Trans-nasal cooling during CPR: a single-center experience

IntroductionTrans-nasal cooling started during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has shown to improve the return to spontaneous circulation (ROSC) and survival rate in an experimental prolonged cardiac arrest model. A multicenter randomized trial (PRINCE) has also suggested an improved neurological outcome in patients receiving trans-nasal cooling during CPR in the prehospital setting when compared with those treated by conventional hypothermia on hospital arrival, provided a delay between collapse and CPR of less than 10 minutes. MethodsPatients with witnessed cardiac arrest and a downtime less than 20 minutes were randomized to prehospital intra-arrest cooling versus standard ACLS care. Trans-nasal cooling (RhinoChill, BeneChill Inc. CA, USA) was initiated using a mixture of volatile coolant fluid with oxygen delivered into the nasopharynx for rapid evaporative heat transfer. Cooling was continued during CPR and, for patients who achieved ROSC, until initiation of systemic cooling at hospital. Resuscitation was continued for at least 30 minutes. All patients were then cooled at the hospital. ResultsTwenty-four patients were included, but one in the treatment group was excluded from the per-protocol analysis because of DNR orders. Patients randomized to treatment group (n = 9) or standard care (n = 14) had similar demographics, initial rhythm, time from collapse to CPR and ALS arrival. Median time from collapse to cooling initiation was 19 minutes. In total, 6/9 (66%) treated and 6/14 (42%) control patients achieved ROSC. Three patients (33%) in the treatment group survived to hospital discharge with CPC 1 to 2, while only one (7%) of the control group patients had good neurological outcome. No serious adverse events occurred in treated patients. ConclusionsTrans-nasal cooling seems to be safe and feasible in a prehospital setting. These single-center data confirm that trans-nasal cooling may improve the ROSC rate as well as good neurological outcome if started in patients with a short delay between collapse and CPR.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

ASSESSMENT OF CHLORIDE LEVELS ON RENAL FUNCTION AFTER CARDIAC ARREST

SCOPUS: no.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Management of the brain-dead donor in the ICU: general and specific therapy to improve transplantable organ quality

PURPOSE: To provide a practical overview of the management of the potential organ donor in the intensive care unit. METHODS: Seven areas of donor management were considered for this review: hemodynamic management; fluids and electrolytes; respiratory management; endocrine management; temperature management; anaemia and coagulation; infection management. For each subchapter, a narrative review was conducted. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Most elements in the current recommendations and guidelines are based on pathophysiological reasoning, epidemiological observations, or extrapolations from general ICU management strategies, and not on evidence from randomized controlled trials. The cardiorespiratory management of brain-dead donors is very similar to the management of critically ill patients, and the same applies to the management of anaemia and coagulation. Central diabetes insipidus is of particular concern, and should be diagnosed based on clinical criteria. Depending on the degree of vasopressor dependency, it can be treated with intermittent desmopressin or continuous vasopressin, intravenously. Temperature management of the donor is an area of uncertainty, but it appears reasonable to strive for a core temperature of > 35 °C. The indications and controversies regarding endocrine therapies, in particular thyroid hormone replacement therapy, and corticosteroid therapy, are discussed. The potential donor should be assessed clinically for infections, and screening tests for specific infections are an essential part of donor management. Although the rate of infection transmission from donor to receptor is low, certain infections are still a formal contraindication to organ donation. However, new antiviral drugs and strategies now allow organ donation from certain infected donors to be done safely

Echocardiography and pulse contour analysis to assess cardiac output in trauma patients.

Echocardiography is a valuable technique to assess cardiac output (CO) in trauma patients, but it does not allow a continuous bedside monitoring. Beat-to-beat CO assessment can be obtained by other techniques, including the pulse contour method MostCare. The aim of our study was to compare CO obtained with MostCare (MC-CO) with CO estimated by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE-CO) in trauma patients. METHODS: Forty-nine patients with blunt trauma admitted to an intensive care unit and requiring hemodynamic optimization within 24 hours from admission were studied. TTE-CO and MC-CO were estimated simultaneously at baseline, after a fluid challenge and after the start of vasoactive drug therapy. RESULTS: One hundred sixteen paired CO values were obtained. TTE-CO values ranged from 2.9 to 7.6 L·min-1, and MC-CO ranged from 2.8 to 8.2 L·min-1. The correlation between the two methods was 0.94 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.89 to 0.97; p<0.001). The mean bias was -0.06 L·min-1 with limits of agreements (LoA) of -0.94 to 0.82 L·min-1 (lower 95% CI, -1.16 to -0.72; upper 95% CI, 0.60 to 1.04) and a percentage error of 18%. Changes in CO showed a correlation of 0.91 (95% CI = 0.87 to 0.95; p<0.001), a mean bias of - 0.01 L·min-1 with LoA of -0.67 to 0.65 L·min-1 (lower 95% CI, -0.83 to -0.51; upper 95% CI, 0.48 to 0.81). CONCLUSION: CO measured by MostCare showed good agreement with CO obtained by transthoracic echocardiography. Pulse contour analysis can complement echocardiography in evaluating hemodynamics in trauma patients

Intravascular versus surface cooling for targeted temperature management after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: an analysis of the TTH48 trial

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to explore the performance and outcomes for intravascular (IC) versus surface cooling devices (SFC) for targeted temperature management (TTM) after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.MethodsA retrospective analysis of data from the Time-differentiated Therapeutic Hypothermia (TTH48) trial (NCT01689077), which compared whether TTM at 33 degrees C for 48h results in better neurologic outcomes compared with standard 24-h duration. Devices were assessed for the speed of cooling and rewarming rates. Precision was assessed by measuring temperature variability (TV), i.e., the standard deviation (SD) of all temperature measurements in the cooling phase. Main outcomes were overall mortality and poor neurological outcome, including death, severe disability, or vegetative status.ResultsA total of 352 patients had available data and were included in the analysis; of those, 218 (62%) were managed with IC. A total of 114/218 (53%) patients with IC and 61/134 (43%) with SFC were cooled for 48h (p=0.22). Time to target temperature (34 degrees C) was significantly shorter for patients treated with endovascular devices (2.2 [1.1-4.0] vs. 4.2 [2.7-6.0] h, p<0.001), but temperature was also lower on admission (35.0 [34.2-35.6] vs. 35.3 [34.5-35.8]degrees C; p=0.02) and cooling rate was similar (0.4 [0.2-0.8] vs. 0.4 [0.2-0.6]degrees C/h; p=0.14) when compared to SFC. Temperature variability was significantly lower in the endovascular device group when compared with SFC methods (0.6 [0.4-0.9] vs. 0.7 [0.5-1.0]degrees C; p=0.007), as was rewarming rate (0.31 [0.22-0.44] vs. 0.37 [0.29-0.49]degrees C/hour; p=0.02). There was no statistically significant difference in mortality (endovascular 65/218, 29% vs. others 43/134, 32%; p=0.72) or poor neurological outcome (endovascular 69/218, 32% vs. others 51/134, 38%; p=0.24) between type of devices.ConclusionsEndovascular cooling devices were more precise than SFC methods in patients cooled at 33 degrees C after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Main outcomes were similar with regard to the cooling methods

Characteristics and outcome of patients with newly diagnosed advanced or metastatic lung cancer admitted to intensive care units (ICUs)

BACKGROUND: Although patients with advanced or metastatic lung cancer have poor prognosis, admission to the ICU for management of life-threatening complications has increased over the years. Patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer appear as good candidates for ICU admission, but more robust information to assist decisions is lacking. The aim of our study was to evaluate the prognosis of newly diagnosed unresectable lung cancer patients. METHODS: A retrospective multicentric study analyzed the outcome of patients admitted to the ICU with a newly diagnosed lung cancer (diagnosis within the month) between 2010 and 2013. RESULTS: Out of the 100 patients, 30 had small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and 70 had non-small cell lung cancer. (Thirty patients had already been treated with oncologic treatments.) Mechanical ventilation (MV) was performed for 81 patients. Seventeen patients received emergency chemotherapy during their ICU stay. ICU, hospital, 3- and 6-month mortality were, respectively, 47, 60, 67 and 71%. Hospital mortality was 60% when invasive MV was used alone, 71% when MV and vasopressors were needed and 83% when MV, vasopressors and hemodialysis were required. In multivariate analysis, hospital mortality was associated with metastatic disease (OR 4.22 [1.4-12.4]; p = 0.008), need for invasive MV (OR 4.20 [1.11-16.2]; p = 0.030), while chemotherapy in ICU was associated with survival (OR 0.23, [0.07-0.81]; p = 0.020). CONCLUSION: This study shows that ICU management can be appropriate for selected newly diagnosed patients with advanced lung cancer, and chemotherapy might improve outcome for patients with SCLC admitted for cancer-related complications. Nevertheless, tumors' characteristics, numbers and types of organ dysfunction should be taken into account in the decisional process before admitting these patients in ICU.Peer reviewe