BACKGROUND Prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital stay after cardiac surgery is vitally important and is influenced by both intraoperative and postoperative factors. OBJECTIVES This randomized clinical trial study was designed to assess whether vitamin C supplementation could reduce the length of ICU and hospital stay in post-cardiac surgery patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS Two hund...

BACKGROUND Preoperative renal dysfunction is an important risk factor in cardiac surgery. Thus, the association between creatinine clearance (ClCr) and mechanical ventilation time and ICU length of stay, independent of other established preoperative risk indicators, was analyzed. METHODS In our study, 156 consecutive patients underwent open-heart surgery at the Department of Cardiac Surgery, ...

PURPOSES The aim of this study was to determine the impact of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) on outcome in patients with COPD. METHODS Prospective, observational, case-control study conducted in a 30-bed ICU during a 5-year period. All COPD patients who required intubation and mechanical ventilation (MV) for > 48 h were eligible. VAP diagnosis was based on clinical, radiographic, and q...

The prediction of intensive care unit length of stay (ICU-LOS) could contribute to more efficient ICU resources' allocation and better planning of care among cardiac surgery patients. The aim of this study was to identify the preoperative and intraoperative predictors for prolonged cardiac surgery ICU-LOS. An observational cohort study was conducted among 150 consecutive patients, who were admi...

BACKGROUND A change of serum lactate concentrations appeared to be useful for predicting outcomes in various acute ill settings. However, there is little information on intraoperative change of lactate level in pediatric cardiac surgery patients. METHODS We conducted a retrospective observational study of 459 children who received pediatric cardiac surgery to determine the association between...

Background—Several models have been developed to predict prolonged stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) after cardiac surgery. However, no extensive quantitative validation of these models has yet been conducted. This study sought to identify and validate existing prediction models for prolonged ICU length of stay after cardiac surgery. Methods and Results—After a systematic review of the lite...

BACKGROUND Selenium plays an important role in defence against acute illness. We investigated, in intensive care unit (ICU) patients, the time course of plasma selenium concentrations and their relationship to systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), organ dysfunction/failure, infection, and ICU outcome. METHODS Plasma selenium and laboratory indices of organ dysfunction/failure, tissu...

BACKGROUND Predicting mortality in the intensive care unit (ICU) is one of the biggest challenges in critical care medicine. Several studies have linked the presence of eosinopenia with adverse outcomes in different populations. METHODS We performed a case control study to determine whether the eosinophil count at ICU admission was a predictor of hospital mortality. We included data from pati...

BACKGROUND Organophosphorus (OP) pesticide poisoning is a major clinical and public health problem in India. Mortality rate remains high at 15%-30%. AIMS This prospective, observational study examines the relationship between pseudocholinesterase (PChE) activity and morbidity and mortality in OP poisoning. SETTING AND DESIGN OP poisoning cases admitted to a tertiary care center Intensive Ca...

BACKGROUND Based on a pilot study with 34 patients, applying the modified sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score intraoperatively could predict a prolonged ICU stay, albeit with only 4 risk factors. Our objective was to develop a practicable intraoperative model for predicting prolonged ICU stay which included more relevant risk factors. METHODS An extensive literature review identi...