Critical Care Reviews Newsletter

Welcome to the 494th Critical Care Reviews Newsletter, bringing you the best critical care research and open access articles from across the medical literature over the past seven days. It's a very late issue as I've been busy with other upcoming events. The highlights of this week's edition are randomised controlled trials on continuous infusion of hypertonic saline in patients with traumatic brain injury & stylet use on first-attempt intubation success;  systematic reviews and meta analyses on renal replacement therapy modalities in critically ill patients with acute kidney injury & balanced crystalloid solutions; and observational studies on early bacterial identification among intubated patients with COVID-19 or influenza pneumonia & the association between troponin I levels during sepsis and post-sepsis cardiovascular complications.

There are also guidelines on sedation and analgesia in a resource limited intensive care unit & the applicability of UK guidelines on the management of ARDS and other strategies in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic; narrative reviews on continuous hypertonic saline in acute ischemic infarcts & sepsis: diagnosis and management of acute respiratory distress syndrome; an editorial on slicing and dicing ARDS; and commentaries on timing of initiation of renal-replacement therapy in critically ill patients with acute kidney injury & tailored modulation of the inflammatory balance in COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU.

If you only have time to read one review article this week, try this one on focused transoesophageal echocardiography.

Critical Care Reviews Trials Results Meeting - The TTM2 Trial

Critical Care Reviews is delighted to announce the hosting of the much anticipated results of the TTM2 trial, on Wednesday night, June 16th, 20:15 to 22:00 UTC. As a follow up to the landmark TTM trial, comparing targeted temperature management of 33°C with 36°C in unconscious survivors of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, TTM2 compares a target temperature of 33°C after cardiac arrest with normothermia and early treatment of fever (≥37.8°C). The trial background and results will be delivered by three members of the TTM2 trial team (Niklas Nielsen, Josef Dankiewicz & Gisela Lilja); the editorial will be given by Prof Stephen Bernard, the chief investigator of the original Australian hypothermia trial from 2002; and the panel discussion will include Prof Jerry Nolan (Editor-in-Chief Resuscitation journal and European Resuscitation Council member; Bath, England), Prof Kathy Rowan (Director of ICNARC, London, England), and Prof Catherine Hough (Intensivist & Researcher, Oregon, USA). As usual, this will be a free livestream on the CCR wesite, accessible to all without the need for registration. Please do share this information with your colleagues to maximise the dissemination of the results of this important trial.