Category Archives: Intensive Care

IS FEVER THE NORMAL TEMPERATURE OF SEPSIS?

Posted on March 25, 2017 by K

We know that hypothermia in sepsis is associated with increased mortality but other than that we tend to see fever in sepsis as something bad. We tend to perceive sepsis patients as more sick the more the temperature is elevated. We then … Continue reading →






Posted in Intensive Care | 3 Comments

THE OXYGEN-ICU TRIAL

Posted on December 11, 2016 by K

We have been concerned about hyperoxaemia for a long time. Numerous studies have documented how supranormal O2-concentrations are harmfull in critical illness. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell anyway, ICU practice hasn’t changed much. We deal with hypoxia straight away, but otherwise we leave … Continue reading →






Posted in Intensive Care | 3 Comments

STILL NO EVIDENCE FOR PPI IN ICU

Posted on December 6, 2016 by K

We believe that the ICU-patients, especially ventilated patients, are prone to having stress ulcers and one of the components of the daily ICU drill is to ensure that the patient is on ulcer prophylactics. We do this despite how the … Continue reading →






Posted in Intensive Care | 1 Comment

SHOCK LIVER AFTER CARDIAC ARREST

Posted on May 26, 2016 by K

Interesting paper in AJEM. Hypoxic hepatitis (HH), ‘shock liver’, is defined as an increase in serum aminotransferase levels (20 times the upper normal level) after respiratory or circulatory failure. It is commonly seen in critical illness and after cardiac arrest. In … Continue reading →






Posted in Cardiology, CPR, Intensive Care, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

BP MANAGEMENT IN BRAIN BLEEDS

Posted on April 21, 2016 by K

There´s a nice Best BET mini review in EMJ April 2016. The authors ask if it is safe and beneficial to control hypertension in the acute/hyperacute phase (~<6h from presentation) in patients with acute intracerebral haemorrhage.






Posted in Emergency Medicine, Intensive Care, Neurology, Prehospital Medicine, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

LUNG US AND BNP

Posted on January 18, 2016 by K

A small study in Ann Intensive Care reminds me that lung ultrasound is  good at detecting heart failure and differentiating against other causes of acute dyspnoea.






Posted in Emergency Medicine, Intensive Care, Ultrasound | Leave a comment

OWN THE O.G.

Posted on November 13, 2015 by K

Passing the orogastric tube can be difficult or sometimes impossible. Unfortunately a lot of patients really need their OGs and in a time-critical scenario you don’t want to spend too much time struggling with it. Here is a simple trick a senior … Continue reading →






Posted in Airway management, Anesthesia, Emergency Medicine, Intensive Care, Prehospital Medicine, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

PERIPHERAL NORADRENALINE

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Thomas D

Peripheral noradrenaline (or norepinephrine), or any peripheral pressor, is shunned in many centers. High doses can cause gangrene. If extravasated, it can cause tissue necrosis. But is this a big risk? Also, weighing against the risks of CVC or delayed … Continue reading →






Posted in Anesthesia, Emergency Medicine, Intensive Care | 8 Comments

EGDT IS DEAD, LONG LIVE EGDT

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Thomas D

And so the EGDT trilogy is complete. The results of the ProMISe trial was published, after we’ve recently had the results from the ARISE and ProCESS trials. They all compared EGDT (Early Goal-Directed Therapy) to “standard care”. And they were … Continue reading →






Posted in Emergency Medicine, Infectious diseases, Intensive Care | 5 Comments

ECMO – MIXING IT UP

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Thomas D

ECMO is all the rage, and ScanCrit is a fanatical believer. However, ECMO has its problems and challenges. The challenge we’ll look into here, is choosing between VV or VA ECMO – sometimes the choice is straightforward, other times not. … Continue reading →






Posted in ECMO, Intensive Care | 2 Comments