Incidence and mortality of acute lung injury and the acute respiratory distress syndrome in three Australian states

To determine the incidence and 28-d mortality rate for acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) using the 1994 American–European Consensus Conference definitions, we prospectively screened every admission to all 21 adult intensive care units in the States of South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania (total population older than 15 yr of age estimated as 2,941,137), between October 1 and November 30, 1999. A total of 1,977 admissions were screened of which 168 developed ALI and 148 developed ARDS, which represents a first incidence of 34 and 28 cases per 100,000 per annum, respectively. The respective 28-d mortality rates were 32% and 34%. The most common predisposing factors for ALI were nonpulmonary sepsis (31%) and pneumonia (28%). Although the incidences of ALI and ARDS are higher and the mortality rates are lower than those reported from studies in other countries, multicenter international studies are required to exclude methodological differences as the cause for this finding.Andrew D. Bersten, Cyrus Edibam, Tamara Hunt, John Moran and The Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Clinical Trials Grou

A multicenter Trial of Vena Cava filters in severely injured patients

Background Whether early placement of an inferior vena cava filter reduces the risk of pulmonary embolism or death in severely injured patients who have a contraindication to prophylactic anticoagulation is not known. Methods In this multicenter, randomized, controlled trial, we assigned 240 severely injured patients (Injury Severity Score >15 [scores range from 0 to 75, with higher scores indicating more severe injury]) who had a contraindication to anticoagulant agents to have a vena cava filter placed within the first 72 hours after admission for the injury or to have no filter placed. The primary end point was a composite of symptomatic pulmonary embolism or death from any cause at 90 days after enrollment; a secondary end point was symptomatic pulmonary embolism between day 8 and day 90 in the subgroup of patients who survived at least 7 days and did not receive prophylactic anticoagulation within 7 days after injury. All patients underwent ultrasonography of the legs at 2 weeks; patients also underwent mandatory computed tomographic pulmonary angiography when prespecified criteria were met. Results The median age of the patients was 39 years, and the median Injury Severity Score was 27. Early placement of a vena cava filter did not result in a significantly lower incidence of symptomatic pulmonary embolism or death than no placement of a filter (13.9% in the vena cava filter group and 14.4% in the control group; hazard ratio, 0.99; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.51 to 1.94; P=0.98). Among the 46 patients in the vena cava filter group and the 34 patients in the control group who did not receive prophylactic anticoagulation within 7 days after injury, pulmonary embolism developed in none of those in the vena cava filter group and in 5 (14.7%) in the control group, including 1 patient who died (relative risk of pulmonary embolism, 0; 95% CI, 0.00 to 0.55). An entrapped thrombus was found in the filter in 6 patients. Conclusions Early prophylactic placement of a vena cava filter after major trauma did not result in a lower incidence of symptomatic pulmonary embolism or death at 90 days than no placement of a filter

Benefits and harms of early prophylactic inferior vena cava filter in major trauma patients: A multicenter randomized-controlled-trial (RCT)

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