25 Apr 09
Posted in Nutrition at 21:28 by Laci
By R G Martindale, S A McClave, V W Vanek, M McCarthy, P Roberts, B Taylor, J B Ochoa, L Napolitano, G Cresci, American College of Critical Care Medicine; and the A.S.P.E.N. Board of Directors
Crit Care Med 2009;37:1757-1761
The guidelines are intended for the adult medical and surgical critically ill patient populations expected to require an ICU stay of > 2 or 3 days and are not intended for those patients in the ICU for temporary monitoring or those who have minimal metabolic or traumatic stress. The guidelines are based on populations, but like any other therapeutic treatment in an ICU patient, nutrition requirements and techniques of access should be tailored to the individual patient.
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18 Apr 09
Posted in Monitoring, Sepsis at 8:00 by Laci
By F Palizas, A Dubin, T Regueira, A Bruhn, E Knobel, S Lazzeri, N Baredes and G Hernandez
Critical Care 2009, 13:R44
The goals for septic shock resuscitation remain controversial. Despite the normalization of systemic hemodynamic variables, tissue hypoperfusion can still persist. Indeed, lactate or oxygen venous saturation may be difficult to interpret. Our hypothesis was that a gastric intramucosal pH-guided resuscitation protocol might improve the outcome of septic shock compared to a standard approach aimed at normalizing systemic parameters such as cardiac index (CI).
Methods
130 septic shock patients were randomized to two different resuscitation goals: CI greater than or equal to 3.0 L/min/m2 (CI group: 66 patients) or intramucosal pH (pHi) greater than or equal to 7.32 (pHi group: 64 patients). After correcting basic physiologic parameters, additional resuscitation consisting in more fluids and dobutamine was started if specific goals for each group had not been reached. Several clinical data were registered at baseline and during evolution. Hemodynamic data and pHi values were registered every 6 hours during the protocol. Primary end-point was 28 days mortality.
Results
Both groups were comparable at baseline. The most frequent sources of infection were abdominal sepsis and pneumonia. Twenty-eight day mortality (30.3 vs. 28.1%), peak Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System scores (32.6 +/- 6.5 vs. 33.2 +/- 4.7) and ICU length of stay (12.6 +/- 8.2 vs. 16 +/- 12.4 days) were comparable. A higher proportion of patients exhibited values below the specific target at baseline in the pHi group compared to the CI group (50% vs. 10.9%; P < 0.001). Of 32 patients with a pHi < 7.32 at baseline, only 7 (22%) normalized this parameter after resuscitation. Areas under the receiver operator characteristic curves to predict mortality at baseline, and at 24 and 48 hours were 0.55, 0.61, and 0.47, and 0.70, 0.90, and 0.75, for CI and pHi, respectively.
Conclusions
Our study failed to demonstrate any survival benefit of using pHi compared to CI as resuscitation goal in septic shock patients. Nevertheless, a normalization of pHi within 24 hours of resuscitation is a strong signal of therapeutic success and in contrast, a persistent low pHi despite treatment is associated with a very bad prognosis in septic shock patients.
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16 Apr 09
Posted in Early goal directed therapy, Fluid management at 0:57 by Laci
By L B Hiltebrand, O Kimberger, M Arnberger, S Brandt, A Kurz and G H Sigrudsson
Critical Care 2009, 13:R40
Perioperative hypovolemia arises frequently and contributes to intestinal hypoperfusion and subsequent postoperative complications. Goal-directed fluid therapy (GDT) might reduce these complications. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of goal-directed administration of crystalloids and colloids on distribution of systemic, hepato-splanchnic and microcirculatory (small intestine) blood flow after major abdominal surgery in a clinically relevant pig model.
Methods
Twenty-seven pigs were anesthetized, mechanically ventilated and underwent open laparotomy. They were randomly assigned to one of the three following treatment groups: the restricted Ringer’s lactate group (R-RL, n=9) received 3 ml.kg-1.h-1 RL; the goal-directed RL group (GD-RL, n=9) received 3 ml.kg-1.h-1 RL and intermittent boluses of 250 ml RL and the goal-directed colloid group (GD-C, n=9) received 3 ml.kg-1.h-1 RL and boluses of 250 ml 6% hydroxyethyl starch (130/0.4). The two latter groups received a bolus infusion when mixed venous oxygen saturation (SvO2) was below 60% (lock out time 30 minutes). Regional blood flow was measured in the superior mesenteric artery and the celiac trunk. In the small bowel, microcirculatory blood flow was measured using laser Doppler flowmetry. Intestinal tissue oxygen tension was measured with intramural Clark-type electrodes.
Results
After 4 hours of treatment, arterial blood pressure, cardiac output, mesenteric artery flow and mixed oxygen saturation were significantly higher in groups GD-C and GD-RL than in group R-RL. Microcirculatory flow in the intestinal mucosa increased by 50% in GD-C but remained unchanged in the other two groups. Likewise, tissue oxygen tension in the intestine increased by 30% in GD-C but remained unchanged in GD-RL and decreased by 18% in the R-RL group. Mesenteric venous glucose concentrations were higher and lactate levels lower in group GD-C compared with the two crystalloid groups.
Conclusions
Goal-directed colloid administration markedly increased microcirculatory blood flow in the small intestine and intestinal tissue oxygen tension after abdominal surgery. In contrast, goal-directed crystalloid and restricted crystalloid administrations had no such effects. Additionally, mesenteric venous glucose and lactate concentrations suggest that intestinal cellular substrate levels were higher in the colloid-treated than in the crystalloid-treated animals. These results support the notion that perioperative goal-directed therapy with colloids might be beneficial during major abdominal surgery.
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12 Apr 09
Posted in Infection at 8:51 by Laci
J-F Timsit, C Schwebel, L Bouadma, A Geffroy, M Garrouste-Orgeas, S Pease, M-C Herault et al; for the Dressing Study Group
JAMA. 2009;301:1231-1241
Use of a chlorhexidine gluconate–impregnated sponge (CHGIS) in intravascular catheter dressings may reduce catheter-related infections (CRIs). Changing catheter dressings every 3 days may be more frequent than necessary.
Objective
To assess superiority of CHGIS dressings regarding the rate of major CRIs (clinical sepsis with or without bloodstream infection) and noninferiority (less than 3% colonization-rate increase) of 7-day vs 3-day dressing changes.
Design, setting, and patients
Assessor-blind, 2 x 2 factorial, randomized controlled trial conducted from December 2006 through June 2008 and recruiting patients from 7 intensive care units in 3 university and 2 general hospitals in France. Patients were adults (>18 years) expected to require an arterial catheter, central-vein catheter, or both inserted for 48 hours or longer.
Interventions
Use of CHGIS vs standard dressings (controls). Scheduled change of unsoiled adherent dressings every 3 vs every 7 days, with immediate change of any soiled or leaking dressings.
Main outcome measures
Major CRIs for comparison of CHGIS vs control dressings; colonization rate for comparison of 3- vs 7-day dressing changes.
Results
Of 2095 eligible patients, 1636 (3778 catheters, 28 931 catheter-days) could be evaluated. The median duration of catheter insertion was 6 (interquartile range [IQR], 4-10) days. There was no interaction between the interventions. Use of CHGIS dressings decreased the rates of major CRIs (10/1953 [0.5%], 0.6 per 1000 catheter-days vs 19/1825 [1.1%], 1.4 per 1000 catheter-days; hazard ratio [HR], 0.39 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 0.17-0.93]; P = .03) and catheter-related bloodstream infections (6/1953 catheters, 0.40 per 1000 catheter-days vs 17/1825 catheters, 1.3 per 1000 catheter-days; HR, 0.24 [95% CI, 0.09-0.65]). Use of CHGIS dressings was not associated with greater resistance of bacteria in skin samples at catheter removal. Severe CHGIS-associated contact dermatitis occurred in 8 patients (5.3 per 1000 catheters). Use of CHGIS dressings prevented 1 major CRI per 117 catheters. Catheter colonization rates were 142 of 1657 catheters (7.8%) in the 3-day group (10.4 per 1000 catheter-days) and 168 of 1828 catheters (8.6%) in the 7-day group (11.0 per 1000 catheter-days), a mean absolute difference of 0.8% (95% CI, –1.78% to 2.15%) (HR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.77-1.28), indicating noninferiority of 7-day changes. The median number of dressing changes per catheter was 4 (IQR, 3-6) in the 3-day group and 3 (IQR, 2-5) in the 7-day group (P < .001).
Conclusions
Use of CHGIS dressings with intravascular catheters in the intensive care unit reduced risk of infection even when background infection rates were low. Reducing the frequency of changing unsoiled adherent dressings from every 3 days to every 7 days modestly reduces the total number of dressing changes and appears safe.
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