BACKGROUND Scoring systems in critical care patients are essential for predicting of the patient outcome and evaluating the therapy. In this study, we determined the value of the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II), Simplified Acute Physiology Score II (SAPS II), Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scoring systems in the prediction o...

Introduction. The RIFLE classification defines three severity criteria for acute kidney injury (AKI): risk, injury, and failure. It was associated with mortality according to the gradation of AKI severity. However, it is not known if the APACHE II score, associated with the RIFLE classification, results in greater discriminatory power in relation to mortality in critical patients. Objective. To...

OBJECTIVE To compare different nasal cavity nursing methods on mechanically ventilated patients. METHODS According to acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHEII), 615 cases of mechanically ventilated patients were divided into group A, group B and group C by stratified random method. Traditional oral nursing plus aspirating secretions from oral cavity and nasal cavity q6h were d...

Although the development and use of severity-of-illness measures has gained widespread enthusiasm, uncertainty remains as to the optimal measure for stroke patients. The Health Care Financing Administration recently derived a severity-of-illness measure based on the APACHE II system to explain differences in Medicare mortality rates among hospitals treating stroke patients. We hypothesized that...

Secondary peritonitis follows an intraperitoneal source usually from perforation of a hollow viscus. Despite advances in diagnosis, surgical technique, antimicrobial therapy and intensive care support, secondary peritonitis remains a potentially fatal affliction. Several scoring systems were developed to evaluate and compare the outcome of treatment. Aim: The aim of the study was to compare the...

INTRODUCTION We conducted the present study to evaluate the changes in serum total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in patients with severe sepsis and to investigate the association between serum TAC and clinical severity. METHOD This was a prospective observational study involving a sample of patients who met established criteria for severe sepsis and were admitted to the emergency department of a...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to identify pulmonary dysfunction and factors associated with prolonged mechanical ventilation, hospital stay, weaning failure and mortality in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting with use of intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP). METHODS This observational study analyzed respiratory, surgical, clinical and demographic variables and related them ...

Acute myocarditis is an uncommon and potentially life-threatening disease. Scoring systems are essential for predicting outcome and evaluating the therapy effect of adult patients with acute myocarditis. The aim of this study was to determine the value of the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation IV (APACHE IV) and second Simplified Acute Phy...

Background: In some hospitals, patients hospitalized on the medical ward are mechanically ventilated due to a shortage of intensive care unit (ICU) beds. Objective: To determine outcomes and prognostic factors of medical patients mechanically ventilated on general medical wards. Material and Method: A prospective observational study was performed in general medical wards of a 2,000-bed tertiary...

Early and accurate differentiation between infectious and non-infectious fever is vitally important in the intensive care unit (ICU). In the present study, patients admitted to the medical ICU were screened daily from August 2008 to February 2009. Within 24 hr after the development of fever (>38.3℃), serum was collected for the measurement of the procalcitonin (PCT) and high mobility group B 1 ...