Is the cause of hypernatraemia in critically ill patients more obvious than we think?

Constipation in critically ill patients: much more than we imagine

A constipação intestinal é complicação comumente identificada entre pacientes graves, entretanto existem poucos dados disponíveis na literatura. Uma série de fatores eleva a frequência de constipação intestinal entre paciente internados em terapia intensiva, como choque, uso de agentes sedativos e opioides, distúrbios eletrolíticos, mudanças no padrão dietético, entre outros.(1,2) A incidência ...

Osmotic diuresis due to urea as the cause of hypernatraemia in critically ill patients.

BACKGROUND Hypernatraemia is common in critically ill patients and has been shown to be an independent predictor of mortality. Osmotic urea diuresis can cause hypernatraemia due to significant water losses but is often not diagnosed. Free water clearance (FWC) and electrolyte free water clearance (EFWC) were proposed to quantify renal water handling. We aimed to (i) identify patients with hyper...

11 Climate Change: Is It More Predictable Than We Think?

Eyes say more than we think

Eyes say more than we think It's finally summer and I've finished my third year of medical school, so I am going to have long and carefree holidays. This made wonder about how patients feel during their holidays and whether they can stop thinking about their illness just for a while. From my experience I would say NO; they think about it even more, but what can be done about it? I remember when...

Nutritional Assessment in Critically Ill Patients

Background: Malnutrition is an important factor in the survival of critically ill patients. The purpose of the present study was to assess the nutritional status of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) on the days of admission and discharge via a detailed nutritional assessment. Methods: Totally, 125 patients were followed up from admission to discharge at 8ICUs in Shiraz, Iran. The patien...