Critical Care Reviews Newsletter
May 16th 2012
Welcome
Hello
Welcome to the 23rd Critical Care Reviews Newsletter. Every week over two hundred clinical and scientific journals are monitored and the most important and interesting research publications in critical care are highlighted. These studies are added to the Journal Watch section of the website on a daily basis, as publication occurs. A link to either the full text or abstract, depending on the publishers degree of open access, is attached.
Apologies for the late delivery of these briefer than usual newsletters. I'm travelling and have both limited internet access and time.
Commentary
JAMA: Acute Kidney Injury
Review
Stem Cell International: Stem Cell Therapy in ALI
Research
Critical Care: Fluid Resuscitation in Septic Shock
To investigate the optimum amount of fluid required to treat septic shock, Smith et al performed a prospective, multicenter, observational study in 146 patients. The median volume of fluid received during the first day in the entire cohort was 4.0 l (IQR 2.3-6.3), with patients receiving >4 l having higher lactate (3.4 (2.2-5.5) vs. 2.0 (1.6-3.0) mmol l-1, P < 0.0001) than those receiving < 4 l. Despite this difference in administered fluid, simplified acute physiology score (SAPS) II (54 (45-64) vs. 54 (45-67), p = 0.73), sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score (11 (9-13) vs. 11 (9-13), P = 0.78) and 90-day mortality (48 vs. 53%, P = 0.27) did not differ between groups. By day 3, the 95 patients who still had shock had received 7.5 l (4.3 - 10.8) of fluid. Patients receiving higher volumes (>7.5 l) had higher lactate (2.6 (1.7-3.4) vs. 1.9 (1.6-2.4) mmol l-1, P < 0.01) on day 3 and lower 90-day mortality (40 vs. 62%, P = 0.03) than those receiving lower volumes in spite of comparable admission SAPS II and SOFA scores.
Nephron Clinical Practice: Initiation of RRT in Chronic Renal Failure
Pan and colleagues performed a meta-analysis to determine the relationship between the risk of death and early initiation of dialysis, as defined by a higher GFR. 15 cohort studies, of combined prospective and retorspective nature, and totaling 15 1,285,747 patients met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. Early start of dialysis was associated with increased risk of mortality (OR = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.18–1.49, p < 0.00001. However several cofounders may have influenced this result. Subgroup analysis indicated that early starters were 6.61 years older (p < 0.00001) and more likely to have diabetes (OR = 2.23, 95% CI: 1.83–2.71, p < 0.00001) than late starters. Analysis of pooled results of early and late starters indicated that older age (OR = 1.18, 95% CI: 1.05–1.33, p = 0.006), diabetes (OR = 1.61, 95% CI: 1.38–1.87, p < 0.00001), and high comorbidity index score (OR = 2.38, 95% CI: 1.75–3.25, p < 0.00001) were strongly associated with increased risk of death.
Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anaesthesia: Fenoldopram in Cardiac Surgery AKI
Zangrillo and coleagues conducted a systematic review and meta analysis of the efficacy of fenoldopram in cardiac surgery associated acute kidney injury.Six tudies totaling 440 patients were included in the analysis, which showed that while fenoldopram reduced the risk of AKI (odds ratio [OR] = 0.41; 95% CI: 0.23-0.74; p = 0.003), with a higher rate of hypotensive episodes and/or use of vasopressors (30/109 [27.5%] v 21/112 [18.8%]; OR = 2.09; 95% CI, 0.98-4.47; p = 0.06), it had no effect on renal replacement therapy, survival, and length of intensive care unit or hospital stay.
Study Critique
Critical Care: Stenting for Intracranial Arterial Stenosis
I hope you find these brief summaries and links useful.
Until next week
Rob