Is inhaled prophylactic heparin useful for prevention and management of pneumonia in ventilated ICU patients?

Purpose: The purpose was to determine the efficacy of prophylactic inhaled heparin for the prevention and treatment of pneumonia in patients receiving mechanical ventilation (MV)

Outcomes for dialysis patients with end-stage renal failure admitted to an intensive care unit or high dependency unit

Objective: To assess the outcomes for chronic dialysis patients requiring admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) or high dependency unit (HDU)

Variable use of amiodarone is associated with a greater risk of recurrence of atrial fibrillation in the critically ill

Background: Atrial fibrillation is a common rhythm disturbance in the general medical-surgical intensive care unit. Amiodarone is a popular drug in this setting but evidence to inform clinical practice remains scarce. We aimed to identify whether variation in the clinical use of amiodarone was associated with recurrent atrial fibrillation

Intensive care unit experience of hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients

Background: Previous research at our institution (19881998) established an intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital mortality between 70% and 80% in haemopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) patients requiring ICU admission. Aims: This study explored mortality in a more contemporary cohort while comparing outcomes to published literature and our previous experience. Methods: Retrospective chart review of HSCT patients admitted to ICU between December 1998 and June 2008. Results: Of 146 admissions, 53% were male, with a mean age of 44 years, an Acute Physiologic and Chronic Health Evaluation II score of 28 and Sepsis Organ Failure Assessment score of 11. Fifty-six per cent had graft versus host disease (GVHD), with respiratory failure (67%) being the most common admission diagnosis. All but one received mechanical ventilation. The ICU and hospital mortality were 42% (72% 19881998 cohort) and 64% (82% 19981998 cohort) respectively. The 6- and 12-month survivals were 29% and 24% respectively for the 19982008 cohort. Dying in ICU was independently predicted by fungal infection (P= 0.02) and early onset of organ failure (P < 0.001), while GVHD (P= 0.04) predicted survival. Mortality at 12 months was independently predicted by the acute physiology score (P= 0.002), increasing number of organ failures (P= 0.001), and cytomegalovirus positive serology (P= 0.005), while blood stream infection (P= 0.003), an antibiotic change on admission to the ICU (P= 0.007) and a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (P= 0.02) predicted survival. Conclusion: Our study found that acute admission of HSCT patients to the ICU is associated with improved survival compared to our previous experience, with organ failure progression a strong predictor of ICU outcome, and specific disease characteristics contributing to long-term survival

Is inhaled prophylactic heparin useful for prevention and management of pneumonia in ventilated ICU patients?. The IPHIVAP investigators of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Clinical Trials Group

Purpose: To determine whether prophylactic inhaled heparin is effective for the prevention and treatment of pneumonia patients receiving mechanical ventilation (MV) in the intensive care unit

Towards improved surveillance: the impact of ventilator-associated complications (VAC) on length of stay and antibiotic use in patients in intensive care units

Background. Hospitals and quality improvement agencies are vigorously focusing on reducing rates of hospital-acquired infection. Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is notoriously difficult to diagnose and surveillance is thwarted by the subjectivity of many components of the surveillance definition. Alternative surveillance strategies are needed. Ventilator-associated complications (VAC) is a simple, objective measure of respiratory deterioration

Multivariate Cox regression analysis of several prognostic factors (TNM stage, nuclear grade, and MACC1 protein expression levels) with respect to five-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) of patients with renal pelvis carcinoma (RPC).

<p>‘CI’ refers to confidence interval; ‘HR’ refers to hazard ratio.</p