Vegetative state patients can respond to questions
Scientists have been able to reach into the mind of a brain-damaged man and communicate with his thoughts. The research, carried out at in the UK and in Belgium, involved a new brain scanning method. Awareness was detected in three other patients previously diagnosed as being in a vegetative state. The study in the New [...]
Noninvasive Ventilation Reduces Intubation in Chest Trauma-Related Hypoxemia – A randomized Clinical Trial
This single-center randomized clinical trial set out to determine if non invasive mechanical ventilation (NIMV) reduced the incidence of intubation in severe chest trauma-related hypoxemia.  Patients with Pao2/Fio2<200 for >8h while receiving oxygen by high-flow mask within the first 48 h after thoracic trauma were included in the study. After 25 patients were enrolled in each group, the trial [...]
Does an Obese Body Mass Index Affect Hospital Outcomes After Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery?
A retrospective examination of data in a cohort of 10590 patients admitted for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery between 2003 and 2007 was examined to determine body mass index (BMI). Regression analysis was conducted to determine whether BMI was an independent predictor of morbidity and mortality after CABG. The results found that CABG patients in [...]
Prone Positioning in Patients With Moderate and Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
The goal of the Prone-Supine II Study was to evaluate possible outcome benefits of prone positioning in patients with ARDS and moderate or severe hypoxemia. From February 2004 through June 2008, a total of 342 adults with ARDS receiving mechanical ventilation at 23 centers in Italy and 2 in Spain were enrolled and prospectively stratified [...]
Surviving critical illness: acute respiratory distress syndrome as experienced by patients and their caregivers.
This study attempted to determine and characterize the effects of critical illness in the daily lives and functioning of acute respiratory distress syndrome survivors. Survivors and Caregivers were interviewed 3 to 9 months after intensive care admission. Participants related five key elements of experience as survivors of acute respiratory distress syndrome: 1) pervasive memories of critical care; 2) [...]
Exploration of patients’ perspectives of quality within an extended scope physiotherapists’ spinal screening service
The objective of this study was to assess the impact of an outpatient physiotherapy-led rehabilitation programme on exercise capacity and anxiety and depression scores in a cohort of adult intensive care survivors. In a prospective study in a teaching hospital, 38 general intensive care survivors following hospital discharge underwent an established physiotherapy-led outpatient rehabilitation programme. [...]
Early exercise in critically ill patients enhances short-term functional recovery
Burtin C, Clerckx B, Robbeets C, Ferdinande P, Langer D, Troosters T, Hermans G, Decramer M, Gosselink R The objective of this study was to investigate whether a daily exercise session, using a bedside cycle ergometer, is a safe and effective intervention in preventing or attenuating the decrease in functional exercise capacity, functional status, and [...]
Physiotherapy does not prevent, or hasten recovery from, ventilator-associated pneumonia in patients with acquired brain injury
Patman S, Jenkins S, Stiller K. This study was designed to determine whether, regular respiratory physiotherapy in mechanically ventilated patients with acquired brain injury (ABI), prevented ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), reduce length of mechanical ventilation or ICU stay. One hundred and forty-four subjects with acquired brain injury, a Glasgow Coma Scale ?9, requiring intracranial pressure monitoring, [...]
Early mobility and walking program for patients in intensive care units: creating a standard of care.
Perme C, Chandrashekar R New technologies in critical care and mechanical ventilation have led to long-term survival of critically ill patients. An early mobility and walking program was developed to provide guidelines for early mobility that would assist clinicians working in intensive care units, especially clinicians working with patients who are receiving mechanical ventilation. Prolonged [...]
Discomfort associated with underhumidified high-flow oxygen therapy in critically ill patients
Chanques G, Constantin J-M, Sauter M, Jung B, Sebbane M, Verzilli D, Lefrant J-Y, Jaber S. This randomised cross-over study set out to measure the discomfort in non-intubated patients under high-flow oxygen therapy (>5 L/min) humidified with bubble through (BH) or heated humidifiers (HH). In addition the hygrometric properties of oxygen with a BH and [...]
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