kronenberg, Jean-Yves Meuwly, et al BMJ 2021; 374 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n2132 (Published 21 September 2021)Cite this as: BMJ 2021;374:n2132 Abstract Objective To assess whether point-of care procalcitonin and...

Medical News & Perspectives October 21, 2021 The Flawed Science of Antibody Testing for SARS-CoV-2 Immunity Jennifer Abbasi JAMA. Published online October 21, 2021. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.18919 Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, developers designed SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests to detect whether people had been infected. Some experts thought the blood tests eventually would help to ease lockdowns. One idea was that those with antibodies likely would...

ICU Management & Practice, Volume 21 - Issue 2, 2021 If It’s Good for Calcium Why Not Magnesium? Reasons to Measure iMg in the ICU An overview of the importance of getting magnesium levels right in critically ill patients and the role ionised magnesium plays. Background Like all electrolytes, magnesium exists in the bloodstream in “bound” states, and in “free” or “ionised” states, which is the portion that is physiologically active. This ionised compo...

CRITICAL CARE: ORIGINAL RESEARCH| VOLUME 160, ISSUE 1, P148-156, JULY 01, 2021 The Effect of Reconnection to Mechanical Ventilation for 1 Hour After Spontaneous Breathing Trial on Reintubation Among Patients Ventilated for More Than 12 Hours: A Randomized Clinical Trial Michelli M. Dadam, Anderson R.R. Gonçalves, Gilvania L. Mortari, et al Chest 2021; 160: 148-156 Background The resting of the respiratory musculature after undergoing the spon...

CRITICAL CARE: ORIGINAL RESEARCH| VOLUME 160, ISSUE 2, P499-508, AUGUST 01, 2021 Continuous Pneumatic Regulation of Tracheal Cuff Pressure to Decrease Ventilator-associated Pneumonia in Trauma Patients Who Were Mechanically Ventilated: The AGATE Multicenter Randomized Controlled Study Nicolas Marjanovic, Matthieu Boisson, Karim Asehnoune, et al Chest 2021; 160: 499-508 Background Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is the most frequent heal...

ICU Management & Practice, Volume 21 - Issue 2, 2021 ICU Mental Health in the Ongoing Pandemic: How Will We Be Okay? After a year of this pandemic, this article explores what we currently understand about the psychological impact experienced by ICU teams and provides practical guidance to help build personal and team resilience as the journey with COVID-19 continues with no end in sight. Introduction When COVID-19 emerged as a new pathogen, the pictur...

ARTICLES| VOLUME 21, ISSUE 9, P1233-1245, SEPTEMBER 01, 2021 Diagnostic performance of different sampling approaches for SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR testing: a systematic review and meta-analysis Nicole Ngai Yung Tsang, Hau Chi So, Ka Yan Ng, et al Lancet Infect Dis 2021; 21: 1233-1245 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00146-8 Summary Background The comparative performance of different clinical sampling methods for diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2...

ICU Management & Practice, Volume 21 - Issue 2, 2021 The Essentials for a Humanised Intensive Care Unit (H-ICU) This article highlights the key points that fall under the meaning of humanisation as part of the ICU Liberation bundle. Introduction How would a patient describe their stay inside an Intensive Care Unit (ICU)? Would it be cold, lonely, a place full of uncertainty? Painful, uncomfortable or scary? The length of stay (LOS) in the ICU may be t...