OBJECTIVE To review aspects of hyperbaric medicine pertinent to treating critically ill patients with hyperbaric oxygen in both monoplace and multiplace chambers. DATA SOURCES Literature review of online databases, research repositories, and clinical trial registries. RESULTS The search of these resources produced information regarding technical considerations, feasibility, risk, and patien...

BACKGROUND In a prospective observational study, we examined the temporal relationships between serum erythropoietin (EPO) levels, haemoglobin concentration and the inflammatory response in critically ill patients with and without acute renal failure (ARF). PATIENTS AND METHOD Twenty-five critically ill patients, from general and cardiac intensive care units (ICUs) in a university hospital, w...

HOSPITALS VARY WIDELY IN quality of critical care. Consequently, the outcomes of critically ill patients may be improved by concentrating care at more experienced centers. By centralizing patients who are at greater risk of mortality in referral hospitals, regionalized care in critical illness may achieve improvements in outcome similar to trauma networks. In 2006, the Institute of Medicine cal...

We typically think of acutely and chronically mentally ill patients as those who belong in psychiatric hospitals and the latter category of patients belonging in “regular” hospitals, but the intersection of physical and mental illness draws attention to important challenges for policy-makers and organizational leaders. This article illuminates some broad trends in the health status of people wi...

The report by Chase and coworkers in the previous issue of Critical Care describes the implementation into clinical practice of the Specialized Relative Insulin Nutrition Table (SPRINT) for tight glycaemic control in critically ill patients. SPRINT is a simple, wheel-based system that modulates both insulin rate and nutritional inputs. It achieved a better glycaemic control in a severely ill cr...

Severe overfeeding of critically ill patients results in increased complications without clinical benefits. However, the optimal timing and amount of nutrition to feed critically ill adults has not been established. There are multiple prediction equations for estimating calorie expenditure of critically ill patients, but most studies comparing the accuracy of different prediction equations are ...

OBJECTIVE Prolonged critically ill patients have low circulating thyroid hormone (TH) levels without a rise in TSH, a condition labeled 'the low tri-iodothyronine (T(3)) syndrome'. Currently, it is not clear whether this represents an adaptive response. We examined the role of TH transporters monocarboxylate transporter 8 (MCT8, also known as SLC16A2) and MCT10 in the pathogenesis of the low T(...

Mechanically ventilated critically ill patients treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) require enteral feedings to maintain adequate nutrition during critical illness. Delivery of adequate enteral nutrition is also critical to the recovery of critically ill patients. Enteral nutrition has been shown to decrease length of time on the ventilator, decrease length of stay and ICU and decrease mor...

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...

BACKGROUND Critically ill patients are exposed to a combination of insults that affect both respiratory and peripheral skeletal muscle function. However, different muscle groups may not be affected to the same extent by a prolonged critical illness. OBJECTIVE To review original observational studies that measured an aspect of respiratory and peripheral muscle function in adults in the intensi...