Critically ill patients are often hemodynamically unstable (or at risk of becoming unstable) owing to hypovolemia, cardiac dysfunction, or alterations of vasomotor function, leading to organ dysfunction, deterioration into multi-organ failure, and eventually death. With hemodynamic monitoring, we aim to guide our medical management so as to prevent or treat organ failure and improve the outcome...

Critically ill patients are often hemodynamically unstable (or at risk of becoming unstable) owing to hypovolemia, cardiac dysfunction, or alterations of vasomotor function, leading to organ dysfunction, deterioration into multi-organ failure, and eventually death. With hemodynamic monitoring, we aim to guide our medical management so as to prevent or treat organ failure and improve the outcome...

There are several well recognized scoring systems for evaluation and prognostication of critically ill patients. While the APACHE II (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II) scoring system uses a point score based on physiologic parameters, age and previous health status, the SOFA (Sequential Organ Failure Assessment) scoring system takes into account the organ failure in critically ...

BACKGROUND We aimed to determine the outcome and certain predictors of outcome for acute renal failure (ARF) in the medical intensive care unit (ICU) at Tygerberg Hospital. METHOD We conducted a retrospective, single-centre cohort study over 12 months comprising all patients admitted to the medical ICU with all causes of renal failure or who developed renal failure following admission to the ...

Fortunately radiation accidents are infrequent occurrences, but since they have the potential of large scale events like the nuclear accidents of Chernobyl and Fukushima, preparatory planning of the medical management of radiation accident victims is very important. Radiation accidents can result in different types of radiation exposure for which the diagnostic and therapeutic measures, as well...

Heart failure (HF), particularly in the setting of preserved systolic function, disproportionately afflicts older individuals and results in significant morbidity, mortality, and health care costs. In the United States, among the Medicare population (age > 65 years), HF is among the leading cause of hospital admissions. Optimal care for older adults with HF requires knowledge of age-related phy...

Significance Nonresolving inflammation, a hallmark of sepsis and/or multi-organ failure, still poses challenge in medicine. The mortality rate is enormous, and so far no adequate curative therapy available. Here we identify previously unrecognized role the neuronal guidance protein semaphorin 7A transition to resolution processes severe systematic inflammation such as sepsis.

Acute liver failure is a rare and devastating clinical condition. At present, emergency liver transplantation is the only life-saving therapy in advanced cases, yet the feasibility of transplantation is affected by the presence of systemic inflammation, infection and resultant multi-organ failure. The importance of immune dysregulation and acquisition of infection in the pathogenesis of acute l...