ABSTRACT
Background: Severe sepsis (SS) is the leading cause of death in the Intensive Care Units (ICU). Aim: To study the prevalence of SS in Chilean ICUs. Material and methods: An observational, cross-sectional study using a predesigned written survey was done in all ICUs of Chile on April 21st, 2004. General hospital and ICU data and the number of hospitalized patients in the hospital and in the ICU at the survey day, were recorded. Patients were followed for 28 days. Results: Ninety four percent of ICUs participated in the survey. The ICU occupation index was 66 percent. Mean age of patients was 57.7+18 years and 59 percent were male, APACHE II score was 15+7.5 and SOFA score was 6+4. SS was the admission diagnosis of 94 of the 283 patients (33 percent) and 38 patients presented SS after admission. On the survey day, 112 patients fulfilled SS criteria (40 percent). APACHE II and SOFA scores were significantly higher in SS patients than in non SS patients. Global case-fatality ratio at 28 days was 15.9 percent (45/283). Case-fatality ratio in patients with or without SS at the moment of the survey was 26.7 percent (30/112) and 8.7 percent (17/171), respectively p <0.05. Thirteen percent of patients who developed SS after admission, died. Case-fatality ratios for patients with SS from Santiago and the other cities were similar, but APACHE II score was significantly higher in patients from Santiago. In SS patients, the independent predictors of mortality were SS as cause of hospital admission, APACHE II and SOFA scores. Ninety nine percent of SS patients had a known sepsis focus (48 percent respiratory and 30 percent abdominal). Eighty five patients that presented SS after admission, had a respiratory focus. Conclusions: SS is highly prevalent in Chilean ICUs and represents the leading diagnosis at admission. SS as cause of hospitalization, APA CHE II and SOFA scores were independent predictors of mortality.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Middle Aged , Intensive Care Units , Sepsis/epidemiology , Chile/epidemiology , Epidemiologic Methods , Multiple Organ Failure/epidemiology , Sepsis/microbiology , Sepsis/mortalityABSTRACT
Acute pulmonary edema caused by thiazides is uncommon and of difficult diagnosis. It is considered an idiosyncratic reaction and the physiopathology or cardiac function changes are not well known. We report a 60 year-old female with a thiazide induced acute pulmonary edema who was followed with serial measurements of type B n-terminal natriuretic peptide fraction as marker for cardiac dysfunction. There was a significant elevation of the peptide, not associated to evidences of ventricular dysfunction. Its normalization paralleled the resolution of the clinical picture.
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Middle Aged , Antihypertensive Agents/adverse effects , Hydrochlorothiazide/adverse effects , Pulmonary Edema/chemically induced , Acute Disease , Biomarkers/blood , Natriuretic Peptide, Brain/blood , Pulmonary Edema/bloodABSTRACT
Background: Cardiac output can be measured non invasively by transesophageal Doppler. This is an alternative to measure it by thermodilution with a catheter in the pulmonary artery. Aim: To compare both methods of cardiac output measurement. Material and methods: Simultaneous measurement of cardiac output by transesophageal Doppler and thermodilution with a catheter in the pulmonary artery in four male critical patients, aged 60±12 years, hospitalized in a University Hospital. The Bland and Altman method to compare the concordance between two measurements, was used. Results: Forty measurements were performed. The results of both methods had a correlation coefficient of 0.98. According to the Bland and Altman method, the difference between both methods was -0.5 L with a precision of 0.52 L/min (95% confidence interval -1.51 to 0.52 L/min). Considering that a change between two sequential measurements is considered significant when the difference is more than 15%, both measurements agreed in 83% of cases, that there was a change in cardiac output. Conclusions:Transesophageal Doppler is a promising non invasive technique to measure cardiac output in critical care patients. It becomes a valid alternative to the thermodilution technique. This preliminary experience must be confirmed in a larger series.