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Arch Dis Child 2002 Nov;87(5):421-5
Department of Paediatric Intensive Care, Guy's Hospital, London, UK Department of Paediatric Intensive Care, St Mary's Hospital, London, UK.
[Medline record in process]
AIMS: To assess the impact of two paediatric intensive care unit retrieval teams on the performance of three mortality risk scoring systems: pre-ICU PRISM, PIM, and PRISM II. METHODS: A total of 928 critically ill children retrieved for intensive care from district general hospitals in the south east of England (crude mortality 7.8%) were studied. RESULTS: Risk stratification was similar between the two retrieval teams for scores utilising data primarily prior to ICU admission (pre-ICU PRISM, PIM), despite differences in case mix. The fewer variables required for calculation of PIM resulted in complete data collection in 88% of patients, compared to pre-ICU PRISM (24%) and PRISM II (60%). Overall, all scoring systems discriminated well between survival and non-survival (area under receiver operating characteristic curve 0.83-0.87), with no differences between the two hospitals. There was a tendency towards better discrimination in all scores for children compared to infants and neonates, and a poor discrimination for respiratory disease using pre-ICU PRISM and PRISM II but not PIM. All showed suboptimal calibration, primarily as a consequence of mortality over prediction among the medium (10-30%) mortality risk bands. CONCLUSIONS: PIM appears to offer advantages over the other two scores in terms of being less affected by the retrieval process and easier to collect. Recalibration of all scoring systems is needed.
PMID: 12390920, UI: 22277838
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Crit Care Med 2002 Oct;30(10):2384-5
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PMID: 12394977, UI: 22280815
Crit Care Med 2002 Oct;30(10):2260-70
OBJECTIVE To evaluate the correlation between specific prognosis of hematologic malignancies on the one hand and intensive care unit and hospital mortality in critically ill patients with hematologic malignancies on the other hand.DESIGN Observational study during a 10-yr period.SETTING A 22-bed medical-surgical intensive care unit.PATIENTS A total of 84 consecutive patients with nonterminal hematologic malignancies with medical complications requiring intensive care.INTERVENTIONS None.MEASUREMENTS Demographic factors, acute physiology and organ dysfunction scores, microbiology, therapeutic support, and hematologic factors data on admission and during the intensive care unit stay were collected, together with mortality follow-up. Based on specific-disease prognostic factors and related published survival curves, the prognosis of hematologic malignancies was assessed and defined as good, intermediate, or poor according to a 3-yr survival probability of >50%, 20-50%, or <20%, respectively.MAIN RESULTS Prognosis of hematologic malignancies does not predict intensive care unit or hospital mortality and almost reaches significance for 6-mo mortality (53%, 71%, and 84% rate for patients with good, intermediate, and poor prognosis, respectively, =.058), but it determines long-term survival ( =.008). Intensive care unit, hospital, and 6-mo overall mortality rates were 38%, 61%, and 75%, respectively. Using multivariate analysis, intensive care unit mortality was best predicted on admission by respiratory failure and fungal infection, whereas hospital mortality was predicted by the number of organ failures, the bone marrow transplant status, and the presence of fungal infection. The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II and the Simplified Acute Physiology Score II had no prognostic value, whereas the difference of the Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score between at the time of admission and at day 5 allowed quick prediction of hospital mortality. Diseases with the poorest 6-mo prognosis were acute myeloid leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.CONCLUSION The severity of the underlying hematologic malignancies does not influence intensive care unit or hospital mortality. Short-term prognosis is exclusively predicted by acute organ dysfunctions and by a pathogen's aggressiveness. Therefore, reluctance to admit patients with nonterminal hematologic malignancies to the intensive care unit based only on the prognosis of their underlying hematologic malignancy does not seem justified.
PMID: 12394954, UI: 22280792
Crit Care Med 2002 Oct;30(10):2205-11
OBJECTIVE To study the effects of the initiation time of continuous venovenous hemofiltration and of the ultrafiltrate rate in patients with circulatory and respiratory insufficiency developing early oliguric acute renal failure. The primary end points were mortality at 28 days and recovery of renal function.DESIGN A randomized, controlled, two-center study.SETTING The closed-format multidisciplinary intensive care units of a university hospital (30 beds) and a teaching hospital (18 beds).PATIENTS AND INTERVENTIONS A total of 106 ventilated severely ill patients who were oliguric despite massive fluid resuscitation, inotropic support, and high-dose intravenous diuretics were randomized into three groups. Thirty-five patients were treated with early high-volume hemofiltration (72-96 L per 24 hrs), 35 patients with early low-volume hemofiltration (24-36 L per 24 hrs), and 36 patients with late low-volume hemofiltration (24-36 L per 24 hrs).RESULTS Median ultrafiltrate rate was 48.2 (42.3-58.7) mL.kg.hr in early high-volume hemofiltration, 20.1 (17.5-22.0) mL.kg.hr in early low-volume hemofiltration, and 19.0 (16.6-21.1) mL.kg.hr in late low-volume hemofiltration. Survival at day 28 was 74.3% in early high-volume hemofiltration, 68.8% in early low-volume hemofiltration, and 75.0% in late low-volume hemofiltration ( =.80). On average, hemofiltration started 7 hrs after inclusion in the early groups and 42 hrs after inclusion in the late group. All hospital survivors had recovery of renal function at hospital discharge, except for one patient in the early low-volume hemofiltration group. Median duration of renal failure in hospital survivors was 4.3 (1.4-7.8) days in early high-volume hemofiltration, 3.2 (2.4-5.4) days in early low-volume hemofiltration, and 5.6 (3.1-8.5) days in late low-volume hemofiltration ( =.25).CONCLUSIONS In the present study of critically ill patients with oliguric acute renal failure, survival at 28 days and recovery of renal function were not improved using high ultrafiltrate volumes or early initiation of hemofiltration.
PMID: 12394945, UI: 22280783
Intensive Care Med 2002 Aug;28(8):1006-8
PMID: 12398088, UI: 22284698
Intensive Care Med 2002 Sep;28 Suppl 1:S1-218
PMID: 12392020, UI: 22279156
J Hosp Infect 2002 Oct;52(2):136
Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Verona, Italy
We conducted a one-year prospective study on intensive care unit (ICU)-acquired infections and antimicrobial resistance patterns in an 18-bed medical-surgical ICU of a tertiary-care university hospital. We divided the study into two six-month periods in order to evaluate the impact of antibiotic changes in empirical therapy on antimicrobial resistance profiles of the principal isolated micro-organisms. In the first period no changes were made to the previously applied empirical antibiotic protocol; at the end of this period we found high rates of methicillin resistance (MR) among staphylococci, 93% for Staphylococcus aureus (69 isolates) and 79% for coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) (48 isolates), and of multiple drug resistance for Pseudomonas aeruginosa (57 isolates), in particular 67% resistance to piperacillin/tazobactam (PIP/TZ). We therefore decided to substitute PIP/TZ with imipenem in nosocomial pneumonia and with cefepime plus metronidazole in peritonitis. We also considered the previous use of amoxicillin/clavulanate (AM/CL) at admission in critically ill patients inadequate; we therefore advised that no antibiotics should be given unless fever developed and eventually to replace AM/CL with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX). At the end of this intervention period, we observed a significant decrease of S. aureus MR (93 vs. 73%, P=0.003) and of P. aeruginosa resistance to PIP/TZ (67 vs. 29%, P<0.001). A reduction in MR was also seen in CNS (79 vs. 64%, P=0.09). Other resistance patterns also improved among staphylococci; in contrast P. aeruginosa resistance to imipenem increased in the second period (24 vs. 41%, P=0.06). A non-premeditated change of antibiotics in empirical therapy, on the basis of detected resistance patterns, provided promising results in reducing some antimicrobial resistance rates. We believe, however, that antibiotic changes must be tailored to local microbiological situation monitoring, and that a repeated rotation is crucial to limit the emergence of new resistance profiles. Furthermore the adoption of this policy should be accompanied by other infection control practices aimed at reducing antimicrobial resistance and nosocomial infection rates.
PMID: 12392905, UI: 22281615
J Hosp Infect 2002 Oct;52(2):130
Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Spedali Civili, Brescia, Italy
Nosocomial infection surveillance is common in the USA and in some European countries but in Italy few hospitals use it. In order to evaluate its usefulness in clinical practice we performed a one year prospective epidemiological study that included 178 patients, admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) for more than 48h. Median ICU stay was 16 days. Trauma and neurological diseases accounted for 65% of admissions. The selected population had high severity scores and required a large number of invasive procedures for diagnosis and therapy. The most common infections were: pneumonia 46/1000 ventilator-days; urinary tract infections 17/1000 catheter-days; central venous catheter infections 14.5/1000 catheter-days with 1.7/1000 CVC-related sepsis; bacteraemic sepsis 12/1000 ICU-days. The most frequent pathogens were Staphylococcus aureus,Pseudomonas aeruginosa, other Gram-negative aerobes and Candida spp. Antimicrobial resistance was substantial, with 68% methicillin-resistance in S. aureus and 76% of P. aeruginosa displaying antibiotic resistance. Severe sepsis or septic shock occured in 30 patients (8/1000 ICU-days), and three patients died from septic shock of unknown origin (10% case fatality rate). There were no case fatalities for pneumonia and bacteraemic sepsis. Overall, ICU-acquired infections were not associated with an increased risk of death.
PMID: 12392904, UI: 22281614
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