Critical Care Commons^™

Evaluating The Association Between Vasopressin Use And In-Hospital Mortality In Patients With Septic Shock, Michael Pasqualicchio, Heidi Clarke, Jonathan Kline, Payal Patel

All Publications

Purpose/Background: The Surviving Sepsis Campaign recommends norepinephrine as the first-line vasopressor in patients with septic shock to maintain a mean arterial pressure (MAP) of at least 65 mmHg. The guideline also makes a weak recommendation (2B) to use vasopressin as an adjuvant therapy to raise MAP to goal or to reduce the norepinephrine rate required to maintain the goal MAP. The recommendation is based on conflicting results of the VASST trial that showed no significant difference in 28-day all-cause mortality between patients managed with norepinephrine alone compared to norepinephrine and vasopressin. However, in subgroup analysis, the VASST trial showed mortality …

Transition From Fixed-Dosing To Symptom-Triggered Management Of Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome In The Intensive Care Unit Of A Community Hospital, Marianela Robainas, Heidi Clarke, Claudia Chang, Frances Ordieres Gonzalez, Lorenzo Porras Jr.

All Publications

Background/Purpose: In the United States, 2 to 7% of heavy alcohol users admitted to the hospital for general medical care will develop severe alcohol withdrawal (AW) requiring treatment. The most dangerous complications of AW are delirium tremens and seizures. Benzodiazepines (BZD) are considered first-line therapy, with varying modality options available to providers. Fixed-dosing has historically been used to manage AW. However, studies suggest that symptom-triggered therapy (STT) can decrease length of stay and BZD duration of therapy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the current fixed-dose protocol and outline the transition to STT in the intensive care unit …

One-Year Progress Oa A Large-Scale Collaborative Project For Improving The Care Of Mechanically Ventilated Patients, Yaseen M. Arabi, Zohair Al Aseri, Tareef Alaama, Abdulrhman Alharthy, Fahad M. Al-Hameed, Yasser Mandourah, Alyaa Elhazmi, Hend Sallam, Ghaleb A. Almekhlafi, Asad Latif

Department of Anaesthesia

No abstract provided.

Chinese Expert Consensus On Critical Care Ultrasound Applications At Covid-19 Pandemic, Faqin Lv, Md, Jinrui Wang, Md, Xing Yu, Md, Aiping Yang, Md, Ji-Bin Liu, Md, Linxue Qian, Md, Huixiong Xu, Md, Ligang Cui, Md, Mingxing Xie, Md, Xi Liu, Md, Chengzhong Peng, Md, Yi Huang, Md, Haiyan Kou, Md, Shengzheng Wu, Md, Xi Yang, Md, Bin Tu, Md, Huaping Jia, Md, Qingyi Meng, Md, Je Liu, Md, Ruizhong Ye, Md

Department of Radiology Faculty Papers

The spread of new coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2) follows a different pattern than previous respiratory viruses, posing a serious public health risk worldwide. World Health Organization (WHO) named the disease as COVID-19 and declared it a pandemic. COVID-19 is characterized by highly contagious nature, rapid transmission, swift clinical course, profound worldwide impact, and high mortality among critically ill patients. Chest X-ray, computerized tomography (CT), and ultrasound are commonly used imaging modalities. Among them, ultrasound, due to its portability and non-invasiveness, can be easily moved to the bedside for examination at any time. In addition, with use of 4G or 5G networks, remote …

Critical Care Ultrasonography And Its Application For Covid-19, Xi Liu, Md, Yang Hai, Md, Bin Ma, Md, Weelic Chong, Md, Ji-Bin Liu, Md

Department of Radiology Faculty Papers

Ultrasound has developed as an invaluable tool in diagnosis and proper management in the intensive care unit (ICU). Application of critical care ultrasonography is quite distinct from the routine comprehensive diagnostic ultrasound exam, because the urgent setting mandates a goal-directed approach. Performing accurate and efficient critical care ultrasound requires ultrasound providers to first understand the pathophysiology of the disease and related imaging findings, and then follow the protocols to perform a focused ultrasound exam. In the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, ultrasound plays an essential role in diagnosing and monitoring critically ill COVID-19 patients in the ICU. Our review …

What Did We Learn About Vads In 2019?, Maya Guglin

The VAD Journal

This is our 6th annual literature review on mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices.

Our previous reports for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 were published as open access articles and were well received by the readers. In this paper, we summarize the most interesting and important, from our standpoint, publications from 2019. As we have done for the past two years, a section on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is included and primarily addresses new developments in veno-arterial ECMO use.

Comparison Of Surgical Versus Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement For Patients With Aortic Stenosis At Low-Intermediate Risk, Mahin R Khan, Waleed T Kayani, Malalai Manan, Ahmad Munir, Ihab Hamzeh, Salim S Virani, Yochai Birnbaum, Hani Jneid, Mahboob Alam

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: To compare safety and efficacy of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) with surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in patients at low-intermediate risk, given the paucity of robust data.

METHODS: We performed an aggregate data meta-analysis of 7 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 6,778 patients comparing TAVR with SAVR for aortic stenosis (AS) in low-intermediate risk patients (Society of Thoracic Surgeons risk-score ≤8%) using the random-effects model. Primary outcome was all-cause mortality at 30-day, 1-year and 2-year of follow-up. Secondary outcomes included cardiac-mortality, stroke, acute kidney injury (AKI), atrial fibrillation (AF), permanent pacemaker (PPM) implantation, major-bleeding, moderate-severe paravalvular regurgitation (PVR) …

Etiology, Clinical, Radiological, And Microbiological Profile Of Patients With Non-Cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis At A Tertiary Care Hospital Of Pakistan, Nadia Sharif, Mirza Saifullah Baig, Sana Sharif, Muhammad Irfan

Section of Pulmonary & Critical Care

Objectives: To identify the etiology of non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (NCFB), to assess the clinical presentation, radiological findings, and microbiological profile of patients presenting with a diagnosis of bronchiectasis in a tertiary care center of Pakistan.
Methods: This was a prospective observational cohort study where patients with a diagnosis of bronchiectasis proven by high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) were evaluated for etiology, clinical characteristics, microbiology, radiology, spirometric profile, and in-hospital outcomes.
Results: During the study period, 196 patients were diagnosed with NCFB. The majority of the patients were men 76.5% (n = 150) and 83.6% (n = 163) of the total patients …

Turning Passion Into Purpose: A Journey To Medicine Through Global Health, Laurenie Louissaint Md

Family Medicine

No abstract provided.

Modern Ventilator Management In Surgical/Trauma Patients, Errington C. Thompson

Marshall Journal of Medicine

Physicians have a lot to consider when they place a patient on the ventilator. This article reviews the literature and provides the physician with a clear guide to managing the ventilator in the ICU. This manuscript is meant to be a practical guide to managing the ventilator at the patient's bedside.

Tissue Plasminogen Activator (Tpa) Treatment For Covid-19 Associated Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (Ards): A Case Series, J. Wang, N. Hajizadeh, E. E. Moore, R. C. Mcintyre, P. K. Moore, L. A. Veress, M. B. Yaffe, H. B. Moore, C. D. Barrett

Journal Articles

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. A hallmark of severe COVID-19 is coagulopathy, with 71.4% of patients who die of COVID-19 meeting ISTH criteria for disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) while only 0.6% of patients who survive meet these criteria (1). Additionally, it has become clear that this is not a bleeding diathesis but rather a predominantly pro-thrombotic DIC with high venous thromboembolism rates, elevated D-dimer levels, high fibrinogen levels in concert with low anti-thrombin levels, and pulmonary congestion with microvascular thrombosis and occlusion on pathology in addition to mounting experience with high rates of central line thrombosis …

Inaccurate Conclusions By Tang And Colleagues, Y. Y. Greenstein

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Erratum: What Is The Source? Identifying The Cause Of Septic Shock In A Patient (Annals Of The American Thoracic Society (2020) 17 (236-239) Doi: 10.1513/Annalsats.201907-562cc), N. Sidhu, N. U. Baloch, Y. Greenstein

Journal Articles

Copyright © 2020 by the American Thoracic Society. The authors would like to correct the author order in their article published in the February 2020 issue of AnnalsATS (1). The correct author order should be as follows: Nimrita Sidhu, Noor Ul-Ain Baloch, and Yonatan Greenstein. For the convenience of our readers, AnnalsATS is replacing the online version of the article with a corrected version; we apologize for the error.

When Predictions Are Used To Allocate Scarce Health Care Resources: Three Considerations For Models In The Era Of Covid-19., Dm Kent, Jk Paulus, Rr Sharp, N Hajizadeh

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Recommendations For Core Critical Care Ultrasound Competencies As A Part Of Specialist Training In Multidisciplinary Intensive Care: A Framework Proposed By The European Society Of Intensive Care Medicine (Esicm), A. Wong, L. Galarza, L. Forni, D. De Backer, M. Slama, B. Cholley, P. Mayo, A. Mclean, F. Duška, +17 Additional Authors

Journal Articles

© 2020 The Author(s). Critical care ultrasound (CCUS) is an essential component of intensive care practice. Although existing international guidelines have focused on training principles and determining competency in CCUS, few countries have managed to operationalize this guidance into an accessible, well-structured programme for clinicians training in multidisciplinary intensive care. We seek to update and reaffirm appropriate CCUS scope so that it may be integrated into the international Competency-based Training in Intensive Care Medicine. The resulting recommendations offer the most contemporary and evolved set of core CCUS competencies for an intensive care clinician yet described. Importantly, we discuss the rationale …

Repurposing Orthopaedic Residents Amid Covid-19: Critical Care Prone Positioning Team., O. F. Rahman, D. P. Murray, R. M. Zbeda, A. D. Volpi, A. Z. Mo, N. A. Wessling, B. A. Mina, M. S. Mendez-Zfass, C. Carpati

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Powerless In The Icu: Perspectives From Icus In The Face Of Covid-19., P Ramachandran, L Swamy, V Kaul, A Agrawal, M Narasimhan

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Lung Ultrasonography As An Alternative To Chest Computed Tomography In Covid-19 Pneumonia?, A. Vieillard-Baron, A. Goffi, P. Mayo

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Major Thrombotic Event Despite Anticoagulation In A Patient With Covid-19., B. Ataallah, A. Sharma, S. Tamanna, J. Ng, G. Haggerty

Journal Articles

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (known as COVID-19), which started in Wuhan, China in December 2019, is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It has been associated with both venous and arterial thromboembolism likely secondary to significant cytokine activation and inflammation. Reports on the incidence of thrombotic complications, however, are not well documented. Our case will examine a young man diagnosed with COVID-19 who developed an acute, severe bilateral saddle pulmonary embolism while on prophylactic dose anticoagulation after being admitted to the hospital and treated for two weeks with significant improvement.

Pulmonary Embolism In Patients Hospitalized With Covid-19 (From A New York Health System), H. Xu, A. Martin, A. Singh, M. Narasimhan, J. Lau, M. Weinberg, R. Jauhar, G. Rao

Journal Articles

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. Pulmonary embolisms (PEs) in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have increasingly been reported in observational studies. However, limited information describing their clinical characteristics and outcomes exists. Our study aims to describe clinical features and risk stratification strategies of hospitalized COVID-19 patients with PE. We retrospectively analyzed 101 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 infection and acute PE. Clinical outcomes measured were intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation, bleeding and transfusion events, acute kidney injury (AKI) and mortality. Pulmonary severity index (PESI) scores were used for risk stratification. The most common comorbidities were hypertension (50%), obesity (27%) and hyperlipidemia (32%) …

Management Of Gastroduodenal Artery Pseudoaneurysm Rupture With Duodenal Ulcer Complicated By Coil Migration., D. Chang, P. Patel, S. Persky, J. Ng, A. Kaell

Journal Articles

Rupture of visceral artery aneurysms or visceral artery pseudoaneurysms is an unusual cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Although most visceral artery aneurysms and visceral artery pseudoaneurysms occur in the splenic artery or hepatic artery, they can rarely occur in the gastroduodenal artery. These are at high risk for rupture, with a 40%-70% mortality. We report a case of recurrent upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to gastroduodenal artery pseudoaneurysm despite endoscopic treatment and endovascular embolization complicated by coil migration into the duodenum.

Covid-19 Presenting As Stroke, A. Avula, K. Nalleballe, N. Narula, S. Sapozhnikov, V. Dandu, S. Toom, A. Glaser, D. Elsayegh

Journal Articles

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. Objective: Acute stroke remains a medical emergency even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most patients with COVID-19 infection present with constitutional and respiratory symptoms; while others present with atypical gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, or neurological manifestations. Here we present a series of four patients with COVID-19 that presented with acute stroke. Methods: We searched the hospital databases for patients that presented with acute stroke and concomitant features of suspected COVID-19 infection. All patients who had radiographic evidence of stroke and PCR-confirmed COVID-19 infection were included in the study. Patients admitted to the hospital with PCR- confirmed COVID-19 disease whose …

The Role Of Chest Imaging In Patient Management During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Multinational Consensus Statement From The Fleischner Society., G. D. Rubin, C. J. Ryerson, L. B. Haramati, N. Sverzellati, J. P. Kanne, S. Raoof, N. W. Schluger, A. Volpi, J. Yim, A. N. Leung, +10 Additional Authors

Journal Articles

With more than 900,000 confirmed cases worldwide and nearly 50,000 deaths during the first three months of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as an unprecedented healthcare crisis. The spread of COVID-19 has been heterogeneous, resulting in some regions having sporadic transmission and relatively few hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and others having community transmission that has led to overwhelming numbers of severe cases. For these regions, healthcare delivery has been disrupted and compromised by critical resource constraints in diagnostic testing, hospital beds, ventilators, and healthcare workers who have fallen ill to the virus exacerbated by shortages of personal protective equipment. …

General And Intensive Care Outcomes For Hospitalized Patients With Solid Organ Transplants With Covid-19, F. Mastroianni, D. E. Leisman, G. Fisler, M. Narasimhan

Journal Articles

© The Author(s) 2020. Purpose: COVID-19 has been associated with a dysregulated inflammatory response. Patients who have received solid-organ transplants are more susceptible to infections in general due to the use of immunosuppressants. We investigated factors associated with mechanical ventilation and outcomes in solid-organ transplant recipients with COVID-19. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all solid-organ transplant recipients admitted with a diagnosis of COVID-19 in our 23-hospital health system over a 1-month period. Descriptive statistics were used to describe hospital course and laboratory results and bivariate comparisons were performed on variables to determine differences. Results: Twenty-two …

Cytokine Storm Of A Different Flavor: The Different Cytokine Signature Of Sars-Cov2 The Cause Of Covid-19 From The Original Sars Outbreak., D. O. Griffin, A. Jensen, M. Khan, J. Chin, K. Chin, J. Saad, R. Parnell, C. Awwad, D. Patel

Journal Articles

We present a case series of three patients with COVID-19 who had a cytokine panel which revealed elevation of interleukin-6 (IL-6), but normal levels of interleukin-10 (IL-10), interferon-gamma (INF-γ) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) in contrast to the cytokine signature described in Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). We also documented evidence of a compromised T-cell IFN-gamma response in two of these patients.

In Response To Na Et Al.’S Long-Term Mortality Of Patients Discharged From The Hospital After Successful Critical Care: Do We Need More Comprehensive Data?, A. M. Esquinas, H. M. Karim, B. Mina

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Increased Prevalence Of Vte Reported By Klok And Colleagues, The Numbers Don't Add Up, Y. Y. Greenstein

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Study Of Alteplase For Respiratory Failure In Sars-Cov2/Covid-19: Study Design Of The Phase Iia Stars Trial., H. B. Moore, C. D. Barrett, E. E. Moore, R. Jhunjhnuwala, R. C. Mcintyre, P. K. Moore, J. Wang, N. Hajizadeh, A. Sauaia, M. B. Yaffe, +1 Additional Author

Journal Articles

Background:The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a large surge of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Prior phase I trials (non COVID-19) demonstrated improvement in pulmonary function in ARDS patients using fibrinolytic therapy. A follow-up trial using the widely available tissue-plasminogen activator (alteplase) is now needed to assess optimal dosing and safety in this critically ill patient population. Objective:To describe the design and rationale of a Phase IIa trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of alteplase treatment for moderate/severe COVID-19-induced ARDS. Patients/Methods:A rapidly adaptive, pragmatic, open label, randomized, controlled, phase IIa clinical trial will be conducted with three groups: intravenous(IV) alteplase …

Seizure And Covid-19: Association And Review Of Potential Mechanism., R. Joseph, N. Narula, A. Daouk, N. Katyal, S. Acharya, A. Avula, R. Maroun

Journal Articles

Since the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Wuhan, China, this highly transmissible virus has since spread rapidly around the world. Though respiratory complication is the primarily reported manifestation though rare, yet serious neurological complications are being frequently reported in the literature. In selected coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) cases neurologic complications may manifest as seizures. In this paper, we have reviewed current literature on seizures linked with SARS- COV 2 infection including published or pre-print original articles, review articles, and case reports. We have discussed the electroencephalogram (EEG), imaging, and Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) findings in COVID-19 patients …

Locked-In With Covid-19, A. Avula, A. Gill, R. Nassar, K. Nalleballe, S. Siddamreddy, M. Chalhoub

Journal Articles

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) can be associated with various neurological manifestations including acute strokes. Hyper acute diagnosis and treatment are key factors which decrease mortality and morbidity in stroke patients. The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a great strain on the healthcare system, and as a result clinicians are facing several barriers in diagnosing and treating strokes. Delayed presentation of strokes is a problem as some in the general population defer the decision to seek immediate medical attention fearing contracting the virus. Also playing a role is the paucity of healthcare professionals available during a pandemic. Recent …