When can we start early enteral nutrition safely in patients with shock on vasopressors?

Shock is a common critical illness characterized by microcirculatory disorders and insufficient tissue perfusion. Patients with shock and hemodynamic instability generally require vasopressors to maintain the target mean arterial pressure. Enteral nutrition (EN) is an important therapeutic intervention in critically ill patients and has unique benefits for intestinal recovery. However, the initiation of early EN in patients with shock receiving vasopressors remains controversial. Current guidelines make conservative and vague recommendations regarding early EN support in patients with shock. Increasing studies demonstrates that early EN delivery is safe and feasible in patients with shock receiving vasopressors; however, this evidence is based on observational studies. Changes in gastrointestinal blood flow vary by vasopressor and inotrope and are complex. The risk of gastrointestinal complications, especially the life-threatening complications of non-occlusive mesenteric ischemia and non-occlusive bowel necrosis, cannot be ignored in patients with shock during early EN support. It remains a therapeutic challenge in critical care nutrition therapy to determine the initiation time of EN in patients with shock receiving vasopressors and the safe threshold region for initiating EN with vasopressors. Therefore, the current review aimed to summarize the evidence on the optimal and safe timing of early EN initiation in patients with shock receiving vasopressors to improve clinical practice.

Healthcare and economic cost burden of emergency medical services treated non-traumatic shock using a population-based cohort in Victoria, Australia.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to assess the healthcare costs and impact on the economy at large arising from emergency medical services (EMS) treated non-traumatic shock. DESIGN: We conducted a population-based cohort study, where EMS-treated patients were individually linked to hospital-wide and state-wide administrative datasets. Direct healthcare costs (Australian dollars, AUD) were estimated for each element of care using a casemix funding method. The impact on productivity was assessed using a Markov state-transition model with a 3-year horizon. SETTING: Patients older than 18 years of age with shock not related to trauma who received care by EMS (1 January 2015-30 June 2019) in Victoria, Australia were included in the analysis. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome assessed was the total healthcare expenditure. Secondary outcomes included healthcare expenditure stratified by shock aetiology, years of life lived (YLL), productivity-adjusted life-years (PALYs) and productivity losses. RESULTS: A total of 21 334 patients (mean age 65.9 (±19.1) years, and 9641 (45.2%) females were treated by EMS with non-traumatic shock with an average healthcare-related cost of $A11 031 per episode of care and total cost of $A280 million. Annual costs remained stable throughout the study period, but average costs per episode of care increased (Ptrend=0.05). Among patients who survived to hospital, the average cost per episode of care was stratified by aetiology with cardiogenic shock costing $A24 382, $A21 254 for septic shock, $A19 915 for hypovolaemic shock and $A28 057 for obstructive shock. Modelling demonstrated that over a 3-year horizon the cohort lost 24 355 YLLs and 5059 PALYs. Lost human capital due to premature mortality led to productivity-related losses of $A374 million. When extrapolated to the entire Australian population, productivity losses approached $A1.5 billion ($A326 million annually). CONCLUSION: The direct healthcare costs and indirect loss of productivity among patients with non-traumatic shock are high. Targeted public health measures that seek to reduce the incidence of shock and improve systems of care are needed to reduce the financial burden of this syndrome.

Severe pulmonary hypertension and circulatory failure associated with Congenital syphilis. Case report.

BACKGROUND: Congenital syphilis is a vertical infection caused by Treponema pallidum. Despite the implementation of preventive strategies during pregnancy, its incidence is increasing, and it constitutes an important public health problem. Most patients with congenital syphilis are asymptomatic; however, a small group may develop severe disease at birth with the need of advanced resuscitation in the delivery room, acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, and hemodynamic instability. Therefore, awareness is needed. METHODS AND RESULTS: This series describes the clinical course of two late preterm infants with congenital syphilis who developed acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, pulmonary hypertension, and circulatory collapse early after birth. Integrated hemodynamic evaluation with neonatologist-performed echocardiography (NPE) and therapeutic management is provided. CONCLUSIONS: A comprehensive hemodynamic evaluation including early and serial functional echocardiography in these patients is needed to address the underlying complex pathophysiology and to help to establish accurate treatment.

Centiles for the shock index among injured children in the prehospital setting.

OBJECTIVE: The shock index (SI), the ratio of heart rate to systolic blood pressure, is a clinical tool for assessing injury severity. Age-adjusted SI models may improve predictive value for injured children in the out-of-hospital setting. We sought to characterize the proportion of children in the prehospital setting with an abnormal SI using established criteria, describe the age-based distribution of SI among injured children, and determine prehospital interventions by SI. METHODS: We performed a multi-agency retrospective cross-sectional study of children (<18 years) in the prehospital setting with a scene encounter for suspected trauma and transported to the hospital between 2018 and 2022 using the National Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Information System datasets. Our exposure of interest was the first calculated SI. We identified the proportion of children with an abnormal SI when using the SI, pediatric age-adjusted (SIPA); and the pediatric SI (PSI) criteria. We developed and internally validated an age-based distributional model for the SI using generalized additive models for location, scale, and shape to describe the age-based distribution of the SI as a centile or Z-score. We evaluated EMS interventions (basic airway interventions, advanced airway interventions, cardiac interventions, vascular access, intravenous fluids, and vasopressor use) in relation to both the SIPA, PSI, and distributional SI values. RESULTS: We analyzed 1,007,863 pediatric EMS trauma encounters (55.0% male, median age 13 years [IQR, 8-16 years]). The most common dispatch complaint was for traffic/transport related injury (32.9%). When using the PSI and SIPA, 13.1% and 16.3% were classified as having an abnormal SI, respectively. There were broad differences in the percentage of encounters classified as having an abnormal SI across the age range, varying from 5.1 to 22.8% for SIPA and 3.7-20.1% for PSI. The SIPA values ranged from the 75th to 95th centiles, while the PSI corresponded to an SI greater than the 90th centile, except in older children. The centile distribution for SI declined during early childhood and stabilized during adolescence and demonstrated a difference of <0.1% at cutoff values. An abnormal PSI, SIPA and higher SI centiles (>90th centile and >95th centiles) were associated with interventions related to basic and advanced airway management, cardiac procedures, vascular access, and provision of intravenous fluids occurred with greater frequency at higher SI centiles. Some procedures, including airway management and vascular access, had a smaller peak at lower (<10th) centiles. DISCUSSION: We describe the empiric distribution of the pediatric SI across the age range, which may overcome limitations of extant criteria in identifying patients with shock in the prehospital setting. Both high and low SI values were associated with important, potentially lifesaving EMS interventions. Future work may allow for more precise identification of children with significant injury using cutpoint analysis paired to outcome-based criteria. These may additionally be combined with other physiologic and mechanistic criteria to assist in triage decisions.

Hemoadsorption Therapy for Calcium Channel Blocker Overdose: A Case Report.

BACKGROUND: Modern resin hemoadsorption/hemoperfusion for calcium channel blocker overdose is yet to be reported. The characteristics of calcium channel blockers make them unamenable to removal by hemodiafiltration or charcoal hemoperfusion; however, elimination, using styrene bead adsorption in an ex vivo model, has been demonstrated. Its clinical use is described. CASE REPORT: A man in his 20s was admitted with shock into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) after an overdose of amlodipine and risperidone. Resuscitation and supportive care were administered, but hypotension did not resolve despite the administration of intravenous fluids, infusions of calcium, adrenaline, and hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic therapy. Methylene blue was then administered to maintain the mean arterial pressures. However, the hemodynamic effect did not allow the weaning of the adrenaline. Drug clearance using hemoadsorption/hemoperfusion was attempted using a styrene resin filter (Jafron HA230; Jafron Biomedical Co., Ltd., Guangdong, China). During the two hemoperfusion sessions (6 h duration each, and 18 h apart) the patient had successfully weaned off all supportive measures, with lactate levels returning to normal and was later discharged home. At the end of each session, significant amlodipine concentrations were detected in blood aspirated from both filters, suggesting enhanced clearance. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: Our case illustrates a temporal relationship between resin hemoperfusion therapy, resolution of hemodynamic instability, and shock without proving causation. Significant amlodipine elimination was suggested by high concentrations found in blood from the filter. At the same time, shock resolution after initiation of hemoperfusion occurred in less than one elimination half-life of amlodipine.

MAN VERSUS MACHINE: PROVIDER DIRECTED VERSUS PRECISION AUTOMATED CRITICAL CARE MANAGEMENT IN A PORCINE MODEL OF DISTRIBUTIVE SHOCK.

ABSTRACT: Background: Critical care management of shock is a labor-intensive process. Precision Automated Critical Care Management (PACC-MAN) is an automated closed-loop system incorporating physiologic and hemodynamic inputs to deliver interventions while avoiding excessive fluid or vasopressor administration. To understand PACC-MAN efficacy, we compared PACC-MAN to provider-directed management (PDM). We hypothesized that PACC-MAN would achieve equivalent resuscitation outcomes to PDM while maintaining normotension with lower fluid and vasopressor requirements. Methods : Twelve swine underwent 30% controlled hemorrhage over 30 min, followed by 45 min of aortic occlusion to generate a vasoplegic shock state, transfusion to euvolemia, and randomization to PACC-MAN or PDM for 4.25 h. Primary outcomes were total crystalloid volume, vasopressor administration, total time spent at hypotension (mean arterial blood pressure <60 mm Hg), and total number of interventions. Results : Weight-based fluid volumes were similar between PACC-MAN and PDM; median and IQR are reported (73.1 mL/kg [59.0-78.7] vs. 87.1 mL/kg [79.4-91.8], P = 0.07). There was no statistical difference in cumulative norepinephrine (PACC-MAN: 33.4 µg/kg [27.1-44.6] vs. PDM: 7.5 [3.3-24.2] µg/kg, P = 0.09). The median percentage of time spent at hypotension was equivalent (PACC-MAN: 6.2% [3.6-7.4] and PDM: 3.1% [1.3-6.6], P = 0.23). Urine outputs were similar between PACC-MAN and PDM (14.0 mL/kg vs. 21.5 mL/kg, P = 0.13). Conclusion : Automated resuscitation achieves equivalent resuscitation outcomes to direct human intervention in this shock model. This study provides the first translational experience with the PACC-MAN system versus PDM.

Enteral nutrition in septic shock: a call for a paradigm shift.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The purpose of this review is to identify contemporary evidence evaluating enteral nutrition in patients with septic shock, outline risk factors for enteral feeding intolerance (EFI), describe the conundrum of initiating enteral nutrition in patients with septic shock, appraise current EFI definitions, and identify bedside monitors for guiding enteral nutrition therapy. RECENT FINDINGS: The NUTRIREA-2 and NUTRIREA-3 trial results have better informed the dose of enteral nutrition in critically ill patients with circulatory shock. In both trials, patients with predominant septic shock randomized to receive early standard-dose nutrition had more gastrointestinal complications. Compared to other contemporary RCTs that included patients with circulatory shock, patients in the NUTRIREA-2 and NUTRIREA-3 trials had higher bowel ischemia rates, were sicker, and received full-dose enteral nutrition while receiving high baseline dose of vasopressor. These findings suggest severity of illness, vasopressor dose, and enteral nutrition dose impact outcomes. SUMMARY: The provision of early enteral nutrition preserves gut barrier functions; however, these benefits are counterbalanced by potential complications of introducing luminal nutrients into a hypo-perfused gut, including bowel ischemia. Findings from the NUTRIREA2 and NUTRIREA-3 trials substantiate a 'less is more' enteral nutrition dose strategy during the early acute phase of critical illness. In the absence of bedside tools to guide the initiation and advancement of enteral nutrition in patients with septic shock, the benefit of introducing enteral nutrition on preserving gut barrier function must be weighed against the risk of harm by considering dose of vasopressor, dose of enteral nutrition, and severity of illness.

Assessing resuscitation in burn patients with varying degrees of liver disease.

We find minimal literature and lack of consensus among burn practitioners over how to resuscitate thermally injured patients with pre-existing liver disease. Our objective was to assess burn severity in patients with a previous history of liver disease. We attempted to stratify resuscitation therapy utilised, using it as an indicator of burn shock severity. We hypothesized that as severity of liver disease increased, more fluid therapy is needed. We retrospectively studied adult patients with a total body surface area (TBSA) of burn greater than or equal to 20% (n = 314). We determined the severity of liver disease by calculating admission Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) scores and measured resuscitation adequacy via urine output within the first 24 h. We performed stepwise, multivariable linear regression with backward selection to test our hypothesis with α = 0.05 defined a priori. After controlling for important confounders including age, TBSA, baseline serum albumin, total crystalloids, colloids, blood products, diuretics, and steroids given in first 24 h, we found a statistically significant reduction in urine output as MELD score increased (p < 0.000). In our study, severity of liver disease correlated with declining urine output during first 24-hour resuscitation more so than burn size or burn depth. While resuscitation is standardized for all patients, lack of urine output with increased liver disease suggests a new strategy is of benefit. This may involve investigation of alternate markers of adequacy of resuscitation, or developing modified resuscitation protocols for use in patients with liver disease. More investigation is necessary into how resuscitation protocols may best be modified.

[Treatment of Burn Shock - The First 24 hours and Beyond]. / Die Therapie des Verbrennungsschocks ­ die ersten 24 h und darüber hinaus.

Acute phase and resuscitation after burn trauma are challenging even for specialised burn centres due to the individual onset and differences compared with other forms of shock. The guidelines of the German Society of Burn Medicine (DGV) cover the scientific basis of modern burn treatment. Nevertheless, uncertainty remains regarding the detailed practical handling. This expert consensus focuses on best practices for the treatment of patients with major burns in specialised burn centres and by clinical first responders. The short version of this expert consensus can be downloaded at: https://verbrennungsmedizin.de/files/dgv_files/pdf/positionspapier/Pos%20Therapie%20des%20Verbrennungsschock%20AK%20Intensivmedizin%202023.pdf.

Updates on the clinical integration of point-of-care ultrasound in pediatric emergency medicine.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: There is expanding evidence for point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) use in pediatric emergency medicine - this review highlights the benefits and challenges in the clinical integration of high-yield POCUS applications. Specifically, it will delve into POCUS applications during resuscitations, controversies of Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (FAST) in pediatric trauma, POCUS-guided procedures, and examples of clinical pathways where POCUS can expedite definitive care. RECENT FINDINGS: POCUS can enhance diagnostic accuracy and aid in management of pediatric patients in shock and help identify reversible causes during cardiac arrest. The use of the FAST in pediatric blunt abdominal trauma remains nuanced - its proper use requires an integration with clinical findings and an appreciation of its limitations. POCUS has been shown to enhance safety and efficacy of procedures such as nerve blocks, incision & drainage, and intravenous access. Integrating POCUS into pathways for conditions such as intussusception and testicular torsion expedites downstream care. SUMMARY: POCUS enhances diagnostic efficiency and management in pediatric patients arriving at the ED with undifferentiated shock, cardiac arrest, or trauma. Additionally, POCUS improves procedural success and safety, and is integral to clinical pathways for expediting definitive care for various pediatric emergencies. Future research should continue to focus on the impact of POCUS on patient outcomes, ensuring user competency, and the expansion of POCUS into diverse settings.

Dynamic monitoring tools for patients admitted to the emergency department with circulatory failure: narrative review with panel-based recommendations.

Intravenous fluid therapy is commonly administered in the emergency department (ED). Despite the deleterious potential of over- and under-resuscitation, professional society guidelines continue to recommend administering a fixed volume of fluid in initial resuscitation. Predicting whether a specific patient will respond to fluid therapy remains one of the most important, but challenging questions that ED clinicians face in clinical practice. Surrogate parameters (i.e. blood pressure and heart rate), are widely used in usual care to estimate changes in stroke volume (SV). Due to their inadequacy in estimating SV, noninvasive techniques (e.g. bioreactance, echocardiography, noninvasive finger cuff technology), have been proposed as a more accurate and readily deployable method for assessing flow and preload responsiveness. Dynamic monitoring systems based on cardiac preload challenge and assessment of SV, by using noninvasive and continuous methods, provide more accurate, feasible, efficient, and reasonably accurate strategy for prediction of fluid responsiveness than static measurements. In this article, we aimed to analyze the different methods currently available for dynamic monitoring of preload responsiveness.

Early Autocalibrated Arterial Waveform Analysis for the Management of Burn Shock-A Cohort Study.

Adequate fluid therapy is crucial for resuscitation after major burns. To adapt this to individual patient demands, standard is adjustment of volume to laboratory parameters and values of enhanced hemodynamic monitoring. To implement calibrated parameters, patients must have reached the intensive care unit (ICU). The aim of this study was, to evaluate the use of an auto-calibrated enhanced hemodynamic monitoring device to improve fluid management before admission to ICU. We used PulsioflexProAqt® (Getinge) during initial treatment and burn shock resuscitation. Analysis was performed regarding time of measurement, volume management, organ dysfunction, and mortality. We conducted a monocentre, prospective cohort study of 20 severely burned patients, >20% total body surface area (TBSA), receiving monitoring immediately after admission. We compared to 57 patients, matched in terms of TBSA, age, sex, and existence of inhalation injury out of a retrospective control group, who received standard care. Hemodynamic measurement with autocalibrated monitoring started significantly earlier: 3.75(2.67-6.0) hours (h) after trauma in the study group versus 13.6(8.1-17.5) h in the control group (P < .001). Study group received less fluid after 6 h: 1.7(1.2-2.2) versus 2.3(1.6-2.8) ml/TBSA%/kg, P = .043 and 12 h: 3.0(2.5-4.0) versus 4.2(3.1-5.0) ml/TBSA%/kg, P = .047. Dosage of norepinephrine was higher after 18 h in the study group: 0.20(0.12-0.3) versus 0.08(0.02-0.18) µg/kg/min, P = .014. The study group showed no adult respiratory distress syndrome versus 21% in the control group, P = .031. There was no difference in other organ failures, organ replacement therapy, and mortality. The use of auto-calibrated enhanced hemodynamic monitoring is a fast and feasible way to guide early fluid therapy after burn trauma. It reduces the time to reach information about patient's volume capacity. Management of fluid application changed to a more restrictive fluid use in the early period of burn shock and led to a reduction of pulmonary complications.

Improving the precision of shock resuscitation by predicting fluid responsiveness with machine learning and arterial blood pressure waveform data.

Fluid bolus therapy (FBT) is fundamental to the management of circulatory shock in critical care but balancing the benefits and toxicities of FBT has proven challenging in individual patients. Improved predictors of the hemodynamic response to a fluid bolus, commonly referred to as a fluid challenge, are needed to limit non-beneficial fluid administration and to enable automated clinical decision support and patient-specific precision critical care management. In this study we retrospectively analyzed data from 394 fluid boluses from 58 pigs subjected to either hemorrhagic or distributive shock. All animals had continuous blood pressure and cardiac output monitored throughout the study. Using this data, we developed a machine learning (ML) model to predict the hemodynamic response to a fluid challenge using only arterial blood pressure waveform data as the input. A Random Forest binary classifier referred to as the ML fluid responsiveness algorithm (MLFRA) was trained to detect fluid responsiveness (FR), defined as a ≥ 15% change in cardiac stroke volume after a fluid challenge. We then compared its performance to pulse pressure variation, a commonly used metric of FR. Model performance was assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC), confusion matrix metrics, and calibration curves plotting predicted probabilities against observed outcomes. Across multiple train/test splits and feature selection methods designed to assess performance in the setting of small sample size conditions typical of large animal experiments, the MLFRA achieved an average AUROC, recall (sensitivity), specificity, and precision of 0.82, 0.86, 0.62. and 0.76, respectively. In the same datasets, pulse pressure variation had an AUROC, recall, specificity, and precision of 0.73, 0.91, 0.49, and 0.71, respectively. The MLFRA was generally well-calibrated across its range of predicted probabilities and appeared to perform equally well across physiologic conditions. These results suggest that ML, using only inputs from arterial blood pressure monitoring, may substantially improve the accuracy of predicting FR compared to the use of pulse pressure variation. If generalizable, these methods may enable more effective, automated precision management of critically ill patients with circulatory shock.