Critical care, sepsis, shock, CPR, Ventilator

BACKGROUND: Emergency medical care for critically ill nontrauma patients (CINT) varies between different emergency departments (ED) and healthcare systems, while resuscitation of trauma patients is always performed within the ED. In many ED CINT are treated and stabilized while in many German smaller hospitals CINT are transferred directly to the intensive care unit (ICU) without performing critical care measures in the ED. Little is known about the resuscitation room management of CINT regarding patient characteristics and outcome although bigger hospitals perform ED resuscitation of CINT in routine care...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Zinc deficiency leads to susceptibility to infections and may affect pulmonary epithelial cell integrity. Low zinc levels have also been associated with a degree of organ failure and decreased survival in critically ill children. Accordingly, the purpose of the study was to assess serum zinc in adult patients with acute respiratory failure, its association with ventilatory support time, intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay (LOS), organ dysfunction and 30-day mortality...

UNLABELLED: Wegener's granulomatosis is a distinct clinicopathologic entity characterized by granulomatous vasculitis of the upper and lower respiratory tract and glomerulonephritis. This disease can present as a clinical picture which resembles sepsis and adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Wegener's disease requires immunosuppression which can have detrimental consequences when used in sepsis. The following case report illustrates the diagnostic difficulties encountered by intensive care physicians treating severe pulmonary failure and multiple organ dysfunction in Wegener's granulomatosis appearing as ARDS with sepsis...