Precision and Practicality in Fluid Responsiveness In ICU Thu, 19 Mar 2026 At the 45th ISICEM in Brussels, Prof Sheila Myatra spoke about fluid responsiveness in ICU patients with acute circulatory failure, emphasising its critical role in guiding safe and effective fluid therapy. While intravenous fluids are a first-line intervention, only around 50% of patients are true fluid responders, meaning their cardiac output increases by at least 15% after fl...

Are All Opioids Equivalent? In ICU Thu, 19 Mar 2026 Opioids are widely used in ICU care, but they are not interchangeable. Differences in pharmacology between agents such as fentanyl, morphine, and hydromorphone become clinically important in critically ill patients, particularly in the presence of organ dysfunction, prolonged infusions, and ventilator management. Research by Hannah Wunsch presented @ISICEM highlights that opioid selection is...

Non-Invasive Technologies in Clinical Use on the Rise – A New Guideline In ICU Mon, 10 Mar 2025 ICU Management & Practice, Volume 25 - Issue 1, 2025 New guideline from the German Society for Anesthesiology that addresses the intraoperative clinical application of haemodynamic monitoring in non-cardiac surgical patients. The Executive Board of the German Society for Anesthesiology recently adopted a new guideline that addresses the intraopera...

Comment Continued hope for late neuroprotection with minocycline Michael D Hill Lancet Available online 30 January 2026 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(26)00047-4 Neuroprotection in ischaemic stroke commonly means a treatment that results in the preservation of brain tissue in the setting of either focal or global ischaemia. The nominal focus on neuronal tissue—the neuro in neuroprotection—might be misplaced, as the ultimate goal is preservation of the e...

#LIVES2025: The Silent ICU  In ICU Tue, 28 Oct 2025 While therapeutic music addresses one aspect of the ICU soundscape, alarm management tackles another critical dimension. Margot Van Mol, Assistant Professor in Rotterdam, presented research on creating a smart and silent ICU that addresses the overwhelming alarm burden facing healthcare professionals and patients.  The statistics are sobering: ICU patients can be exposed to 100 to 1,000 a...

#LIVES2025: The Role of Music in the ICU  In ICU Tue, 28 Oct 2025 The intensive care unit environment presents a paradox: while advanced monitoring technology is essential for patient care, the resulting noise pollution may harm the very patients it aims to protect. Two complementary approaches are emerging to address this challenge: therapeutic music interventions and innovative alarm management strategies that promise to...

Editor's Note  AI in Medicine AI Use in Research and the Need for Continued Guidance Preeti N. Malani, Joseph S. Ross JAMA Published Online: January 28, 2026 doi: 10.1001/jama.2025.26845 As artificial intelligence (AI) use proliferates, these tools have become an integral part of daily life for many people, including scientists. AI tools can review text to provide citations and optimize writing, perform data analysis, a...

Editorial Pulse oximetry in people with darker skin tones Thomas S Valley, Andrew W Fogarty BMJ 2026; 392 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.s37 (Published 14 January 2026)Cite this as: BMJ 2026;392:s37 Current devices may overestimate oxygen saturation measurement Pulse oximetry is one of the most widely used medical technologies worldwide, yet it performs less accurately for people with darker skin.1 This inequity requires urgent action. In a linked st...

Prehospital Whole Blood in Traumatic Haemorrhage In ICU Wed, 18 Mar 2026 Findings from the study of whole blood in frontline trauma (SWiFT Trial) were presented at the 45th ISICEM Congress in Brussels. The clinical trial evaluated whether prehospital transfusion of whole blood improves outcomes compared with standard component therapy in patients with life-threatening traumatic haemorrhage. The study addressed a critical evidence gap, as whole-...

Comment Quantifying the public health impact of physical activity Charles E Matthews, Pedro F Saint-Maurice Lancet 2026; 407: 310-311 Recommendations to reduce sedentary time and increase moderate-to-vigorous physical activity are at the core of current public health strategies to enhance population health.1, 2 However, the effect of successful population-level changes in these behaviours has not been fully described using accelerometer-based measure...