weaning sedation

BACKGROUND: Venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV ECMO) is frequently associated with deep sedation and neuromuscular blockades, that may lead to diaphragm dysfunction. However, the prevalence, risk factors, and evolution of diaphragm dysfunction in patients with VV ECMO are unknown. We hypothesized that the prevalence of diaphragm dysfunction is high and that diaphragm activity influences diaphragm function changes. METHODS: Patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) requiring VV ECMO were included in two centers...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether protocol-directed weaning in neurocritical patients would reduce the rate of extubation failure (as a primary outcome) and the associated complications (as a secondary outcome) compared with conventional weaning. METHODS: A quasi-experimental study was conducted in a medical-surgical intensive care unit from January 2016 to December 2018. Patients aged 18 years or older with an acute neurological disease who were on mechanical ventilation > 24 hours were included...

BACKGROUND: Diaphragmatic dysfunction is known to be associated with difficulties weaning from invasive mechanical ventilation and is related to worse patient outcomes yet our understanding of how to prevent diaphragmatic dysfunction remains incomplete. We examined potentially modifiable risk factors for diaphragmatic dysfunction and attempted to estimate benefits attributable to altering these modifiable risk factors. METHODS: This prospective multicenter observational study was undertaken in the general ICUs of two tertiary care teaching hospitals...

BACKGROUND: Anecdotal reports suggest that during emergence from anaesthesia, some post-cardiac surgery patients exhibit signs of agitation with concerning clinical features, including hypoxaemia, ventilation dysynchrony, and haemodynamic instability. This clinical phenomenon has not been described in the published literature. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the perceptions and practice of intensive care unit staff members who have managed adult patients after cardiac surgery regarding emergence agitation, its clinical features, and treatment...

Patients with acute respiratory failure who are anticipated to have a significant recovery and require prolonged mechanical ventilation, defined as ventilation lasting 7 days or longer, should be evaluated for the potential need for a tracheostomy. A tracheostomy reduces the necessity for sedation and aids in the process of weaning patients. The popularity of percutaneous tracheostomy techniques, which can be carried out at the patient's bedside, has increased due to their ability to save costs associated with time in the operating room...

Background: Remimazolam besylate is a novel ultra-short-acting benzodiazepine that can potentially be a safe and effective sedative in intensive care units. This study aims to assess whether remimazolam besylate is not inferior to propofol in maintaining mild-to-moderate sedation in critically ill patients receiving long-term mechanical ventilation. Methods and analysis: This is a multicenter, randomized, single-blind, propofol-controlled, non-inferiority study. Eligible patients are randomly assigned to receive remimazolam besylate or propofol in a 1:1 ratio to maintain a Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale score between -3 and 0...

As a Covid Hub in Emilia Romagna, we have experienced an increasing number of tracheostomized patients, prompting us to develop a standardized decannulation protocol for COVID-19 ARDS patients. Currently, there are no guidelines or protocols for decannulation in this population, and few studies have investigated the early outcomes of tracheostomy in COVID-19 patients, with no detailed analysis of the decannulation process. We recognized the importance of mutual reliance among our team members and the significant achievements we made compared to previous decannulation methods...

A CRUCIAL BUT LITTLE-KNOWN ISSUE. Polysomnography is the best tool to study sleep in intensive care unit (ICU), but this recording is complex to perform in such environment. Sleep alterations in ICU patients are specific and include electroencephalographic abnormalities during sleep and wake, rendering sleep scoring more complicated. Severe deficit in deep sleep, rapid eye movement sleep and an important sleep fragmentation are reported by most studies. Sleep cycles are disorganized with many sleep episodes during daytime...

Diaphragm atrophy is a common side effect of mechanical ventilation and results in prolonged weaning. Electric phrenic nerve stimulation presents a possibility to avoid diaphragm atrophy by keeping the diaphragm conditioned in sedated patients. There is a need of further investigation on how to set stimulation parameters to achieve sufficient ventilation. A prototype system is presented with a systematic evaluation for stimulation pattern adjustments. The main indicator for efficient stimulation was the tidal volume...

INTRODUCTION: Sedatives and analgesics are commonly utilized as continuous infusions in the ICU but have complications, including an increase in mechanical ventilation days, ICU length of stay, and delirium. Atypical antipsychotics (AAPs) affect several receptors including muscarinic, histamine, and α-1 adrenergic receptors, which may allow them to act as adjunctive agents to facilitate weaning of continuous infusions. OBJECTIVE: To determine if there is a decrease in sedatives/analgesics requirements with the use of quetiapine and olanzapine in mechanically ventilated critically ill patients...

The measurement of quality indicators supports quality improvement initiatives. The German Interdisciplinary Society of Intensive Care Medicine (DIVI) has published quality indicators for intensive care medicine for the fourth time now. After a scheduled evaluation after three years, changes in several indicators were made. Other indicators were not changed or only minimally. The focus remained strongly on relevant treatment processes like management of analgesia and sedation, mechanical ventilation and weaning, and infections in the ICU...

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is characterised by reversible systolic dysfunction resulting from catecholamine-induced vasospasm, mainly triggered by intense emotional or physical stress. Adding adrenaline to arthroscopic irrigation solution enhances visibility by minimising bleeding. However, there is a risk of complications due to systemic absorption. Several severe cardiac consequences have been described. Here, we present a case of a patient who underwent elective shoulder arthroscopy involving an adrenaline-containing irrigation solution...

OBJECTIVES: Sedation and pain medications are necessary in the management of postoperative pediatric cardiac patients. Prolonged exposure to these medications can lead to negative side effects including withdrawal. We hypothesized that standardized weaning guidelines would decrease exposure to sedation medications and decrease withdrawal symptoms. The primary aim was to decrease average days of methadone exposure to within goal for moderate- and high-risk patients within 6 months. DESIGN: Quality improvement methods were used to standardize sedation medication weaning in a pediatric cardiac ICU...

BACKGROUND: Intellectually disabled (ID) patients present unique therapeutic challenges. We aimed to describe the characteristics of ID patients admitted to a general intensive care unit (ICU). RESULTS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study comparing critically ill adult ID patients to matched patients without ID (1:2 ratio) in a single ICU (2010-2020). The main outcome measure was mortality. Secondary outcomes included complications during admission and characteristics of weaning from mechanical ventilation...

DISCLAIMER: In an effort to expedite the publication of articles, AJHP is posting manuscripts online as soon as possible after acceptance. Accepted manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and copyedited, but are posted online before technical formatting and author proofing. These manuscripts are not the final version of record and will be replaced with the final article (formatted per AJHP style and proofed by the authors) at a later time. PURPOSE: In critically ill patients, high sedation requirements for prolonged durations are often needed to achieve ventilator synchrony, a practice that was particularly common during the early stages of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic...

The primary aim of this review is to explore current knowledge on the relationship between institutional intensive care unit (ICU) patient volume and patient outcomes. Studies indicate that a higher institutional ICU patient volume is positively correlated with patient survival. Although the exact mechanism underlying this association remains unclear, several studies have proposed that the cumulative experience of physicians and selective referral between institutions may play a role. The overall ICU mortality rate in Korea is relatively high compared to other developed countries...

Preclinical studies have established that neonatal exposure to contemporary sedative/hypnotic drugs causes neurotoxicity in the developing rodent and primate brains. Our group recently reported that novel neuroactive steroid (3β,5β,17β)-3-hydroxyandrostane-17-carbonitrile (3β-OH) induced effective hypnosis in both neonatal and adult rodents but did not cause significant neurotoxicity in vulnerable brain regions such as subiculum, an output region of hippocampal formation particularly sensitive to commonly used sedatives/hypnotics...

BACKGROUND: Unplanned extubation is one of the most common preventable adverse events associated with invasive mechanical ventilation. OBJECTIVE: This research study aimed to develop a predictive model to identify the risk of unplanned extubation in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). METHODS: This single-center, observational study was conducted at the PICU of the Hospital de Clínicas. Patients were included based on the following criteria: aged between 28 days and 14 years, intubated, and using invasive mechanical ventilation...

OBJECTIVES: Iatrogenic withdrawal syndrome (IWS) associated with opioid and sedative use for medical purposes has a reported high prevalence and associated morbidity. This study aimed to determine the prevalence, utilization, and characteristics of opioid and sedative weaning and IWS policies/protocols in the adult ICU population. DESIGN: International, multicenter, observational, point prevalence study. SETTING: Adult ICUs. PATIENTS: All patients aged 18 years and older in the ICU on the date of data collection who received parenteral opioids or sedatives in the previous 24 hours...

The optimization of patients' treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) needs a lot of information and literature analysis. Many changes have been made in the last years to help evaluate sedated patients by scores to help take care of them. Patients were completely sedated and had continuous intravenous analgesia and neuromuscular blockades. These three drug classes were the main drugs used for intubated patients in the ICU. During these last 20 years, ICU management went from fully sedated to awake, calm, and nonagitated patients, using less sedatives and choosing other drugs to decrease the risks of delirium during or after the ICU stay...